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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Let's Bitch About the Weather!
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
Obviously Demeter decided to show her power.
The creeks down here on the peninsula seem to be nicely filling.
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
Today I cultivated an attitude of gratitude and went up and down the coast filming swollen creeks and angry surf.
Hail Demeter!
[ 10. February 2014, 04:28: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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The Phantom Flan Flinger
Shipmate
# 8891
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Posted
don't know about anywhere else, but here in the UK, the policitians, Environment Agency etc are fare more interested in arguing about who caused what to flood etc (apparently it's the last Labour government's fault - didn't know Gordon Brown is a rain god, but anyway...) than actually doing anything to help.
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Least it's not a drought.
No, but we'll still have a hosepipe ban come the summer.
[ 10. February 2014, 10:20: Message edited by: The Phantom Flan Flinger ]
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http://www.faith-hope-and-confusion.com/
Posts: 1020 | From: Leicester, England | Registered: Dec 2004
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Taliesin
Shipmate
# 14017
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Today I cultivated an attitude of gratitude and went up and down the coast filming swollen creeks and angry surf.
Hail Demeter!
What was wrong with it?? It looked like it was trying to avoid stepping on the opposite bank, despite really wanting to go there.
Reminded me of the carnivorous island on life of Pi...
Posts: 2138 | From: South, UK | Registered: Aug 2008
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
It's all OK now, the Prime Minister has announced that all resources will be employed to prevent and relieve flooding.
But it's got a lot closer to London, so we shouldn't be surprised. ![[Disappointed]](graemlins/disappointed.gif)
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Carex
Shipmate
# 9643
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by comet:
bring chains, pack the shovel, throw a sandbag or cat litter in the back just in case. you got this!
I had chains, two shovels (a trenching shovel with a narrow blade on a long handle is handy when you get high centered on a pile of snow), blankets, etc.
But a simpler solution was to leave the driving to someone else - the MAX train BLUE line runs nearby, then a transfer to the RED line which pulls right into the airport.
So I got to the local BLUE line station and bought a ticket. There was a train there heading the opposite direction which wasn't going anywhere. Turns out that the snow plow was stuck on the tracks, blocking the line.
Back in the car, headed up the freeway (driving wasn't too bad, with little traffic) to the transit center where I could catch the RED line directly. Sure, the elevators down to the station were out of order due to ice and snow, but we'd manage the luggage up the stairs on the return trip. Got on the train, settled in with a good book, and the train couldn't make it up the first hill due to ice on the electrical contacts to the power wire overhead. The train finally backed back into the station, dropped us off, and tried it again empty with the same result - stuck just were we could see the tail lights down the track.
So I offered rides to a couple folks trying to get home, put on the tire chains, and chugged up and over the hills and through downtown Portland on surface streets. At the airport I found that I had lost one of my tire chains along the way.
So heading home I removed the remaining chain and took the freeway at about 30 MPH through light freezing rain. Home safe but exhausted.
Posts: 1425 | Registered: Jun 2005
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
It's all OK now, the Prime Minister has announced that all resources will be employed to prevent and relieve flooding.
But it's got a lot closer to London, so we shouldn't be surprised.
Yes, when I saw that some of the millionaires' houses were being flooded in the Thames valley, I thought, hello, action stations. It's one thing for a few scrubby villages to be flooded in Bogfordshire, but Caroline and Hugh have their place in Berkshire, we can't allow that!
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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
To give him his due, Cameron has actually been to visit the flooded areas in his constituency (Witney, West Oxon) during the earlier floods in January and to talk to some locals. Also, he put on boots and waded in which is more than some other politicians have done.
[ 10. February 2014, 19:12: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
Yes, I know, but I was just watching the news, and there is an extra degree of hysteria, as the Thames starts to bulge, and the floods get nearer to - gasp, London itself, fount of all pleasures and secret license!
A very impressive map actually then appeared, showing in an angry red colour the swollen Thames monstering all before it. As Eliot said, 'the river is a strong brown god, sullen, untamed, untractable'.
Well, I live about 400 metres from it, so here's hoping. My wife wears wellies to work now.
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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Twilight
Puddleglum's sister
# 2832
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Posted
Here we sit at the front window, my dog and I, waiting for the orange, feral cat to walk by on the white, frozen wasteland, because we think he's kind of cool looking.
We're that bored.
Posts: 6817 | Registered: May 2002
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
Thank you for allowing the rest of us to share the boredom.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
Slipped and fell on the ice for a second time. My leg hurts now.
I hate ice.
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
That's so...Kyoto.
(Oops, that was toTwilight, I hadn't refreshed.)
[ 10. February 2014, 23:49: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Taliesin:
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
Today I cultivated an attitude of gratitude and went up and down the coast filming swollen creeks and angry surf.
Hail Demeter!
What was wrong with it?? It looked like it was trying to avoid stepping on the opposite bank, despite really wanting to go there.
Reminded me of the carnivorous island on life of Pi...
. Someone cut the audio in this version, but in the original it was pretty clear the little elk was going out of its way to make loud splashy sounds. It's playing.
[ 11. February 2014, 00:38: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
So wait, you're basically admitting that you brought playful little animals into a Hell thread?
To think I looked up to you.
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
The elk is helping me say fuck you, drought. Listen close.
Sorry, I forgot, the audio is cut, but watch its lips.
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Porridge
Shipmate
# 15405
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Posted
I am officially done with temps below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. For the winter. Thank you. Also I am officially done with shelling out vast quantities of moolah for the dubious privilege of keeping the thermostat at a point where the pipes don't freeze, but I do. I only own four sets of long johns, and at some point they're going to have to get washed, so WARM UP A LITTLE, DAMMIT.
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Spiggott: Everything I've ever told you is a lie, including that.
Moon: Including what?
Spiggott: That everything I've ever told you is a lie.
Moon: That's not true!
Posts: 3925 | From: Upper right corner | Registered: Jan 2010
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orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
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Posted
...elk have lips?
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Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
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Welease Woderwick
Sister Incubus Nightmare
# 10424
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Posted
Phoned a friend in UK last night for a chat, another good solid Party member, and we were fantasising about The Thames washing away the Palace of Westminster with all MPs of all parties still in it.
Sadly dreams rarely come true.
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I give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way.
Fancy a break in South India?
Accessible Homestay Guesthouse in Central Kerala, contact me for details
What part of Matt. 7:1 don't you understand?
Posts: 48139 | From: 1st on the right, straight on 'til morning | Registered: Sep 2005
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Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
...elk have lips?
How else to they give such fantastic head?
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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
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Timothy the Obscure
Mostly Friendly
# 292
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Posted
Portland is now defrosting, after a long weekend of snow. It wasn't so bad, it mostly meant that for three days nobody had to do anything, because we were told not to go anywhere. The city said they weren't going to send the snowplows (I'm not sure if the plural is justified in Portland's case) out because more snow was expected, which is every slacker's excuse. Apropos of which, you can walk down the street and tell where the transplanted Midwesterners live, because they shoveled their goddamn sidewalk. Unlike the native Oregonians, who probably don't even own a snow shovel ("Hey, it's going to melt in three or four days anyway...")
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When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.
- C. P. Snow
Posts: 6114 | From: PDX | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
Phoned a friend in UK last night for a chat, another good solid Party member, and we were fantasising about The Thames washing away the Palace of Westminster with all MPs of all parties still in it.
Sadly dreams rarely come true.
Eric Pickles is the flood supremo and if he could lie down in the way most of London would be protected from flooding.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
Ariel: quote:
Also, he put on boots and waded in which is more than some other politicians have done.
And this miraculously made the waters recede, did it?
Plus he's not the only politician who's been photographed in wellies recently - they're all at it. There was a picture of Nick Clegg in boots on the BBC website today.
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I see a whole new fetish: politicians in wellies and fig leaves.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jane R:
And this miraculously made the waters recede, did it?
I never claimed it did. It was Owen Patterson, currently the Environment Secretary, who was criticized recently for turning up at the flooded Somerset Levels, looking at it from a safe distance, making a speech to the TV cameras, not speaking to any of the flood victims, and going away again. Cameron at least got his boots on and spoke to people directly affected by the water.
Incidentally, Eric Pickles has a fan club of two students who take a life-size cardboard cut-out of him on their travels.
[ 11. February 2014, 11:37: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
Ariel: quote:
Incidentally, Eric Pickles has a fan club of two students who take a life-size cardboard cut-out of him on their travels.
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
I think he must have been reading this thread. He's just turned up to inspect the floods (and speak to people) locally this afternoon.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Sleepwalker
Shipmate
# 15343
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Posted
I've heard (on TV) and seen on a few forums a fair bit of bitching about the government and the ever increasing flooding crisis here in the UK but I'd like to know exactly what any government of whatever political shade can do to stop water bubbling up through your kitchen floor, especially when you aren't actually living on a riverbank?
I think Cameron did the right thing today and cut through all the political infighting and point scoring by making the simple statement that there is no limit on the resources available to the flood stricken areas, and he has backed that up by taking control of the situation as well as getting into his waders in the worst hit areas and communicating with the people whose properties and livelihoods are under water.
I watched the BBC news tonight when a worker took the top off a bore hole. To see the gallons of water pouring over the top was scary. If there is that much water in the acquifers with many more storms yet to come then this situation is going to get very much worse before it has a chance to start improving. And there is bound to be a public health risk at some point with all the raw sewage that is bound to be mixed in with the flood waters.
I do wish we'd had another snowy winter. They may have been risky on the bones and probably not so good for the national economy but at least with the misery of rutted ice came the fun of lobbing snowballs and making snowmen, and a deep fresh snowfall has a truly transforming affect even on this former industrial northern town.
Posts: 267 | From: somewhere other than here | Registered: Dec 2009
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
Sleepwalker: quote:
I think Cameron did the right thing today and cut through all the political infighting and point scoring by making the simple statement that there is no limit on the resources available to the flood stricken areas...
Yes, I saw he'd said that as well. I don't believe him. This government has spent the last four years telling us they don't have any money and suddenly they've found a bottomless purse to dip into? Puhleeze.
I applaud the sentiments (especially the bit about no more political infighting) but if he really is planning to throw unlimited amounts of money at the problem, what else are they going to have to cut to pay for it?
Snow may look pretty, but when all is said and done it is still frozen water and someday it will melt, so you might get your flood a month later than the precipitation but you will get it eventually.
[ 11. February 2014, 19:48: Message edited by: Jane R ]
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Sleepwalker
Shipmate
# 15343
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jane R:
Sleepwalker: quote:
I think Cameron did the right thing today and cut through all the political infighting and point scoring by making the simple statement that there is no limit on the resources available to the flood stricken areas...
Yes, I saw he'd said that as well. I don't believe him. This government has spent the last four years telling us they don't have any money and suddenly they've found a bottomless purse to dip into? Puhleeze.
Either that or the savings they have made over the last three years or so means they have a bit of flexibility? Or they are planning to make savings elsewhere once the flood damage has been sorted? I'm sure just dropping that dumb idea for a railway line to save 15 minutes off a trip to Manchester would do. I don't really care just now because what is important is that practical help is provided. Surely that is the priority?
quote:
Snow may look pretty, but when all is said and done it is still frozen water and someday it will melt, so you might get your flood a month later than the precipitation but you will get it eventually.
I don't remember that being the experience after the last three winters. What I do remember was endless refreezing of snow until it had been worn away. That was the experience in my neck of the woods anyway. Our greatest fall was a foot deep in 2009/2010.
Posts: 267 | From: somewhere other than here | Registered: Dec 2009
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Porridge
Shipmate
# 15405
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sleepwalker:
I do wish we'd had another snowy winter. They may have been risky on the bones and probably not so good for the national economy but at least with the misery of rutted ice came the fun of lobbing snowballs and making snowmen, and a deep fresh snowfall has a truly transforming affect even on this former industrial northern town.
We're expecting 12+ inches Thursday (on top of the 12" we had last Wednesday, and the 4" we had Sunday), with high winds. You're welcome to stop by and collect as much as you wish.
It's going to 7 below zero Fahrenheit again tonight. I am swilling down so much tea I might as well sleep in the lavatory tonight. Tea's the only thing that keeps my hands warm any more.
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Spiggott: Everything I've ever told you is a lie, including that.
Moon: Including what?
Spiggott: That everything I've ever told you is a lie.
Moon: That's not true!
Posts: 3925 | From: Upper right corner | Registered: Jan 2010
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
Sleepwalker: quote:
Either that or the savings they have made over the last three years or so means they have a bit of flexibility? Or they are planning to make savings elsewhere once the flood damage has been sorted? I'm sure just dropping that dumb idea for a railway line to save 15 minutes off a trip to Manchester would do. I don't really care just now because what is important is that practical help is provided. Surely that is the priority?
Well, they claimed they were making savings to reduce the national deficit. Mind you they also got us involved in Libya and have just announced they're going to spend £2.5 billion on some F-35s. Personally I'd cut that before HS-2, but I suppose it depends how much the "special relationship" is valued - backing out of the F-35 project would certainly piss off the Americans.
Totally agree that providing practical help to flood victims should be the priority. It is refreshing to have something that the Prime Minister and I agree about; the last occasion was the gay marriage bill.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day...
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
(missed the edit window) We had floods after snow, but then we usually do get floods in winter here. You could be right about the effect of the snow melting gradually - we had a foot of snow in 2009-10 too and I don't remember the floods being as bad as expected when it eventually melted.
We've got off fairly lightly this winter - so far.
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
... actually, now I come to think of it the Big Snow was in 2010-11... (and I missed the edit window again)
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jane R:
... actually, now I come to think of it the Big Snow was in 2010-11... (and I missed the edit window again)
I think it was both. I remember 2010 as being snowy at both ends. But the period from late November through Christmas was when I would go to the window each morning and see the car buried that bit deeper, until eventually even the aerial disappeared...
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
It isn't at all hellish, but I actually thought I was seeing an intelligent sapient being in Cameron viewing the floods and talking with victims yesterday, which is not my usual impression of the man.
He needs to get out more.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
It isn't at all hellish, but I actually thought I was seeing an intelligent sapient being in Cameron viewing the floods and talking with victims yesterday, which is not my usual impression of the man.
He needs to get out more.
Don't forget though, there's an election looming. Man of the people, and so on, never hurts. But I think they are all out in their wellies at the moment. Vote for me, I got really really wet in Somerset/Thames Valley.
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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
Storm force 11 or 12 in the Irish Sea today. Batten down the hatches.
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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by quetzalcoatl:
Don't forget though, there's an election looming. Man of the people, and so on, never hurts. But I think they are all out in their wellies at the moment. Vote for me, I got really really wet in Somerset/Thames Valley.
You know it's serious when the politicians turn up. There's a page in today's Metro with four pictures of Cameron, Miliband, Boris and Nigel Farage all out in their wellies in Floodland, so you can compare their different approaches. Enjoy.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Stejjie
Shipmate
# 13941
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by quetzalcoatl:
Don't forget though, there's an election looming. Man of the people, and so on, never hurts. But I think they are all out in their wellies at the moment. Vote for me, I got really really wet in Somerset/Thames Valley.
You know it's serious when the politicians turn up. There's a page in today's Metro with four pictures of Cameron, Miliband, Boris and Nigel Farage all out in their wellies in Floodland, so you can compare their different approaches. Enjoy.
Can't help thinking that if my house/village/town got flooded and I was trying to deal with it, the last thing I'd want is some politician plus assorted camera crews, reporters, photographers, hangers-on etc. walking around sticking their noses in - they'd just get in the way (some might say as per usual - I couldn't possibly comment about that... ![[Two face]](graemlins/scot_twoface.gif) )
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A not particularly-alt-worshippy, fairly mainstream, mildly evangelical, vaguely post-modern-ish Baptist
Posts: 1117 | From: Urmston, Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2008
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Chorister
Completely Frocked
# 473
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Posted
Reading the experiences of people from the Somerset Levels on FLAG (Flooding on the Levels Action Group), it's practical and financial aid they need from these politicians rather than talk (and photo opportunities).
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Retired, sitting back and watching others for a change.
Posts: 34626 | From: Cream Tealand | Registered: Jun 2001
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Barefoot Friar
Ship's Shoeless Brother
# 13100
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Posted
According to local news, South Carolina, north Georgia, and north Alabama are closed. I was supposed to go to a conference in Atlanta this weekend, but it was postponed to the end of April. So I'm home, waiting for the cold rain to turn to ice and then snow. None of that particularly bothers me, except that ice usually means loss of power.
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Do your little bit of good where you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. -- Desmond Tutu
Posts: 1621 | From: Warrior Mountains | Registered: Oct 2007
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Sleepwalker
Shipmate
# 15343
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Jane R:
(missed the edit window) We had floods after snow, but then we usually do get floods in winter here. You could be right about the effect of the snow melting gradually - we had a foot of snow in 2009-10 too and I don't remember the floods being as bad as expected when it eventually melted.
We've got off fairly lightly this winter - so far.
Same here, although we've just been living through a Red Warning windy evening which hasn't been at all pleasant. North Wales got it worst by the sounds of it with 108mph gusts recorded on a few occasions within a four hour spell. I think our highest gusts were around the 70mph mark but I thought the roof was coming off. The room shuddered, which was a bit concerning. Still, we have retained power unlike some houses in my town and indeed around 8000 other people in the region. Rain wasn't the issue and so there have been no floods inland and thankfully for the coastal towns the tide was out. Had it been a high tide then there would have been coastal flooding with the wind speeds recorded. Absolute chaos on the motorway and rail networks though.
I think the next storm is due in on Friday/Saturday.
Deep joy.
[ 12. February 2014, 20:43: Message edited by: Sleepwalker ]
Posts: 267 | From: somewhere other than here | Registered: Dec 2009
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
The usual gales/rain here today, but a quiet, mild, and moonlit night at the moment.
![[Votive]](graemlins/votive.gif) for all those affected by the floods in other parts of the UK.
A new (and stout) wooden gate recently installed across a path along the south side of the church has now been blown down three times (back to the drawing-board, I think!). The (almost) incessant south-westerly wind and driving rain has, at last, penetrated the church building, and the interior wall of the south aisle will need re-whitewashing when (if?) the weather ever improves for more than a day or so. So what? you may ask - but it's taken 105 years for this to happen.....
Oh, and a massive hole (50' deep or 15' deep, depending on which newspaper you read) has appeared in the middle of our local motorway. According to one report, it might be a dene-hole, ostensibly caused in times past by those bloody Danes digging in our English chalk - but what can you expect from People Not Like Us? Maybe the bad weather is down to those awful Bulgarians or even the egregious Romanians? Stealing our fine old English winter weather from under our noses.....
.......I'll get me coat.
However -
CallmeDave is here to save!
Never fear! Dave is here!
Has your house been washed away?
Fret ye not! Our Dave will pay!
Ian J.
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I think the reports that it is a sinkhole rather than a denehole are likely to be more correct. Looking at the pictures, it seems that that stretch of the road is in a slight cutting, which would mean that any denehole would have shown up during the building process and been dealt with (and they weren't dug by Danes - most are in areas where the Danes weren't active, and some were being dug as recently as the 19th century). Looking down the hole, it looks like sand above the chalk, though if the map is right, the BGS geology map shows Clay-with-Flints. Sinkholes can form under either, where water gets through to dissolve the chalk, and the road formation could have directed water from the surface into one spot - Iain Stewart, last week on the TV showed how a clay capping to a void can give way suddenly. (I've been taking an interest in this subject because of a curious depression near my back door - I think it's OK, but the water does drain away after filling it rather quicker than I would expect through clay.)
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
It looks, from yesterday's local news, that the hole has been positively identified as a denehole. This is good, because it has a defined structure with a known depth and lobes opening out from the bottom. On the other hand - how the dickens did the road builders miss it? The road is in a slight cutting there, so the machinery should have cut across the shaft (the top usually widens out, presumably because after it is left, the overburden drops in). All I can think is that they decided to leave it because it was in the centre reservation.
Meanwhile, another hole has opened up in a garden nearer London, and the householder is frantic because the insurance doesn't cover it as it doesn't threaten the house. Two holes have appeared in school grounds in the Medway towns, and another in a rugby ground. That one is odd - the TV showed a groundsman pouring sand into a hole about a metre across from a wheelbarrow. He had already filled it to within a turf's depth of the top, and it was bordered by a fringe of lifted turfs. Can't have been very big.
[ 15. February 2014, 07:36: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Nicolemr
Shipmate
# 28
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Posted
*sigh* More snow here. Someone please make itgo away.
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On pilgrimage in the endless realms of Cyberia, currently traveling by ship. Now with live journal!
Posts: 11803 | From: New York City "The City Carries On" | Registered: May 2001
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The5thMary
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# 12953
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Posted
I know it's not very Hellish but I'm sitting here in shorts with two open windows in our office, feeling the cool breeze waft in, the cool, coolness of 45 degrees Fahrenheit in Atlanta, GA. Today it got up to 62. Last week we were under a "catastrophic" weather "event" with snow/ice/more snow. Now I just have to brace myself for the upcoming tornado season... sigh...
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God gave me my face but She let me pick my nose.
Posts: 3451 | From: Tacoma, WA USA | Registered: Aug 2007
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
And in Hemel Hempstead. Watford (actually a place called Dugdales, which might mean something) and Ripon, other holes have opened. In Hemel it is huge, under homes recently built on a brownfield site. (I suspect inadequate preparation of the site to remove voids.) Some people have been allowed in for a half hour to grab what they can, others not at all. Some homes are expected to be demolished. Heartbreaking.
Ripon is over deposits of gypsum which regularly dissolves and forms sinkholes. One is believed to be the source of Lewis Carroll's idea of the shaft Alice falls down, since he lived there for a while.
It makes me start thinking about what I might grab if I had only half an hour. There's a lot of family stuff which I feel responsible for.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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