Day Fourteen

~ beetleypete

Today is the fourteenth day of rain in Beetley. For two weeks, day and night, it has been raining. The forecast for today was ‘sunny periods and showers’. That translated to rain all day, sometimes torrential, even during the brief periods of sunshine.

The outbuilding (brick-built shed) has flooded, due to groundwater seeping through the concrete floor. I don’t feel well enough to tackle it, so have created a ‘dam’ using old towels and blankets, hoping to stop the water shorting out the two freezers and the tumble-drier that are kept out there.

Local roads look more like shallow lakes, and some have had to be closed due to deeper water. Listening to the rain starts to get to you, almost driving you crazy when it never stops. Everything is damp, and every outlook is dull. Any end of season clearing up in the garden had had to be abandoned, and it now looks like nobody lives in the house, it is so neglected.

This is not the climate change expected in fifty years, this is climate change happening before our eyes today. On two of those fourteen days, we had one month’s worth of rainfall in twenty-four hours. Sixty days of rain in just two days, followed by twelve more days of constant downpours. It is no longer remotely amusing, certainly not in the least bit funny, and is now something many of us are going to have to face every year, with increasing severity.

2020 has been one of the strangest years I can remember since 1976. The Coronavirus of course, but also the extreme weather. An unusually hot and dry summer until mid-September, followed by constant rain every day since.

If it doesn’t stop raining soon, I fear I might lose my mind.

66 thoughts on “Day Fourteen”

    1. It just went on and on, didn’t it? East Anglia was literally drenched in rain for almost three weeks. It hasn’t rained yet today, and that makes such a difference to my mood.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Like

      Reply

  3. That is a lot of rain!! Truthfully, I can not imagine the toll it takes, for here just a few days of rain at a time is what we can expect. Friend, you have had quite a fortnight-I do send best wishes and cheerful days ahead. x michele

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. I ‘hear’ your drudgery, depression and takes on the matter – I worry about you given rain, rising sea levels because, overall, you live on an island and I can be worried, for you, cuz tides, hurricanes, rainfall, flashflooding, etc., are such a distant fear for me here in the middle of the USA continent, where wild fires rage, drought is ongoing concern and we are praying for rain – but not flash floods caused by too much, in too short of time, that can’t soak into hard crusted drought riddled land – – We each face different challenges given our locale, and the changes, but for me? I’m worried more for you – drowning seems like such a horrible way to die – as does burning to death (here) on the other hand, for now, I can go to sleep and freeze to death during cyclone blizzard, or get insta killed by tornado and somehow, for me, that seems preferrable to slowly dying due to water levels – I guess we each look at and deal with the ‘devils we know’ eh? That said, you haven’t mentioned, but seriously! Think about the folks who live in sink hole/earthquake areas – – that, too, seems very scary to me – no fore warning, really, whatsoover – but again – we each deal with the devils we are learning to expect and know, plan for, rail against – – – sigh, sigh, sigh

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. It was a lot of things mate. Weather, Flu, Tech issues. The printer packed up on Monday when I needed to print off my Covid Test appointment. I just sat at my desk thinking ‘what’s next?’ I need a decent period of time where nothing breaks down or goes wrong.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  11. Meanwhile, there is so much smoke and haze from all our wildfires over on the other side of the pond—three droughts in four years. Send a little moisture our way, Pete.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. Ugh, Pete. Rain is okay, but the continuous soggy rain is hard for everyone. We have had a few days of nice cool but sunny days. A welcome relief from the rain. I hope you have a break in the incessant rain soon.

    Are you feeling any better?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. My heart goes out to you, Pete. It just makes me realise how relatively lucky I am to live where I do. We were supposed to be getting rain this afternoon, but it hasn’t arrived yet, and I was able to have a long walk in the lovely autumn sunshine and pick a few brambles this morning. I hope the weather gods smile on you very soon! Cheers, Jon.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. There are areas in my country which haven’t received rainfalls for many years. Nothing is being done by the authorities either.
    Anything extreme is bad. I can understand what you are going through.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  23. I can’t imagine that many days of rain. It must be exhausting. As rain is not a frequent visitor to my area, I love when it finally shows up. Still in the 100 degree heat which is off the charts crazy for this time of year. I hope you see sunshine soon.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  25. Wow, we have had some rain here too the past few days, but fourteen days in a row is absolutely nut. Can definitely understand how that would drive you crazy. Hope it lets up soon. Hopefully you have some stuff like movies or tv series that can help you relax a bit and take your mind off things😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  26. I’m sorry, Pete, it’s the last thing you need when you aren’t well. It has started raining here but I can’t complain as we’ve had a fine spell with only a couple of wet days. But our summer wasn’t as hot and dry as yours.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  28. We’ve now had 169 consecutive days without measurable precipitation, and the 14-day forecast calls for…sunshine…and 0% chance of rain! It’s too bad Noah didn’t live in Southern Nevada. He could have saved himself a lot of trouble!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

All comments welcome

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.