This is getting ridiculous. I
moved from the UK to get away from grey skies, yet we have had constant
grey skies since the last week in november. It is now mid january. Due
to a slight problem last year my swimming pool only had two inches of
water in it in november. Now it is half full. In the last seven weeks
we have had 25 inches of rain, which is considerably more than we
should get for a whole year.
In trying to find out what the annual rainfall usually is here I came
across this rubbish: "Still lots of sunshine here in the sunny Algarve
and average shade temperatures of 17°C reaching 23 to 25°C in
the sun......" This was posted on 14 December 2009 15:23 by AUBlogger.
This guy obviously wrote his article on the one day when the rain
didn't fall.
As far as I can tell we should get about 400 mm of rain a year, which
is about 16 inches. My swimming pool now measures 28 inches of water in
it, so we have had nearly 26 inches of rain in those few weeks. That is
quite staggering.
Still, the sun is now shining from an almost clear blue sky, and the
forecast dares us to believe we have at least a week of dry weather.
Hurrah for that!
Unfortunately, a couple of days ago one of the walls supporting the
river bank that holds up my peach orchard has collapsed. That is going
to give me a hard time. I cant repair it until the river subsides. I
only hope the earth behind where the wall was doesn't bulge out and
crash into the river, then there will be problems.
Not content with that some idiot drove down to my gate at ten past six
in the evening. It gets dark here by about six o'clock this time of the
year. I could hear the revving engine, and wondered whether I had
forgotten that I had some building materials due. But no, I didn't
recall ordering anything. I assumed it must be a delivery for my
neighbours, and the truck had driven past their gate. Sure enough the
truck started reversing. I went back to work and thought no more of it,
until a couple of hours later I heard a lot of shouting and went to
investigate.
Fifty yards from my gate (I'm at the end of the track) was this lorry
leaning at a dangerous angle, with two wheels the wrong side of the
wall supporting the track. It was surrounded by a possee of jokers who
all knew just what to do and were busy shouting instructions to each
other. I left them to it.
Naturally, the following morning the truck was even further stuck in
the mud, and had hit my neighbours' horse box, breaking the shaft, and
one wheel was right on the edge of a four foot drop into the field. Any
attempt at moving it would result in the truck capsizing into the field.
I cant get out across the back track as the rains have washed away the
surface, and it is impassable. I cant get out across the field as it is
under water, and now the road is blocked.
Yesterday I joked that I would need a boat to get out. Now I need a
helicopter.
Some guys turned up with a JCB and tried to pull the truck forwards,
but that didn't work. The truck was too heavy to move. So they all
vanished, and we were left with this damn great thing bunging up the
route. There wasn't even room to walk past it.
In the afternoon more troops arrived, this time with two JCBs and a
tractor, and the great assault began.
It took nearly two hours, but
eventually they got the darn thing moved, after destroying a pig-pen,
and half the field. It finally got out with the tractor pulling, and
one of the JCBs pushing the side of the vehicle with its bucket to
prevent it falling down into the field.
Here's the action, courtesy of YouTube.
There was then an attempt to clean up the road, and we can at last get
out. Now we need a spot of sun and wind to dry the place out. Currently
it
looks as if I am living in the midst of a rice growing region with
paddy fields as far as the eye can see.
At least we have no snow, and temperatures are in the mid teens, so it
is pleasant at last. And no-one can bleat that the reservoirs are empty.
