Dunkirk Spirit!

The next reporter who waffles on about the "community pulling together" and "Dunkirk Spirit" is going to get swung for

Unless of course, "Dunkirk Spirit" is an increasingly fractious, stressed, rebellious and irate populace clammoring over dwindling water supplies while TA volunteers (doubtless recently completed their Iraq training - dealing with a hostile civvy population) struggle to maintain order.

Ironically it's not drinking water that's the huge problem - drinking requires only 3 or 4 litres per person per day. It's washing, cleaning, toilet flushing that's the problem. It's all the little steps, siphoning fetid swamp water out of the rain water butt (and by the way, rain water sucked through a hose pipe tastes horrible) into a steel jerry can, lumping that upstairs and spilling loads of it trying to fill up the cistern. Oh, and as I previously used the jerry can for oil changes, there's a thin oil film everywhere (and of course, no way of flushing it clean without water). And that's just to flush the toilet, now you need to find a clean water bottle to wash your hands. And brush your teeth. And just to do the dishes requires 3 or so litres, half boiled up, half cold, mix as best you can - the result is we just end up trying to re-use plates and eating food suitable for wipe clean dishes. Oh, and when you do wash up, remember to save the dish water to go in the toilet cistern. Haven't had a bath or shower or shave in four days now and feeling grotty and horrible

And because next door is old and doddery (and more than a little dementia addled) we're doing all this twice. But to prevent supplies depletion the TA won't let you collect water for a neighbour unless you cart said doddery old neighbour down in the car to prove she exists.

And Severn Trent Scum are saying another ten to fourteen days of this. I'm quite sure that if a third of a million people were without water in London this would have been sorted by now. There was a plan to run 22 miles of above ground temporary water main to connect supplies to another county, this was abandoned as "it would cause too much disruption".


AAAARGGGHHH! I smell. Bad. I want a bath

Thats terrible Matt! Do you want to come and stay at ours? We are on Severe Flood Warning, but I don't reckon we'll flood now, and we have a spare double bedroom (not sure if you have family or not). All the water and electrics are on though, that is the main thing.

BTW we are enjoying a "blitz spirit", I wonder if that is different to a dunkirk spirit hehe

Aww bless, thanks Warthog Just me and the missus (really feel sorry for the folks with kids). No worries, we're going to head oop north to the parentals at the weekend to steal their shower and washing machine

EDIT: Btw - went out for a recce on the bike the other night and had a gander at west oxfordshire - big chunks of it are pretty screwed too - Burford and Witney now have a booming fishing industry and Bourton on the Water is now Bourton Under Water.

EDIT 2: Riding through sewage makes your bike smell really bad the next time you start it up and the engine gets warm. Just thought I'd share

[Stingo]

Feeling for ya Matt - but I won't pretend I know what it's like. There is a problem with running the pipes overground though...when it gets dark, the vandals move in...I imagine you may already have experienced some of their antics with regard to the bowsers. Little gits need locking up IN the bowsers!!

Talking of Tewkesbury.

This is awful.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...cle2806601.ece