# Did you miss me?



## peejay (May 10, 2005)

'Probably not' I hear you all shout :smile:


Had a bit of a do last Friday (13th). Flood warning for our village that evening and at 4pm we got the knock on the door advising us to leave the property as the tides (springtide and high tide) along with strong winds were going to be higher than expected. 


Our evacuation muster point is the pub just up the road on higher ground.
Turned out the whole village was evacuated and the pub was bursting at the seams when we arrived. One of the great advantages of having a motorhome is that we could retire to the van in the car park away from all the chaos in the pub. Later that evening there was a power cut at the pub so everyone was sat there in darkness while we were in relative luxury in the van watching tv, I went out in the car and treated us to a Chinese take away as well.


Cut a long story short they wouldn't let us back to the village that night so we spent the night in the pub car park. Others less fortunate had to go to the nearby community centre where camp beds were provided.
Up on Saturday morning at about 6am and took the car back to the house, roads were open again and our house was ok (heaves sigh of relief), the garden was a bit of a mess and a small amount of water got into the garage but that was easily cleaned up over the next few days. Two houses on the sea front and one house next door but one to us were less lucky and their properties will have to be refurbished (been there, got that t-shirt in 2013).


Sunday night, back to normal, surfing the web and pop, down goes the phone and internet, not sure if it was flood related but contacted BT Monday morning and they said it would take up to 4 days to fix as it was a 'network' fault whatever that means. Thursday and still no line, back to BT again and they said expect to be down maybe until Sat pm, wasn't happy about that but what can you do. Thursday PM a BT van arrived and set about fixing the fault, finally connecting us this morning about 9am.


So that's why I've been missing for a few days.


Finally, two things on reflection, 1 - Boy. am I glad we own a motorhome and 2 - You just don't realise how much you rely on the internet until you're without it.


Pete


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## MEES (Apr 20, 2006)

Good to hear you escaped relatively lightly and made good use of the motorhome !


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Thank goodness no flood damage this time Pete 

Welcome back :grin2:

Sandra


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

Pete

Glad you were hardly touched by the surge.

I cannot believe that it is nearly 4 years since you were flooded.

I am not sure I could live with the thought that it might happen again - I would have moved by now.

Yes, having the MH did save you hassle. I think of ours as our escape route from Poland if Putin ever kicks off - I should probably buy a trailer for saving a few extras, as we have a towbar and plenty of parking space and 3 garages.

I know what you mean about reliance on the internet. In the house we have an office in the basement which has a landline connection for internet and upstairs we piggy-back the laptop onto the office router. As a back-up we have a smartphone, so can use that (tethered to laptop) if the landline goes down. We have a £25/month contract for the phone giving us free calls all over EU to landline and mobiles plus 3Gb per month in EU. Basia uses that as office phone(tax deductible), but also to call family daily when we are away and I use it for free calls to friends. Consequently we have given up landline in the house and we also save by not needing to pay for some off-line versions of e.g. camping-carsinfo.

Anyway, glad you are back with us Pete. You may have missed that Paul (Coppo) has also rejoined us.

Geoff


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

nicholsong said:


> Pete
> 
> Glad you were hardly touched by the surge.
> 
> ...


Geoff,

Its one of the drawbacks of living next to the sea I suppose, we're quite well protected now with flood barriers on all external orifices and non return valves on the drainage, all paid for with a flood resilience grant. 
Come the summer and all is forgiven when its just a few hundred yards stroll to the beach and the sun is shining.

I did have weak broadband from my neighbour while we were down as they are also with BT and you can share a small portion of your broadband with other BT users. It was only really enough to get emails though. I suppose I could have taken my tablet across the road and sat in their front garden to get a stronger signal but I wasn't quite that desperate. :lol: 
We use iplayer and all the catch up channels quite a lot so that was a bit annoying.

I wonder which is the worse threat, Putin or the sea? 

Pete


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

[


I wonder which is the worse threat, Putin or the sea? 

Hmmm? For you the sea I suppose, because those E. Coast surges occur more frequently.

If we ever did feel there was a need to leave, we would have to take Basia's 95 year-old Mother with us, because she already suffered at the hands of the Russians, by being 'transported' at the end of WWII by Uncle Joe's government to Siberia for 5 years. That is one of the reasons I give it some thought. Fortunately I still have the house in London, but it would be a wrench for Mother as she does not speak English. We just hope nothing happens to trigger such a move.

Geoff


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## chasper (Apr 20, 2008)

Has Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU are ready to help.:grin2:


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## nicholsong (May 26, 2009)

chasper said:


> Has Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU are ready to help.:grin2:


I am sure he has his rifle and combat gear ready for deployment on a 24 hour basis:wink2::laugh:


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

peejay said:


> Geoff,
> 
> Its one of the drawbacks of living next to the sea I suppose, we're quite well protected now with flood barriers on all external orifices and non return valves on the drainage, all paid for with a flood resilience grant.
> Come the summer and all is forgiven when its just a few hundred yards stroll to the beach and the sun is shining.
> ...


Glad to hear you didn't suffer too much Pete.
I seem to remember you having a problem from erosion a while ago. Yes one of the fears when living near water anywhere.
We have friends in CA whose RV is always fuelled up and ready in case "The Big One" hits.

Ray.


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## HurricaneSmith (Jul 13, 2007)

I'm delighted to hear that all went well, Pete.

I also remember the photos you posted from your flood damage around four years ago when you were travelling. Thank goodness you didn't have to face all that again.


We walked around Fairlight over the festive season, and my thoughts went to your home as we wandered around the cliffs. They have created a Charitable Preservation Trust that has helped procure coastal defences. From memory, I think they told me that the currently installed defences have a life of around 50 years, and they are already thinking about the future beyond that.



.


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

I missed you Pete.................................


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## Don Madge (Jul 26, 2016)

Hi Pete,


Glad to here all is well.


I was watching BBC news and thought of you and Judy when they mentioned the east coast. At least this time you were home unlike the last time.


The Algarve weather has been very good, no rain for the last five weeks, lets hope it stays that way. It has turned cold but it has been bright and sunny. If you can get out of the wind it's very pleasant, we have a sheltered courtyard and have sat out for lunch most days this month.


We are having a change for the last month of our trip we are renting an apartment in Praia de Luz. It's a place we have stayed in before, there's good walking and plenty of cafe's for our morning coffee. 


Regards to Judy.


Don


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

Best wishes Pete, glad its turned out not as bad as it could have been.

We have the opposite problem, it will never flood up here on the moors but when the storms come the wind is frightening, hence the extension with triple leaf walls we have just had built.

Paul.


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## GEMMY (Jun 19, 2006)

I'm 150' above the river Severn, if global warming gets really bad, I'll buy a boat :grin2:


tony


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Thanks everyone, you're such a caring lot :smile:

@HurricaneSmith - funnily enough John, I was just thinking the other day (pre flood) that I hadn't seen you post recently so good to see you back as well.

@Don Madge - Hi Don, glad to see you back too, hope you're enjoying Portugal, go easy on those pastéis de nata though, every time I see your photo you always seem to be getting stuck into one. :lol:

Pete


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## billplant (Sep 1, 2007)

glad it missed you Pete, we did as well


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