Tuesday 28 November 2023
This morning, while it was still dark and I could hardly see out some windows through the layer of ice, Facebook showed me that I had spent the day lying on the beach in Ajman, UAE, with a friend this time four years ago and I had posted photos of the stunning sunset followed by a stunning moon. Sigh. I still find it surreal thinking back to the times before Covid, that trip being less than four months before the first UK pandemic lockdown. We had absolutely no idea what was to come and it makes me glad that my friend and I made the effort to travel to another emirate on a day off and spend the day on the beach.
Thinking back those four years, a lot has happened, a mix of good and bad. Sitting here now, looking out at trees, greenery and frost in pretty much the middle of nowhere, I am appreciating that I would not be here were it not for Covid. I feel more and more settled the longer we’re here and I love the tranquillity.
Last night, we went out. Shock. Well, sort of. There was an informal meeting amongst locals regarding the increased regularity of the road flooding. There were more than forty of us and it was a lot more focussed than I would have expected. We spoke to a few people and recognised quite a few more. We are not part of the local community where we live or from working from home but I do actually like being more familiar with neighbours. I used to watch local segments of TV news and not have much sympathy for people who encountered localised issues, for example like the flooding across one of our two directions of travel. I now realise how important and significant it is for small groups of people to have that wider recognition. Sometimes, things get done purely as a result of that kind of media coverage. And for a few people, the impact of whatever the local issue is is massive. The photo I took after the meeting is the hall in moonlight. The thin stripes of light are from the headlights of Chris’s car through the slats of a fence around the carpark.
For our flood, it affects school runs, emergency services, getting to/from hospital, appointments and work, transporting livestock and deliveries, and no doubt many more activities. I don’t think I’d really considered the other issues, namely why there is a major flood issue. Apparently, the rivers round here used to be full of salmon and other fish. Now there are almost no salmon as areas of the river are blocked, one chunk of the river having seemingly disappeared. There isn’t much tourism here but road blockages don’t help, most people wouldn’t know that it’s about 56 miles to bypass the flooded area (in part because there’s limited mobile signal), wouldn’t know that they could wait in their car for a few hours and the water will subside or that if they do drive through it, there is a good chance there will be water ingress into their car and it could be a write-off, and insurers don’t always pay out. Apparently, BMWs are the most affected cars for being written off. Funnily enough, people having said that last night, I realise that I haven’t seen a single BMW driven by a local around here, and there are plenty of non-4×4 cars around, including high-end cars.
So look out for me being interviewed about the inconvenience of the road being flooded in a local segment of the news one day and have some sympathy.
Yesterday, I made cake. Lemon curd cake. With lemon butter icing, lemon curd, lemon and more lemony goodness. Lemons and cake. What on earth is not to love?!
