The river was rising and I knew we were in for a 10-20-year flood and so organised my sheds and boats accordingly and then took a walk along The Hayling Way to the mill and turned back traffic on Mill Lane as it was getting dangerous. Flood warnings in local villages with many cut off. Just buying Government Stocks as I was warned off equities and then was contacted by another local to help with my history research as I was also interviewing another this evening.
Awoke with a suitable sore throat and tired after my late night. I have had a chest infection/cold and all of this talking is making it worse. The river levels were high and rising after the torrential rains last night and I knew we were in for a 10/20 year flood of the same scale of 1974. After breakfast, I put on some old clothes and went out to start clearing up the riverside gardens. First, I secured the rising poles and landing stage, piling rocks on and tying up the latter for the expected immersion. Then piled up the loose wood above expected flood levels. Next was the task of securing the summer house and Bill’s shed, by cleaning things off of the floor up onto surfaces 2-4ft above the decks. Close to lunch time, I took a walk along the Hayling Way and took a look at the floodwater rising above the road. Cars and a bus were getting stuck and as I watched, the road had to be closed with the levels rising visibly and water rushing across the field and road, around the sluices which had become overwhelmed. I went back up Mill Lane, turning the traffic back and came home rather late for lunch.
Earlier I had called my stockbrokers and discussed the market with them. Wall Street had risen last night and London went up today, but the markets are still very nervous and movements erratic. I was advised to keep away from shares for a while, but we did decide to buy a modest amount of 1992, 3% gilts for the children - £10,000 each. After my lunch, the water levels were surging upwards again and I went out in my boots to evacuate the large shed. It would be touch and go if the water would go into it, but it made sense to prepare for this eventuality anyway. I moved the lawnmowers and other large tools up to the outer garage, and was in the process of putting up the loose items onto higher surfaces when Pete arrived at 2.45pm. I could have used his help earlier, but he did help for a short while. In fact, he was so jumpy, knocking over things and panicking about the rising water, that I sent him away before long. I have seen this level of flooding before and have had to do the chore of securing the shed contents quite often and feel myself to be quite a dab hand. An old chap from Grassmere, in Bydand Lane, came by, having seen the newspaper publicity and been talking to his neighbours. He approached me on behalf of the lady from North Lodge, who herself, and with friends, wishes to help me with my Little Paxton history research. The news reports were of flooding locally today. The Alconbury Weston village was the subject of an Anglian Authority ‘Red Alert’, with a lorry full of sand bags in the village for anti-flood measures by the residents. Kimbolton was cut off from the A45 by floods from Weston Brook/River Kym at Stonely and, with Daniel & Debbie’s school bus astray, Di had to take them in via Grafham in the Range Rover. Even though the news stories were of Kimbolton being ‘cut off’, the school bus brought them safely home later. Took some photographs of the river valley floods before tea and checked Daniel’s work after. Wrote up this last two days journal, then, tonight, I was on the Little Paxton history trail again, with an interview with Mr Smith of Wantage Gardens.