…and the rain came down, and the floods rose up!

On Saturday, Nothern Ireland received more rain in several hours than it usually does for the entire month of August. Let me assure you, we are not usually strangers to rain here, so we usually see more than enough in August as it is!

We drove north to the cottage, chosing to drive through Belfast city centre for a change, and through the new tunnel at the end of the M1 /westlink, and up the M2. Just hours later, after more rain than we have seen in a LONG time, we heard on the news that the tunnel was flooded (water levels of 7 m), cars were submerged, there had been landslides on the M2, and chaos reigned/rained!

You can see the flooded tunnel here

Fortunately we were already safely arrived at the cottage, and missed the drama, but a number of family and friends struggled with their journeys or have experienced flooding near their homes.

We are near the village of Bushmills (famous for it’s whiskey) and the river Bush. I took some photographs yesterday of the swollen river, and have included some pictures taken earlier this summer for comparison.

It is difficult to portray the roar of the water and the volume of the torrent rushing past, but here are a few more flood pics from yesterday.

On to some other, more pleasant topics!

Birthdays – by the time of my next post I will be 41! Thanks to my parents coming for a “sleepover” with our kids, my husband and I are looking forward to a night away in a hotel.

It has been the second birthday celebration over at Weeds & Wildflowers, and I made this page as a gift for a friend’s daughter, using the exclusive bonus Birthday pack that comes with the Delightful kit.

I am pleased to report that the “Back to School” shopping is nearly complete – just black school shoes left to purchase this week. This is what we have purchased so far:

School Uniform (fortunately most still fitted, so school sweat shirts were the main expense)
School Bags
Pencil Cases
Lunch Boxes and water bottles
Colouring pencils, pencils, sharpeners, rulers, files
Winter coats

I would be interested if you have kids if you could let me know if you have school uniform in your corner of the world? Personally I am very glad we do, because the trauma of decision making by my daughters when it is a non-uniform day would be too much on a daily basis.

That is enough rambling for now. Next post will be a birthday post (although it may be a day late – not sure I could get away with taking my laptop to the hotel!)

Take care.

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