Bridgey Perrin (it takes a leap to get the reference)

Here are some pictures of the little bridge over the beck, to show how the water level rose and fell. Of course, I haven’t got one of *normal* level but it’s lower usually than it is now.

24th December. The beck was full and had burst its banks further up, but the bridge was still in place.
25th December. Overnight, a lot of properties in Yagnub, some in Ditchingham and some in Earsham had flooded. One house had to be shored up, on Ditchingham Dam, to save it from collapsing into the river. Some houses were flooded because of water coming off the road, others from the river itself.
26th December. The worst was over, but more rain and strong winds were forecast. However, there had been time to prepare. The river the other side of the field had not burst its banks, thankfully – it’s only happened once in 35 years that this has happened and the water has flooded our way. The field the other side of that river is lower than ours, so it has to be extreme for that to happen.
Today, 27th December. The water level in the beck is still a lot higher than normal, but overnight rain was not as bad as it could have been. Other places have suffered more than here. The last time flooding happened on anything like this scale in Yagnub was 1968, apparently.

These aren’t ordinary planks of wood, they’re very heavy chunks of railway sleeper. But this is the worst of the harm done and it’s nothing at all. Posting these pictures is simply done to indicate the rise and fall of the water here, not to suggest that we have suffered in the least.

Today, I’ve removed the bones from the beef joint and they’re turning into stock in the bottom oven. We had lovely rare roast beef, with a bean salad and pickles, for lunch, and dinner will take care of itself in due course. The little chicken is quite happy and has eaten her breakfast and lunch, but I still hope to catch her sooner or later. I have a feeling that she spends a lot of time hunkered down in the compost heap but I’ll have to climb over that to check it out, which may frighten her off. I am not going to fuss about it. Not much, anyway.

3 comments on “Bridgey Perrin (it takes a leap to get the reference)

  1. Kestrel

    Looks quite a wide area was flooded but glad it was not anywhere nearer to your house and chickens. We are also having floods here due to the monsoon season in Nov – Jan. Stay safe from the waters just in case it is deep and you sink inside!

    Reply
  2. Blue Witch

    That’s a lot of water! Glad the damage wasn’t any worse.

    One other idea for the hen – can you throw an old sheet over her, then pick her up through it? We’ve always ‘trained’ ours to peck corn along trails as it helps at times like this when they escape. Ours manage that quite a lot as our electric netting can be flown over by flighty mature birds (I don’t believe in wing clipping) – or rather, could, as we’ve just bought some new stuff which is a whole foot higher and should be a match for any of them. Good luck with catching her!

    Reply
  3. Z Post author

    A lot of roads were impassable and a friend measured a low point in one road (he’d waded through the flood to check if an abandoned car was empty) at over a metre deep. Of course, it was dangerous where rivers had overflowed as you couldn’t tell where the actual river started and a few people did have to be rescued from cars – however, no lives lost and people are glumly drying out their houses now. It is a wide flood area, but that’s what the flat land either side of the rivers is for, they do regularly flood several times a year.

    Update on the chicken in today’s post, BW!

    Reply

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