what a week... !

I'm rarely stuck for words... but I guess the past few days have just been so extraordinary that I just can't write what I'd like to say easily... so much has happened in such a short space of time and I've gone from excitement to trepidation, from fear to calm and back again. I may be a piscean but I am no water baby. Ferries frighten me and floods do too now! I've never been keen on large volumes of water. Why do you think I joined a spa where the pool is all the same depth and I know I can touch the bottom!

Spending 9 hours in the car on Friday and driving through the most amazing floods was certainly a new and quite frightening experience for me. I have laughed and cried today and I'm still in shock. I know I should feel lucky, and I'm sure I will...

What started out as being quite exciting, turned into a bit of a drama and I'm so glad Rich was with me. I'd never have got through all the floods without his encouragement. Each flood seemed deeper and longer than the last and it was sheer luck that we managed to get through each one. Here is the place where the videos can be found of my latest mini adventure!

http://annasminiadventures.blogspot.com/

Every road into Chelts was blocked with traffic or closed so having tried each one and had to turn back, I ended up on the M5. 3 hours sitting between junctions and another hour on the slip road up to the Tewks junction. The sight of the flood just before the army barracks was unreal. Cars strewn on the grass verges and the sides of the road and as they gave up the ghost, so people ran into the flood to push them out of the way. Of course, there was no way you could turn around to go back either, you just had to follow the line of traffic in front and hope.

The Evesham road was worse for the fact that it was now quite dark and every flood of water was longer and people were stuck trying to push their cars so blocking the road ahead. After another nerve racking assault on more stretches of water with currents and waves this time, I realised we were almost home and I'd never been so glad to get back. Of course, the 4x4s at the end of the village meant just one thing. There was no way I was going to get any further.

I had mixed feelings about having to abandon my little min at the end of the lane. Glad we were close to home but not happy about the large expanse of water between us and the house. That was a frightening experience and another first for me! At the point where the brook runs across the village the current was pulling us both and with my clothes soaking wet then I was just hoping that we had reached the deepest part of the flood. It was a surreal experience to be wading through water up to my bum, drenched by the pouring rain in the dark. You could only hear the rushing water and there were no lights or anyone around in the flooded homes at the end of the village.

Today there are still abandoned cars as you drive into Cheltenham and the mere sight of a puddle unsettles me. And the water has been turned off because it's contaminated, possibly off until Wednesday. JOY! No hair washing, no drinking water, no dishwasher, no shower, no hot water, no washing machine...

But hey ho, I'm still here and I'm sure I'll get over it and thank goodness my new place is up high!