Thursday 19 December 2013

Phone lines swing, are you listening?

. . . in the lane, water's glistening,
a worrying sight, we may be phoneless tonight,
wading in a winter wonderland . . .


Good morning.  Yesterday's storm has brought the river up across the lane at the bottom of the hill, and my son had to walk the last half mile home last night because it wasn't worth his friend risking his car by driving into it and finding out he was floating! 

It has dropped significantly overnight, but I am worried to find that our phone line (well, the one that supplies all our hamlet) has come down off the pole and is swinging very low across the road (car roof height).  It is only a matter of time before someone snags it and we are phoneless - possibly over Christmas, thus threatening a re-run of last year.  I thought I'd post this in case it suddenly goes, and then phone BT to report it.

The Towy has broken its banks and is across the flood plain between here and Carmarthen, and the fields at Abergwili are well under water.  I could see it glinting in the moonlight as I drove my son to work for 7 a.m. this morning. 

I was obviously hungry when I got to the supermarket to get teabags and a newspaper, as I succombed to a cookery magazine with some fabulous Christmas and special occasion recipes.  It's a cheap alternative to a cookery book, in my eyes.

I hope everyone has survived yesterday's storm but they tell us there is more on the way.  I'll be glad when we have picked D up on Christmas Eve, and then we can batten down the hatches and not have to go anywhere for a few days.


11 comments:

  1. Yes high winds and lashing rain here last night, but all over by 9pm. Looking out of the front window, I see the Brue has burst it's banks, it was certainly very high and turbulent 2 days ago.
    Power cuts seem rare here, whereas they were a regular thing in Bucks.

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  2. Hello, I have just found your blog and added you to my regular reading list. I just love your snowy picture at the top. We nearly moved from the flat suffolk coast to west wales a few years ago, we decided to stay because of our lovely dry weather but I do long for the wonderful views that you have.

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  3. You live in a beautiful place, but definitely one where the weather unleashes interesting effects!

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  4. Kath. Monday's meant to be bad too. Danny's in work (of course) and working late . . .

    Simplesuffolksmallholder - Hello. I've been across to your blog a few times. Lovely to see you here and hear that you will be following regularly. Definitely drier where you are! My b-in-law lives in a coastal area of Essex, so we used to pop over the Suffolk border when we spent New Year and summer hols with him.

    Sharon - I have to say, we didn''t have "weather" like this in Dorset!

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  5. Hope the line doesn't come down, though of course there is always the mobile, still when everyone is safe up on your mountain eyrie, you can enjoy Xmas all the more.
    Here in Chelmsford the power often goes off in the storms so we have plenty of candles.

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  6. I don't like living too near a river...but then we live near cliffs...so not much better! I hope your phone line stays intact and that you stay safe in the bad weather. We look like we're in for a terrible stormy and rainy few days-right up to Christmas day.

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  7. Suzie - Monday in particular is looking rather dire! We are half way up the side of a river valley, so over 100 feet above the water level, but our usual route out is the lane beside the river, so it affects us when it floods. Fingers are crossed that the line stays fastened to the tree.

    thelma - we don't often get power cuts - the minute we bought a portable generator, they came along and cut all the trees back that were overhanging the cross-country lines and we've scarcely had a power cut since. Phone lines are a whole different ball game though.

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  8. My fingers are crossed for you too! xx

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  9. You definitely don`t want a repeat of last year! I hope BT come and sort your line out before damage is done.

    The Towey Valley must look very dramatic. I`m glad we saw it with the meadows flooded when we first came down your way.

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  10. BB, our generator provides insurance against needing it. We bought it seven years ago and have used it only once. We start it and change the fluids once a year and I am ever grateful to have it when I read about other communities where they have been without power sometimes for double digit days.

    I await word that D has made it safely to your home and all's bedded down for the duration of the weather. Happy Holidays to you and your family, Bovey Belle, may 2014 bring that single home buyer who falls head over teapot for your home and lands... and has the funding to boot !~!

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  11. Em - well, it's tied up out of harm's way now, so fingers crossed.

    DW - oh it gets dramatic alright. I will have to find some photos of really bad flooding in the past and put them up. We never had such extremes of weather when we lived in Dorset.

    Lynda - Christmas Eve evening we will breath a sigh of relief with the prospect of 3 days where we don't need to go ANYWHERE in a vehicle. We have just sold our portable generator so I hope that doesn't tempt fate!

    Happy holidays to you too, and yes, we are praying for that ONE buyer with the moolah who will fall in love with our house as we did.

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