Miles Collins

What to do in a flood…..

I’ve been back in the Lake District and it’s fair to say it has been a little damp. A thousand fell runners were stranded up here over the weekend because of the freak floods and after a weekend of torrential rain the effects are all to clear.

I managed to get out for a quick drive and was amazed at how many areas were under water, hotel car parks were closed off, rivers had burst their banks, roads had become impassable and my idea of getting out for some fresh air was literally a washout. One of the kitchens where I am working is very close to the River Leven and by sunday there was a real danger of the water coming up through the drains, looking out across the river it wasn’t suprising as I’ve never seen it flow so strongly before.

Now a cold snap looms, a ‘big freeze’ so I am told. The clocks have been turned back, darkness falls earlier than anywhere else in Europe and we face a winter of financial discontent, we might not realise it right now but we’re all in for a tough time. If we are to learn anything from this then it should be a change in mindset about spending. For far too long now we have depended upon credit as a means of escape from our nine to five existence to the extent that we have lost sight of what is really important. Maybe now we will look beyond the quick fix and move away from our materialistic lifestyles.

I often draw parallels with ourselves and the animal kingdom and cannot help but feel that they have got it right. As I looked out across a lake I saw this fellow make a run for it and I thought about how uncomplicated it’s life is, on the one hand it’s about survival, like ours, but on the other it is devoid of complications and I envy them for that.