Sandbags at dawn

Sandbags at dawn
Originally uploaded by joellaflickr.

I was supposed to be doing some pipework in a pub in Abingdon this morning... J the plumber said 'can you get there by 7'? Sure, I said, not at all sure.

I was even less sure as the floodwaters rose across Oxfordshire... yesterday they closed the train station and the Botley Road in Oxford, and water levels on substantial chunks of roads Abingdonwards moved inexorably upwards.

So I was relieved to get a text from J just before midnight (I should have been asleep, but I fell prey to the new Harry Potter book): 'change of plan can you head to P in Long Wittenham x'. 'Ok will call a.m. x' I sent back.

A.m. came and the road to Long Wittenham was one of those under water. I called J and he said 'the road's clear to Berry (Berinsfield, where he lives), get over here and we'll take the Land Rover'.

So I did. And we did.

He grinned at me as I peered nervously out the window: the water was higher than the wheel arches, and Land Rover wheel arches are pretty high. You've never done this before, have you? he said.

When he's not plumbing, J does stuff for ERT Search and Rescue. If you're going to get yourself driven through floodwater, you want someone like him at the wheel.

I was glad to get home to my house up a hill, mind, where M correctly identified low-level oppression caused by broken washing machine, called Hotpoint and poked me with a stick until I agreed to go swimming with him. 20 lengths of crawl helped, and his macaroni cheese with garlicky greens helped some more.

I may occasionally give the impression that I don't like men, but really I think a lot of them are pretty cool.

joella