I live in Somerset, no, I don't have webbed feet
Published: Thu, 02/13/14
I live in Somerset so it is assumed that I must have webbed feet
and learned to breath under water by now. We have had flood,
outside of our gate a puddle forms in the lane which is about
fifteen feet long and it takes a really big step to get over it.
Once the rain stops it drains away in a couple of hours. Similar
puddles form elsewhere in Crewkerne, usually as a result of
semi-blocked drains. But if you come here looking for the floods
of almost biblical proportions which you have been seeing on the
news then you will be disappointed. I am not being dismissive of
those who are having massive problems with flooding. I lived in
North Curry for about twelve months five or so years ago. North
Curry is on the levels where the flooding is taking place. That
winter the road to the North which connects with the A361 Taunton
to Glastonbury Road was closed by flooding for about six weeks. We
are not talking about a little puddle you could drive through if
you are careful. It was several feet deep. Every now and then
someone would try and drive through and you would see the vehicle
the next morning stuck about twenty or thirty feet into the water,
the driver having got very wet feet escaping from the abandoned
vehicle. The danger was clearly signposted but some people always
know better.
Which brings me to floodplains, we didn't get flooding in North
Curry because the village was built on high ground . Crewkerne is
built in a valley, but half way down so water flows through the
town but doesn't accumulate into a flood. If you buy a house
built on a flood plain it is a bit like keeping your milk and
butter in the fireplace instead of the fridge. It might be fine
until someone actually lights a fire, then you realise why that
space was called 'fire-place'. It is a bit like
'flood-plain', the clue is in the name. I know everything
we buy now is supposed to come with a guarantee but when it comes
to the forces of nature the story of King Canute is worth pondering
now and then.
The Crewkerne climate is a bit strange now and then. The valley
the town is built in doesn't just make flooding very unlikely.
We are also protected from extremes of wind and temperature.
Occasionally very odd things happen such as a morning in March a
couple of years ago when we awoke to find about four inches of snow
had paralysed the town for a radius of about a mile. We drove to
Glastonbury that morning to work and arrived with a thick layer of
snow on the van which got us some very funny looks since Crewkerne
was the only place the snow had fallen.
The other unusual thing about Crewkerne is that is has a Stav
centre, that is pretty rare. All the lights now work and the
toilet and I will fit glass in the window today. If you want to
see it for yourself then come to the training on Saturday
http://iceandfire.org.uk/train.html or if you want a full weekend
of Stav training then come on the 22nd and 23rd see
http://iceandfire.org/wetraining.html
regards
Graham