At last some sunshine and no rain! The trees looked fabulous against that blue sky.
Not many preparations for Christmas have been started in this house yet! I can hardly believe that 3 weeks have elapsed since the floods.
Going into town has quickly settled into a whole new experience as everyone adjusts and copes. I didn't realise until this happened what a set route you fall into for going shopping. This has all changed now as very few places are where they were just a few weeks ago.
Christ Church is the hub in the town of the relief effort and now has the police station relocated in a building opposite to them. This C.of E. church itself is now also used by the Catholics, as well as the Red Cross ,the Library and other agencies. One newsagent and a bakers are operating from a lighting centre, the Methodist Chapel is the Food Bank and about 10 businesses have taken over the defunct Job Shop . 14 other small units are being constructed inside an agricultural warehouse and are already being fitted out. All the doctors have now relocated to the Cottage Hospital and nearly all our banks are caravans in Sainsbury’s carpark!
Main Street and the Marketplace are just empty of anything but skips and workmen . There is a constant hum of pumps and dryers as a background to hammering and drilling as properties are dried and mended. There are plans for some shops on Main Street to reopen before Christmas which is wonderful news. The message going out is that we are open for business.
A wishing tree and Christmas lights were lit in the marketplace at the beginning of December but the big town Christmas tree still stands unlit in the middle of the Main Street. It managed to stand defiant to the torrent of water that enveloped it on that Thursday evening. I have heard that there are plans to light it on Christmas Eve with a open air Carol Service accompanied by music from the Town Brass Band.
I think there will be a lot of tears as well as smiles and Christmas greetings at that gathering!
The general spirt of the town is still good and there is much support available. Accomodating so many people whose properties have been damaged has been very difficult. Many went into holiday homes that were lying empty but of course many of them are let out over Christmas and New year so some people are having to house hop several times over the holidays. Not a pleasant experience in winter with a young family or an elderly person either!
Here and there dry humour is showing through!
The Job Shop where many businesses are relocated has a hand written sign to say that it is called "Cockermouth New Main Street". :o)
If you go to http://www.cockermouth.org.uk/floodupdates.html
There are a couple of videos at the bottom. They both show the Cocker which is the one that goes past us (very close) and just before it cuts to the sheep saving incident it is looking down our lane. Those videos would have been taken mid afternoon .The water rose for another 10 hours or so after that. By the time it was high tide at 1 am the water had risen another couple of metres. We reckon it rose by nearly 30 feet at the end of our lane so it is no wonder our road and river wall have gone! It rose so much higher here because we are in a narrow valley between two areas with flood plains so the water has nowhere else to go but up!
We have no idea how our lane will be fixed ! Three weeks without being able to use the car now. This is an increasing inconvenience but absolutely nothing in comparison to what other people have had to cope with!!!
We are approaching as many agencies as possible for help and hope that the Govenment's promise to mend all roads will hold good for unadopted roads too.
No comments:
Post a Comment