wendy house

wendy: smells like rain

my colleage looks outside the window at the blue sky, looks back at me, raises a single eyebrow slowly then  the edges of her mouth swing out while her lips furl from her teeth revealing the cheekiest of grins.

wendy: I know, it sounds a bit bonkers, but this room just does smell like rain to me, can you smell it?

colleague: no (laughs, then, about a minute later)  OH MY GOD. WENDY! Look out the window, its raining!

A cloud above the building that we couldn’t see was dumnping its load with avengance, rain against blue skys. To me the smell was overwhelming and kinda sexy.  Apparantly the other people in the room couldn’t smell the rain through the building walls.

On planet wendy we not only smell the future coming we often hear then trip-over it too.

During the recent snow, cars moved very, very slowly and often moved into unintended places with slow, steady momentum.

It’s difficult to forget the world while shivering.  Its worth a try.  Getting a good wood burning stove is also worth a try

snow patrol sang chasing cars

affecting  all of the UK

 Normally the weather only affects a bit of the UK while the rest of the UK remains weatherless.  

Weatherlessness?   No wind, no fog, no rain, no thunderstorms, no snow, no blue skies… …a silent, still, greyness lingering oppressively

For your own safety, please avoid walking under the permanently affixed  luminance apparatus  on the Wendy House frontage

Sorry for the inconvenience

This message is bought to you courtesy of wendy, the fluffballs, January snow…

…the cup of T

and the number 3

A trickle of water from the cold water tap.  

Less that a trickle from the hot water tap,  

Not enough flow to ignite the combi-bolier heating.   Brrrr…  

I made a cup of tea,   inspecting all visible pipes in the house and the stop-cock that supplies water to the house.  

All were well.

Thames Water website show a daily list of major water mains leaks and areas they affect.   There is a leak nearby, but it shouldn’t be affecting my home.   There is a note that they are having difficulty getting to burst water mains  and that the phones are very busy.   I should be  patient.  

I coat, boot and glove-up.   Then carry  my spade through the ice and snow covered garden.

The garden water tap is frozen. I can’t turn it. No sign of a leak.   I get to the roadside and dig out my water valve and check the meter.   It’s not ticking over.   No water coming onto my property.   Phew, no leak on my property means I dont have to call out a plumber on my expense.   Inconvenience rather than inconvenience and financial burden.   Phew.

The neighbors have no water at all.    I offer them use of my trickle to fill their kettle for tea.   We watch as a child hikes by with 4 large bottles of water.   A man walks by and asks if we have water,   we tell him no and he is pleased.   He’s just visited his lonely frightened mother, he goes back to reasure her that its the water mains.  

Plenty of white snow around for creating untreated water.  I’m not going to die of thirst in the near future or run out of Tea  

I wonder if snow is full of chemicals or fresh enough to drink as it once was.  Luckily I haven’t had to find out – yet.

The trickle from my tap filled some bottles for tea and the bath to flush the toilet.

Here in the UK we have roads who’s whole purpose is to provide relief,   relief Roads.  

The  pleasingly named Rose Kiln Lane is a Berkshire relief road.   Roads that provide relief.   A ver pleasing idea.  

Having a stressful day at work? Then visit Rose Kiln Lane to find relief.

Judging by this web camera picture very few people  have been using Rose Kiln Lane for relief    during this cold snap.   No yellow snow, cars, or people to be seen.  

My fluffballs are indoor kitties with their own kitty-litter box.  

Many british cats are outdoor-indoor cats with their own ‘cat-flap’ in the household door, window or wall.  

How does such deep and freezing snow affect outdoor cats?   How do they get through a cat-flap that is below snow level?   Even if their human digs out the snow by the flap where do they make the cat pathway go?   Cats like to bury their doings, how do they do this when the earth and snow is frozen?  

I’m concerned for the many  cats that do their doings outside.   It’s not made national news yet but  given cat ownership in this country it is a pending disaster.    Worse, on a personal level  I’m running low on my supply of kitty-litter.    

 What to do with indoor kitties that need doings doing and no litter for doing it in?

(obligatory local snow scene picture)

Perhaps I was a bit premature with the melting snow post.

Thomas has been buried alive.

I’ve cunningly avoided yet another Gym subscription nightmare by resorting to digging out the Wendy House garden path.

After 24 hours of snow, 30cm in my back garden, the local shops are suffering from depleted stocks.      People who when stranded at home must have a steady supply of toast, ideally spread with marmite, are buying thier bread.  No new deliveries.   You do the maths…

Toastie!

Will I have to compromise the purity of my toast by taking my marmite on toasted teacakes? Tonight I’m planning to pop around my perky, yet elderly, neighbour’s house to…

…share some seasonal bubbly – more toastie!

…and snow stories in front of a glowing fireplace – even more  toastie!  

then I’ll take their food order round to the corner shop where I’ll

battle for some buns.

At the Elephant Hotel, Pangbourne, the guests stranded by the suddent, unexpected, snowfall share stories of how they came to be at this hotel

Formerly Handsome Other Guest (FHOG): (slurred) I wanted to bring the truck out tonight,   but my wife wanted to come in the Merc

wendy: (snigger)

FHOG: So we came in the Merc because I always have to do what she says (slurred with a venemous undertone)

FHOG: but she’s admitted she was wrong this time, for the first time in 10 years marriage she’s admitted she was wrong (triumphant venemous overtones with a hint of over-exaggeration.   Yuck)

wendy: I drove  my little  Honda civic automatic up the Cascade moutains in Western Washington  to a ski resort during a snow storm.   But then, my alternative was a bicycle not a truck

FHOG: this is my mother….

Reminder to self – a black polo-neck jumper,  stylish set of spectacles and slim build do not predict good-heartedness.   Sometimes I’m such a  slow learner.

3pm. Somewhere near Didcot. 21st December

How sensible am I,   starting my journey back to Reading?
Unbeknownst to me, Reading had already come to a standstill
The Reading Chronical had already published the standstill*

6pm. Pangbourne. 21st December

This is where I encountered the full car neige,   the tail end of the traffic trying to get into Reading.   The traffic standing still,   sliding sideways, not yet abandoned.   Local radio traffic news talked  50 yards taking 2 hours to cover.   Urrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhh……

Across the next hour I called and consulted with multiple friends. The phone network was often too busy to connect my calls.   Despite the presense  of many car drivers I felt very alone.    My calm sensible friends and I agreed that I needed to get off the road quickly and get shelter for the night.  

wendy: do you have any spare rooms for the night?

receptionist: stranded?

wendy: yes, well, um, yes

receptionist: we have one room left,   would you like a toothbrush with that?

wendy: OH! (signifying relief at getting a room and supportive receptionist) Yes please, thank you, I was turned away from the hotel down the road, a toothbrush!   how thoughtful

Handsome Other Guest (HOG): we’re stranded too,   I’ve only got a hammer and some ski poles in the boot of my car,   maybe we can do a deal over the toothbrush?

wendy: I’ve got a blanket in my car, we could build something like a tent with the poles and hammer.   Not sure where the toothbrush comes in

HOG: (Huge smile then turns to receptionist) table for 6 please

receptionist: we’re waiting for the chef to get in before we finalise the menu,   we’ll try and feed everyone

HOG: Table for 6?   Can you put me on the waiting list

Clearly the snow car chaos called for some serious parking-up and a pint of Butcombe.   My party for one joined a few other party’s for one and we all shared stories of family, cars, hills, walking, the IT industry  and other topical faerie tales.  

*  the exceptional Number 17 bus was still on the move, albeit erratically.

3pm. Somewhere near Didcot. 21st December

work colleague:   leaving already?

wendy:   it’s started snowing

work colleague: I didn’t think you were the nervous type, to leave so early.

Wendy: I’m not nervous,   I’m sensible.   Call me sensible wendy.   I’ll call you when I get home safely.

Ha hahahahahaaaaaaa   how sensible am I?

why I love England #12:generous heavens

When the heavens open we are blessed with the peaceful hypnotic sound of rain

on the Wendy House roof

on a  summer evening

How hot was it today?  

The thermometer says DANG HOT,   no number necessary.  

 The kitties look cool as pie, stetched out in the conservatory hot house rather than in the cool dark back room where I’m making my way through a chocolate eclair accompanied by a sleeve of Old Speckled Hen.

In December 1981 most of the 1000 or so pupils turned up at my school during the snowy week,   only a few teachers managed to get to school.  

SLACKERS!      

The story was very similar to the current snow-stopped-school.     Except that the current snow brings the country to a standstill crisis because parents are having to stay at home to look after their kids,   in 1981 the kids stayed at the closed school and thrashed the proverbial ski-pants of each other.

In 1981 the few, local,  teachers who turned-up organised mass snowball fights between academic years.   In this photo the 3rd year students on the right hand side are advancing on the 2nd year students who are bravely running away to the left.  

RUNAWAY!  

The third year won thier foray.   I was in the 6th form.   The 5th year thoroughly squished snow down our necks, up our not insubstantial noses  and in our pants,   jolly good fun it was too.   Hot scrumpy all round,   Hoorah!

BBC reports

• Wales:   30,000 people are without power in Wales (Jan 18th).  
• Scotland: Blizzard conditions.   That’s worse that snowfall, that’s when the snow travels fast and sideways rather than floating down. (Jan 18th).
• Britain:   Storms lead to the death of 9 people (Jan 18th).    

Listen to a BBC reporter and local Brit’s talk about the experience,   see huge waves, see planes  fighting to take off, trees blocking roads and workers in orange tops trying to sort-out the mess:   Embedded windows Media player on BBC site.

The CIA  estimates the population of Britain to be  60,609,153 (minus 9),   that’s about 12 times the estimated population of Washington state.   More pople to be impacted by a Storm on an island.   Woodland’s junior school puts density of people point succinctly:

Britain is a relatively densely populated country: it is more than twice as densely populated as France (106 people per sq.km), nine times as densely populated as the USA (27 people per sq.km) and 100 times as densely populated as Australia (2 people per sq.km).

I’ll be checking in with my family this weekend,   no-one’s called which is always a good sign with my family  

My voicemail recieved a pre-recorded message from the people that empty my bins: (US = ‘waste disposal service’).  

thier tape recorder phones my tape recorder

The impending ‘weather event’ might interrupt my service.   Not to worry!   They’ll come next week and take twice the rubbish away.   Hooray!   Wonderfully polite and thoughtful.  

‘weather event’?!    Seattle services’ way of saying “snow“, “high winds“,  ‘something  not nice’,   ‘some nastiness’  without causing customers to  panic.    Or, maybe they’re expecting a heat-wave and the bin service people to call in ‘sick’ as they dash to ‘reccuperate’ on the local beaches with their surf boards.   ‘Weather event‘ certainly covers a broad range of possibilities.  

Near me the weather event turned out to be a couple of hours of snow, producing ‘slush’ on the roads, local Seattle drivers aqua-planning or deserting their cars on the roadside.   Some parts of the Seattle region collected over half a foot of snow.   Meanwhile, LooSea didn’t even skid in our local 3 inches.    Here are LooSea’s tracks mixed with evidence of people, cars and bicyles outside the Wendy House… …in the evening slush..

Living in a wooden house is still a novelty.   I grew  up in the security of bricks and mortar.   The only noises from the water hammer in the copper pipes as the heating burst into action on a cold day.   Tonight,  I am experiencing my first storm in Seattle.   I hear the wind growing and the house c-c-c-c-creaks.   The lights flicker-ker-ker-ker.   Will I be plunged into darkness any minute?   Time to find my head-torch.

Federal news radio reports:

A powerful storm socked the Pacific Northwest with heavy rain and wind gusts close to 100 mph Thursday, flooding streets, toppling trees and cutting power to thousands.

More than 150,000 customers lost electricity in Washington and Oregon, utilities reported. Additionally, Washington’s largest utility, Puget Sound Energy, said thousands lacked power

The services are watching for floods,   mudslides,   the massive tree’s falling where they could take-out people or power-lines.    At first I thought the locals were always over-reacted to so-called storms.   Calling a snow-flurry a snow-storm.   Tonight I understand, a little more,  why.   The infrastructure is more vulnerable than in Britain.   The tree’s are bigger.   The cables are often overshadowed by trees.   Vulnerable.    The houses are built on the brow’s of hills for the good views.     When the trees on the hillside fall they  unmesh the topsoils,   enable mudslides.    The ‘trouble-spots’ here  are not necessarily known.   In Britain we know the problems through centuries of documented natural events.   Here, many buildings, roads, and  services (power etc) are relatively new,   less than 10yrs old.   The realistic implications of living with this are only really beginning to dawn on me.

The authorities do not ‘Grit’ or salt the roads in Seattle.   No local government provided roadside grit bins.   I’m told they do provide sand but as far as I can tell it’s not stored at known troublespots.     Apparantly, drivers have to rely on other means to reduce the impact of slippiness.     Here’s a list of strategies I’ve observed in the last 24 hours:

1. heavy metal:  4 wheel drive SUVs  with chains  and/or studded tyres.   I watched a lady smoking a fag in a   Mall car-park yesterday while a ‘cashiers clerk’ (packs shoppers bags for them) put the chains on her stonking-big SUV.  
2. cat litter:   several people I know carry bags of cat-litter in their car boot,   just incase they need some traction in an emergency.  
3. abandon ship: abandon your car here, anywhere,   well perhaps aim at the side of ther oad.  Pressumably  these people get a lift from somone with an SUV.
4. Mall camp:   drive to the nearest strip-mall with a 24hr store.   There are lots of them.   Park,   then wait for the weather to thaw.
5. hermit:   stay indoors (popular choice).
6. truant:   claim being stranded then go skiing (another popular choice).
7. speed: put your foot on the accelerator to get up that slippy hill  (I kid you not,   I saw several people trying this on slopes).
8. wiggle:   wiggle the steering-wheel around to try and regain control when in a skid (seriously,   I saw this happen to more than one driver)
9. attack: get out of your car and kick the tyres (uhu,   you guessed it,   I saw somone do this after having wiggled his steering wheel and spun his tyres)

 Now excuse me for a while,  I’ve got some serious falling over to be getting on with,    outside into the pretty slippy world… …oooOOOOooooo….

A descriptive term for something that looks or behaves like a mug?

In Charlotte the weather forcaster predicts hot, humid, thunderstorms and an ozone ‘code orange’  alert.  

Muggy

We should not drive anywhere,   paint anything and only re-fuel cars in the evening.    We can drink two dozen mugs of Arnold Palmer  then ask the server ‘who is Arnold Palmer’?   The server’s amazement at my not knowing this  golfing basic is evident.   Think jaw hitting floor.   Ooops.    

English (51.30 °N) summers are normally cooler than Seattle (47 °37′N).   This summer southern England is experiencing a heatwave.    The BBC reports 90  degrees today.   While the gentle glow of sweat on skin can be very sensuous, moving is yet more sensuous.   Today I’ve been lurking in the shade and  seeking cool breezes.   I even checked out the cost of purchasing and ‘air conditioner’.   Air conditioners are a new technology for me, not commonly available in the UK,   no need.   I prefer the action possibilities afforded by living in higher lattitudes than 47 °37′N.    More outdoors ‘stuff’ is possible all year round.

in Charlotte, NC.  

Anticipating hot balmy southern nights.  I didn’t bring mi’ mack.   Ooops.    Alberto,  the first tropical storm  of the season is here.   Today’s CBS report comments:

‘the heaviest rain – probably 2 to 4 inches – is likely in Georgia and the coastlines of the Carolinas, with most of Florida getting only an additional inch or so and some areas staying rain free’

Tropical storms and their bigger sibbling ‘hurricanes’ are a completely new experience for me.

I plan to get wet rather than spend my brief, valuable touristy, time mack shopping (yuck!)    

This photograph made gray, rain and carparks feel romantic. The single street lamp seems courageous. Having felt the cold and seen the snow drifts so unfamiliar to me adds something special to this picture.

No puking, I get soppy, get used to it.

I’ve made this picture my ‘desktop background’ it compliments the XP ‘silver’ theme quite well.

Waking at 7am. What is that?

Looking at the gray overcast skies. Fighting the urge to “Bail-out” before even getting out of bed.

Driving to Port Susan I passed a multi-car pile-up in the snow on the I5. What am I doing? Am I crazy? Its the first week in February and I paid to be go out on the water? Am I completely bonkers?

As I pulled into the meeting point the Hail stones pounded my warm car. I want to stay in my car. Surely the trip will be canceled and I wont have to Bail? It’s not canceled. I must be ever-so-slightly not-quite-sane.

The sun sneaked out as we unloaded the Kayaks. Maybe this wasn’t such a wacky idea.   In the end no-one balied, tired and happy we wendy’d our ways home….

Sweet Silvery Dreams Wendy xxx