Skip to main content

Rain, rain everywhere

 On Saturday I sat in the sunshine in a café in Saumur with friends.  We had a good laugh and then we went our separate ways.  I strolled across the bridge to the island where I had left my car and drove out of Saumur onto the main road.  Then it happened - the sunshine turned to floods in seconds.  I couldn't see the road or the sides of the road.  Cars were forced to stop and put their flashers on but you could barely see them so I decided to keep driving.  It was a nightmare journey, the rain was so heavy and the visibility down to nil, it reminded me of the hurricanes we used to have in the States.

I eventually made it home through floods and downed trees.  In the 6 feet between my car and the house I became soaked right through, and the power was off.  It stayed  off until 7am the next morning, 16  hours later.  I have an all electric house so I couldn't even make a cup of tea.  I gazed wistfully into the fridge and found an apple and a carrot.  I added them to the banana and 2 walnuts, making my dinner a veritable feast.

When the power resumed I discovered that it had been a tornado, which not only caused the flooding but it had ripped the spire off a church and destroyed the surrounding buildings.  I have now lived through a tornado, hurricanes, an haboob (dust storm), a locust storm, floods and earthquakes, a gas explosion and an air crash.  And yet I am still here.

A friend put out a request for somewhere for me to stay for 2 months after my house is sold.  The quickest reply came from a man who said he had a room and he could do with the company.  No strings attached?



.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I'm Free

 After being incarcerated in my son's house waiting for the results of the day 2 test I was finally allowed out today.  I went to Chichester and was saddened by the number of familiar shops that have disappeared from the town centre.  Bognor is the same.  You wouldn't die of thirst in either town though as the number of cafes has increased.  Both town centres were busy making it difficult to keep a safe distance from others but many people were wearing masks in the street. I was pulled over by Customs in Caen.  As I opened the trunk of the car one of the officers asked me if I was carrying goods.  'Yes,' I replied, ' French Champagne and French wine'  They nodded approvingly and waved me away. During my 3 days in the house, I have cleaned, filed all their paperwork, mended the shower, cooked dinner and tried watching television, the latter being totally uninspiring.  The news consists of covid, travel restrictions, forbidden Christmas parties...

D day lasts 3 days

 This morning, with my head full of things I still have to do, I got on the tram and forgot to scan my ticket.  The inspector got on 2 stops later and said I had to pay 45€ for this lapse.  Why can't I scan it now?  a reasonable question in my opinion, was met with scorn, so I  paid up.  On the tram back from the hospital there she was again and checked my ticket with glee.  While she was doing that a young man got on, sat down  and did not show any sign of even having a ticket, let alone scanning one.   The inspector passed him by without a second glance.   Today is the last day for packing and organising.  Tomorrow the removal company will arrive at 6am to take it all away and put it in storage.  Tomorrow night I will sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor and Thursday I go to the hospital to be nuked for the last time.  The sleeping bag is the one that saved me from hypothermia when a friend and I were lost for ...