I hereby retract all cynicism over facebook. I am in contact with lots of people I have known and loved over the years. And more importantly, in the short time I have been a member, I am back in contact with people I have often thought about and had completely lost contact with.

And it is terribly addictive.

And wonderful.

And nice.

Facebook. Why?

I haven't a clue what it is but I've finally signed up for it anyway. Friends and family are located in those hidden files, somewhere. I've been told that it is the only way to communicate with people these days, and since I'm terrible at actually answering my phone or returning messages I thought that perhaps (and only perhaps) there is a slight chance of actually keeping in contact with someone...

...But I am already signed up with Friends Reunited, Genes Reunited, My Uncle Was A Monkey Reunited, etc, etc. Do I really need to clog up the cyber world with this as well?

Apparantly so.

A taste of freedom. Hurrah!

Thanks to Mags and Steve I now own a pair of waders:

The bloody things leak

I think it may have rained a bit more through the night.

The boats have a wet shimmer to them this morning. Everything is damp and soaking, not least my garden...

And Abingdon Marina park beyond. I really must dig out a decent camera. My phone camera really isn't very good.


The marina car park seems to think it is part of the Thames:

Keith, the marina engineer, waded his way through the flood waters to remove the life rings from the pilings as the water is so high that the boxes were about to cause the pontoon to tilt. I was just getting ready with a screwdriver and spanner to attempt the job myself...

And then Keith disappeared beyond the waters to the comfort of dryish land.

This Abingdon has far better pictures and updates about the flooding in this area. I also read an article about three chaps going for a midnight swim. Not really a very clever idea but who knew that Oxford had that many nudists?!

Well, I'm stranded...

...So I thought I'd blow the dust off this old thing and actually write an update. It is nice to have some time to do so.

The marina has flooded again and I have been promised some waders tomorrow (boots, not birds) so I'll be able to finally leave the pontoons. I'm now beginning to understand a little of how the cat is feeling being reduced to prowling the pontoons, sulking, comfort eating and watching t.v.

I tested the depth of water today by attempting to place my wellied foot onto marina car park. Not so clever, as it turns out. There may have been a comedy moment where I scrambled for the pontoon. Rob tried something similar a few days ago when investigating the extent of flooding in the park by the marina. End result = socks steaming on the stove.

The photo of the park above was taken two days ago. The bench in the foreground is now under water... and the swan has er, swanned off.