Saturday 21 November 2009

Keeping Cosy

Hello from a very wet and windy North Yorkshire. Rain, rain, rain. There has been rather a lot of it this week. The children's school and college both had to close on Wednesday due to the awful rain and flooded roads; not surprising really as they are both over the border in Cumbria. My heart goes out to those poor people whose homes and businesses have been flooded in Cockermouth and Workington. It brought back memories of 2007 when Hull and the surrounding area was badly flooded.
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Back then we lived in Beverley which is about 7 miles outside of Hull. I can remember being at work, it was a Monday morning and although I worked in a very busy branch of M&S, the place was deserted. It was raining heavily outside, I could see from the doorway that the gutters on the buildings across the street were overflowing and the drains in the pavement seemed to be bubbling up. It was very eerie and quiet in the usually bustling store, but at the time apart from it being very wet outside we didn't really know why. Then news started to trickle through; colleagues began phoning in to say they couldn't get into work because the roads were starting to flood. Then the water started coming into the store! Water was dripping from the ceiling lights and in the stock room water ran freely down the inside of the walls, computers and stock were hastily moved away. A radio was turned on upstairs in the office to keep us up to date with the flood warnings and more and more staff left mid shift to try and get home while they could.
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I only lived 10minutes walk away from the store, so stayed and finished my shift. I was surprised when I left to find my husband waiting outside for me with an umbrella. Firstly because he didn't usually come and meet me and secondly because he was using an umbrella which I'd never seen him do before. We crossed the road and turned down the next little street and then I knew why he'd walked to meet me. We had to wade the rest of the way home, the water being mid shin deep. I held on tightly to him, and asked why he hadn't come in the car but at the corner of the next street I could see for myself the main road was completely flooded.
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Back home we watched the water rising in the little ditch that ran along the lane at the bottom of our garden, luckily our garden sloped up towards the house so we were OK. My parents weren't quite so lucky; I felt so helpless when my mum phoned to say their garden was completely flooded and they were watching the water rising up the door step and lapping at the door frame. My dad had tried to block the air bricks around the house to stop the water from getting underneath and coming up through the floor. Luckily the water didn't come into the house, but they still needed humidifiers and a large fan to dry out the floors and air space underneath it. They did lose items in the garage which did flood. They still counted themselves very lucky.
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Up until a few months ago there where still static caravans parked in front gardens along the main road to their house. It's taken nearly 2 years for some peoples homes to be habitable again.
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So back to our little corner of the world, wet and windy but nothing too bad. Only one local road impassable but that's clear now. So the best place to be is indoors, all warm and cosy in front of the fire.

With a spot of knitting.

It's not really my thing knitting but I enjoyed doing this.

Have you guessed what it is yet?

BIG, BIG CLUE!

TA-DAA!
A tea cosy with little bobbles around the bottom.

Keep dry and cosy.
Fi x


20 comments:

Devon said...

Sorry for all the rain,,,I will try and send sunshine your way,,,the tea cozy is adorable I couldnt think of spending a rainy day better then knitting..hope it stops soon..

GerryART said...

As soon as I saw the bobbles in this post I knew it had to be a tea cozy. Very Cute !
In summer of 1993 and 95 this area had great floods. Jefferson City is located on the Missouri River. There are several creeks in our neighborhood that run into the river.That year these creeks backed up because of the over-flood-stage river and flooded houses in our neighborhood - came within three houses of our house.
It was a couple of years before that part of our neighborhood was back to normal.
Stay dry and safe.

Anonymous said...

looking at your post today I finally remembered my dream from last night.I remembered I was looking for a pattern to make a tea cozy....funny!

what a heartache for the people with all the flooding:(

Marigold Jam said...

Glad you are OK and not flooded though my heart goes out to (what a strange phrase that is!) those whose homes are ruined.

Like you I spent the day indoors with my needlework yesterday whilst the wind lashed the rain against the windows.

Jane

Anonymous said...

Its funny how mother nature works, your country in flood, ours in drought, surrounded by bushfires I wish she would combine the two so we could both be happy
Awesome photo...
stay safe xxx
Tracey

The Weaver of Grass said...

We had little or no rain (10mm) which goes to show how regional it was as we are only 15 miles away from you.
Love the tea cosy -

Carol said...

Fi that is a lovely Teacosy.
I do not blame you staying in. The rain is becoming a bit scary. It must be terrible for those who have been flooded before when they see the rain coming again. This country is obsessed with helping..or so it thinks! other countries but does not a lot, to help our own! Every year now we get these floods, rain, leaves, snow and wind brings this country to a halt. Madmess.
Carol x

Marmalade Yarns said...

lovely tea cosy, nice and simple, very classic, well done. enjoy the winter evenings. lol maxine

Sal said...

It must be absolutely terrible to have your home flooded. Those poor people.

I do love your tea cosy! So simple yet effective!
;-)

Bertie Meadows said...

Hello Fi, oh yes my heart goes out to those poor people who are victims of the floods. You can't do anything to stop mother nature. I'm loving your tea cosy, very snuggly indeed.
Bertie x

wonderwoman said...

its been awful weather down south too!!! i feel so sorry for all those people whose homes have been affected by floods - where on earth do you start?
love the tea cosy!

xxx

Serenata said...

The floods really are terrible aren't they? Makes you realise how lucky you are.

The tea cosy looks lovely and 'cosy'. Very nice.

Maggie Ann said...

oh my, that flooding you described makes me feel a little heartsick to think of how awful that must have been! I can't imagine water rising up to my doorstep. Some basements around our area have been flooded each year. Not ours I'm thankful to say. I love your tea cozy! I have always been a 'bobble' fan. I don't know why, they just seem so pretty and cheerful.

Diane said...

I remember that Monday very well. Here in SOuth Yorkshire, we had been having torrential rain for days, but on the Monday, it was rain of biblical proportions - every drop was a full spoonfull. The rest for Sheffield and Hull is history. Love love love the cosy.xxx

Joshy and belle said...

its been bad here very wet and windy im glad we've not had to venture out much! fliss xx

Serenata said...

The bunnies are gorgeous - just blogged about them. Thanks again!

...Nina Nixon... said...

Such an awful time and something that seems to be occuring more and more too often.

Glad to hear your all ok and I love the tea cosy.

take care,

Nina x

ps. I had the best bag of chips on Beverly years ago cooked in beef dripping - the best! N xox

Jill said...

Having your home flooded must be one of the worse disasters as it effects so many - hope you stay as cosy as your tea-pot!
(found via marigoldjam)

Lynne said...

Yes the floods in Cumbria have been dreadful, we've been watching the news with interest. I'd forgotten that Mum had to have humidifiers in her house once, and another time they came to stay overnight with us as the flood waters started to come over the step. It's a dreadful thing to happen and it isn't cleared for a very long time.
Love your tea cosy.

Rubyred said...

Nature is a very powerful thing! I feel so sorry for all who have been flooded! We do get flooding here in Witney, the road at the end of mine becomes flooded very easily and the firemen always turn up to help people through safely!
We had a terrible tragedy last year when a local lad got caught in a storm drain and unfortunately died!
You stay in the warm and dry! I love the Tea cozy, adorable!
Rachel x