I feel for all those flooded in the Somerset Levels and the River Thames. We were flooded inside our house four times, on December 15th 2000, in 2007 (twice in quick succession in the Summer), each with about 16 inches of water contaminated with farm muck. Also a mini flood in 2008. The first one and the double in 2007 took over four months to recover, living upstairs, and for the first week on biscuits and warm white wine. The insurance company covered everything and cleaned and dried us out. So we twice got new carpets and a lounge suite but there are better ways to re-furnish. A flood inside your house has to be experienced before you really know what it is like. People say that anyone who lives in a floody area should not expect help, but perhaps that is a little harsh. We now live in a hilltop town (although we now have two leaks in the roof!).
We had to get an engineered flood wall built, which saved us in the 2008 incident. The local brook had overflowed because the landowner of it had not cleared out huge amounts of rubbish. Until 1947 it was cleared out every two years, and nothing done since so a flood 53 years later was inevitable. I think the whole of Britain suffers from a refusal to invest in infrastructure—railways, a Southern airport, flood defences big enough, road drainage, new roads and now pothole-filling, modern schools etc. I often visit Germany and am impressed by the very high quality of private and public buildings, squares and parks etc. Still, all things considered, I think Blighty is best.
