`The Aftermath 29/06/2012!'

What a day yesterday was, driving along in sunshine minding my own business, make a right turn and......... WHO TURNED OFF THE SUN??? Blimey those clouds do not look very inviting.. FLASH... SIZZLE.... BANG!  The whole bus vibrates from the clap of thunder directly overhead, twenty yards later with the wipers going full tilt I have to stop because I can't see where I'm going!  To cut a long story short there followed the worst storm I have ever witnessed.  The Whitley Bay area was just one big pond, one street had a foot high wall of water running down it, surprised no cars were washed along the road.  The trip that was supposed to take an hour to complete took over two, everywhere I went there were flooded roads to go along, it was like several million gallon buckets of  rain had just been tipped on Whitley Bay at the same time.  Needless to say I lost quite a lot of mileage.  The delays did not end there!  Making my way back to the depot I joined a queue of traffic stretching for miles.  After about forty five minutes of going nowhere I decide to take my chances and leave the main road for an alternative route.  This turned out to be a very good decision, for although it took me a further hour to do the fifteen minute journey back to the depot (passing several vehicles stuck in floods, strangely most seemed to be BMWs and one of our own vehicles bogged down on a grass verge) other drivers that had stayed on the Coast Road in front of me took over four hours.

The journey home looked daunting, I had left my car at South Hylton Metro Station and travelled in on the Metro.  The service was now suspended, I decide to walk the short journey to the Haymarket to see if I could get a bus to Sunderland or make my way to the Central Station and catch a local train home.  Being in my Arriva uniform was not a good thing, people were stopping me and asking the most stupid questions like "where are all the buses? I've been waiting for two hours and not seen one" and " why isn't the Metro running?" some even threatening my well being, I eventually find a service that will at least get me to Washington Galleries which is only about three miles from home and much better than the twelve mile hike I would have had without it!  Pauline eventually picks me up from nearby the Galleries and I arrive home around eleven p.m from leaving home at eight thirty a.m  Most of the rain water had disappeared from the roads by yesterday (Friday) morning, there were still a few 'swimming pools' in local fields but no closed roads thank god!  The Metro was still suspended and the traffic on the roads was horrendous but things were moving.  Apparently it was a very rare occurrence, three types of storm in one, likened to the those they have occasionally in some tropical and American regions.  Is this the future of the English summer? probably!

I'm now waiting for the builder that re-felted the out house roof to arrive, the corner blew up in the wind on Thursday night and he needs to re-fit it today!  He will probably want more money to do it but in my mind it's happened because he did not do a proper job, none of the other roofs in the area have had a problem and there are quite a few as the council re-did all their out houses last year.

#I can see clearly now........ soon

Well what an eventful time it's been since my last mutterings!  I have been to Bristol to see family and some old friends (one whom I met by the strangest coincidence) I bought Thom and Izzy their birthday presents whilst there.  I know Izzy enjoyed her's and I'm hoping Thom will enjoy his next month just as much!  Noah was his usual chatty self though he did catch a dose of tonsillitis just after I left.
My first anniversary at Arriva has come and gone, we've had the roof on the garage rebuilt and felted properly, an expensive but quality job done this time, funny how builders always find problems at the point of no return during a job.
Yesterday we went and ordered ourselves some new spectacles from Specsavers, my prescription was the same as last time, just a one point upgrade on the reading portion to help with the ticket machine screen at work.  I decided to get a pair of prescription polarised sunglasses this time, my Transition lenses are okay for every day use but they do not stop the glare off things like car bodies on sunny days, only draw back it means I'll need to carry both pairs of glasses with me at work.  Pauline had a bit of a shock as her's changed quite dramatically, having said that she has been complaining about not being able to see clearly with her old glasses for a while.
The car performed excellently on the way home, 70 mpg, still not refilled yet (over 500mls later) but will need to today or tomorrow after work.  Had a drive of Kris' Clio 182 Sport, very nice it was too! I need to visit the Post Office collection centre today to get my parcel for Father's Day from Kris and Nikki, can't wait cuz it's my windscreen detailing stuff, hopefully no more greasy screen!