Saturday morning

Well the river is back into its bed at last and the damage is gradually being revealed. This is not a mountain track but the lane to our house! Nearly a metre of the lane has gone into the river, along the full length taking with it the hedge and the trees.

I managed to walk all along the Cocker as far as the footbridge which is fenced off and looks in need of major repair. The amount of dead wood that has been collected and dumped is unbelievable. There were strange creaks and groans from trees along the river as they complained at the extra weight of all the stuff that had been caught in their branches.

I went past homes where the owners were sweeping out mud and dumping their belongings, but I would have felt guilty to have taken pictures. When you know the people it seems strangely intrusive to stare at their sodden possessions. It must take a certain objective mindset to be a cameraman for Press or TV.

I did take this one of Challoner Street which has had two very deep holes gouged by the river that has left all the sewer,water and gas pies exposed..

Sainsbury's carpark has been taken over by emergency vehicles as the carparks belonging to the Fire Headquarters and Cockermouth Mountain Rescue are already full. Every service seemed to be there and seemed to have arrived from throughout the country.





There was only one small helicopter in the sky today and the buzz went round that PM Gordon Brown was in it.

There was a difference in the town today as the impact on the community starts to hit home. As far as I could see only Sainsbury's , the Co-op and the butcher's were open and accessible. The vast majority of the rest of the shops are in Main Street and Marketplace and every single one of them has been flooded out.

Those streets are just like empty, very muddy film sets.

Tomorrow was supposed to be the switching on of the Christmas Lights and the judging of the Christmas shop window displays. Normally thousands fill the Main Street to view the display.