Our electricity was switched back on on Wednesday meaning we could move safely back into the house. The central heating is also working fine, so we’ve had it on constantly.
I’ve hung rubble bags up to turn the front porch into a little cut off room on its own and set up an electric heater downstairs to try and get rid of the water out of the plaster. I’ve taken off the paint up to about three feet to expose the the bare plaster and the carpet has been taken off the bottom three stairs. I don’t know how long it will take for the water to disappear.
My parents are on the road back to normality. They got hit very badly, they managed to save a lot of stuff by throwing it upstairs, but they lost their sofa, dining table, dishwasher and other bits. I know their floor is fine because the house was made “flood resistant” after the big one in 2009, their sockets are 4 feet off the floor and the floor is made out of wood they use to build ships. Insurance is impossible to justify, £3000 a year with a £3000 excess. So they’re going to have to buy their own stuff out of pocket. A hardship fund has been set up to help those affected, so they’ll get a little help.
Shellie popped up for the weekend to help. It’s still tricky for me to get there, the two bridges over the river are condemned, which would mean a 6 mile round trip along a main road, as opposed to a five minute walk like it was before. So Shellie being here is great. On Thursday I was there sluicing mud out of their living room. They worked really hard and by last night (Saturday) they were able to use the downstairs, the cupboards were full of food again and they had some rudimentary furniture set up in the living room.
Shellie has been magic, a lot of her friends donated food, money, cleaning things, so my parents were able to crack on without having to worry about going over the river to collect bits and bobs from the crisis centre in town. There’s also been a free burger van in the car park next to their house, providing hot meals and drinks 24 hours a day, so they’ve been ok.
A lot of people are out of their homes, it’s going to take months before everyone can move back in. My grandparents are in a lovely bungalow up a hill, for the first time in his life, my granda is actually contemplating moving out of the house he’s lived in his whole life. 4 floods in ten years has obviously got to him. He’s always said the only way he’d leave that house is feet first in a box, so this is enormous! I hope he sticks to his word, my grandparents live at the lowest point in town, so it’s always a worry when there’s a lot of rain. This time was especially bad, as they were trapped upstairs for two and a half days, with no water, electricity or heat. Two of my aunties and one of my uncles was with them, so they weren’t alone. But they’re both in their 80s and have mobility problems and granda has a myriad of ailments, bless him.
John’s brother is also still trying to find his feet. He’s quite resilient though and will ask for help and to borrow things. He came round last night to borrow our carpet shampooer and steam mop. He’s got power upstairs and can run a kettle to make noodles and stuff.
Work reopened on Friday. We normally operate from two shops, gifts and cookware in the main shop, Pandora in the little shop. The Pandora is always busy anyway, but even more before Christmas, but the Pandora shop was wrecked, the cabinets are all soaked and warped. As far as I know, we managed to save all the stock, but we’ve had to move the Pandora into the main shop. But only one of the Pandora tills was working, so all the gifts and jewellery was going through the one till…it was bedlam!
There is still a lot of work to do, there is plaster damage and some minor damage to some of the cabinets, but not enough to stop us from trading. I was worried I wasn’t going to get paid because I haven’t been in, but I still got my regular hours!
My little town is still trying to find its feet, but we’re getting there.
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