Plumbers, boilers and gremlins.

[Workingman]

Yesterday the boiler kept blowing out due to the wind and rain. This morning I could not get it to light, no way, no how, so phoned the landlord - I had no heating and no hot water. Early mid-morning a couple of boiler engineers turned up with some test equipment and a bag of spanners. Off went the water and the electricity.... then came the sharp intake of breath and the compulsory, "It needs this and it could do with one of......"

To cut a long story.

Landlord agreed to minimum repairs. Plumbers grumbled and said they needed to go off and locate the necessary bits. That would have left me with no water or heating at all for who knows how long. We came up with the idea that I would go out and leave the keys with the neighbours and the plumbers would ring me when the job was done. So, off I went for a carvery lunch and a bit of window shopping on a wet and windy day.

I returned at about 4 pm, before any phone call, just in time to catch the plumbers finishing off and getting the heating going. All's well that ends well.

What it did do, though, was bring home to me just how miserable things must be for the victims of the floods and power cuts. They must be going through hell again this evening - as many have for weeks.

[Kaz]

Glad you got sorted Frank - and yes it must be pure misery for those poor people

[JoM]

Really pleased you've got your boiler working again Frank, I really do feel for those poor people - there's no end in sight

[TheOstrich]

Also pleased to hear you've got your boiler sorted out, WM.

The flooding and devastation, the human misery in the south west is horrifying. I know we can't control the elements, and recent events have been exceptional, but nevertheless.

The railway breach at Dawlish, for example, may take up to 6 months to repair. That in itself is going to seriously impact on the tourist trade and the livelihoods of folk in Devon and Cornwall ...

[Kaz]

It really will I saw a horrible picture of damage on the front at Teignmouth too - hard to believe we were basking on that beach in blazing sunshine 6 months ago

Saturday is apparently going to be as bad, if not worse................

[JoM]

It's heartbreaking to see the damage that's being done to these beautiful coastal towns and, of course, people's homes and livelihoods

[Lozzles]

Some poor people are going through a dreadful time at the moment and it has been going on for weeks now

[JoM]

It has, it was just before Christmas when this weather first started to hit wasn't it?

[Kaz]

Six weeks since the first properties flooded in Somerset It said on the local news

[Aggers]

It certainly is a terrible situation with this prolonged rain, high tides and gale-force winds.

I came across an article on global warming which I wrote for a Nature Conservation Group a few years ago, and it is perhaps relevant to what is happening to our climate now. This is an extract from the article:

The human race have a way of pulling together in times of crisis, and nothing is impossible given the will to survive. It is to be hoped that our descendants do not have cause to curse us, as they witness, and suffer, the death throes of our unique and wonderful planet. Science fiction? - I think not. In support of the views expressed in this article here is a short extract from a book by James Sholto Douglas, a professional ecologist of international standing. It is most relevant.

"In this day and age, Earth is a dying planet. It is slowly succumbing to the actions and ravages of man, and unless the process is checked before it is too late, the final result will inevitably be the total pollution and disorganization of our world, with great loss of life. This unhappy outlook is not based on exaggerated or scaremongering predictions but on observed facts. The position has for some time been the cause of increasing concern and mounting alarm among ecologists. It is feared that unless nations, governments and individuals awaken soon to the gravity of the situation, serious disasters of unprecedented magnitude will undoubtedly overtake the human race before many decades have passed."

That ecologist's book, my friends, was written in 1974. Time is running out.