I am fortunate enough to live in a Village that’s a couple of miles away from a big City. I get the benefits of a quiet(ish) semi-rural life, but the City is sufficiently close enough if I need to shop at the bigger stores, or visit the City Centre by foot.
I say quiet(ish), as I live on the main “A” road that leads into the City, something that has its pros and its cons. A big pro is that if we get a load of snow (or ice) then a treated road is right at the end of my driveway. The downside though is that over the years, the volume of traffic has noticeably increased. We see a lot more lorries now than we used to and more frequently. Despite the 30mph speed limit, it can be a bit noisy sometimes, especially during the night (or when the nearby motorway has an issue and traffic is diverted right past my house).
All-in-all though, it’s not much to complain about, as my back garden is sufficiently removed from the main road, and shielded from traffic noise by hedges and the house.
The River Road
The main road from my house to the City runs parallel to a river. Travelling towards the City, the river is on the right hand side, some fields are on the left (farmers grow corn and whatnot in them sometimes, or keep horses etc. All the farmer-y stuff.).
In between the road and the river, there runs a cycle path which is part of the National Cycle Network of paths. It’s a reasonably well maintained, if a bit lumpy and bumpy in places, but it’s a tarmac path that leads from the river bridge in my Village to the road traffic bridge at the other end. The path bypasses the main road and the associated roundabouts and duel carriageways, providing a not unpleasant ride or walk away from traffic and pollution and emerging at the City’s edge.
It’s about 1.8 miles in length, most of that runs adjacent to the river.
Speaking of the river…
If you live in the City (or in the Village where I live), it’s fairly common knowledge that the river can flood. When it does flood, the road normally does so too, and this renders the road impassable.
The way it works is that the river levels become higher, either due to rain or extra water from upriver. As the levels raise, the fields (on the left-hand side going out, remember?) fill up with the excess water and keep the water away from the road (called the flood plain). At a certain point though, the fields fill up and the excess water spills out over the road, travelling across the road and down into the river.
The road can remain flooded even when the river water (on the right-hand side going out) has receded a bit, as the fields are still full. So sometimes, you can still travel down the cycle path, despite the road being closed to traffic.
It’s not often that the road floods. Depending on how much rainfall has occurred, the road can flood once, maybe twice in a year. Or not at all in a year. Or in the case just recently, the road has flooded (and been closed) three times in the last two months.
I knew this!
Before I moved to the Village, I lived and worked in the City. I was aware from quite early on that the road to the Village used to close – it was reported in the local newspaper (when there was one) at the time. The spot along the road out into the Village was a popular spot for elver fishing, so we knew when it was closed.
Many years later, I wanted to move house. I looked all around and out of the City for anything suitable and discovered the house I live in now, for sale. At the time I bought it, the internet was here and I could do something called “research”. I could see whether or not that house was going to be affected by flood water, by run-off water from fields or by any other environmental influence. Because it was all available on the internet. Had it been 10 years earlier, I would have had to go to the local library, or Council offices – but the information would still be readily available.
I already knew the road could close, so looked at any alternative routes out of the Village to the City. There is a 16 mile detour that would take me through some backwater villages, to the main road into the City, so I was happy with that.
I even got proper broadband a few years ago, so working from home was also an option.
People who flood
And with that knowledge (most of it superfluous, granted), it still remains a puzzle to me when I see people on the news complaining about flooding, the price of their insurance increasing because of flooding, complaining about the cost of replacement furniture, cars, walls etc.
Many of these people have been flooded before, too. Some, many times.
And yet, there they are, still in the same premises, still complaining.
Here’s a thought:
Move house!
Now some people would probably say that they couldn’t afford to move house, or rent anywhere else. In the majority of cases, I’d find that hard to believe – there are many houses for sale less than the cost of yours on the market. Let’s face it, with all those increased insurance costs etc. it would probably save you money to move anyway.
OK, you might have to move somewhere less than ideal for a bit, but at least you’re not having to shell out for the cost of flooding, if it’s not on a flood plain, right? And then you could move somewhere that is ideal at a later date. After doing your research, of course.
And somewhere that doesn’t flood.