Wet 'n' Wild Weather

Do you remember that Kevin Costner film Waterworld where the whole world was covered with water and people basically lived on ships? Well we're not quite there yet in Hampshire but we're not far off!

You can't fail to have seen on the news how badly southern England has been affected by the relentless rain and storms we've had since before Christmas. I can certainly vouch for the fact that it's rained almost every day and some of the winds we've had have been so strong my poor little car has been blown all over the road. Near where Mr P and I live the New Forest has taken some serious hits with large areas flooding repeatedly and loads of trees coming down meaning closed roads dangerous driving conditions.

 Fortunately Mr P owns a Land Rover Defender (recently dubbed man's answer to Mother Nature's bullsh*t) which he's been using to rescue flooded vehicles, clear roads and generally help the emergency services. I'm going to sing his praises for a sec because he does this without being asked, without being paid and in some of the worst weather conditions purely because he wants to help. With over twenty cars recovered (some of which he managed to restart and get the drivers on their way), half a dozen trees cleared from roads, many stranded people helped and countless drivers redirected it's safe to say I'm seriously proud of him. He even took one couple Christmas shopping 3 days before Christmas after their car was drowned by a thoughtless truck driver.

I'm pretty impressed with the truck too. OK it might not be a sleek looking sports car and yet it's noisy and drinks diesel by the gallon but it's taken everything Mother Nature has thrown at us. It even waded us to safety through 3ft of flood water (that's right up over the headlights!) in complete darkness at 2am when a tree came down behind us blocking our escape on a deserted road. 'Twas very scary let me tell you!

If it's flooded near you then please, please take care if you're driving anywhere. Use a bit of common sense and don't plow your car into water on the road. Take it slowly and carefully and if you're not sure you can make it don't try. Watch out for the wash caused by large vehicles

If you happen to be down our way and get stuck out in the New Forest keep your eye open for a bloke with long blonde hair and a big black 4x4. If he offers you some help, be sure to say thanks 'cos that's my man!