Bad weather

Yesterday we had some heavy rain and thunderstorms so spent all day indoors catching up on a bit of computer work.

Last night we watched the news on TV, thank goodness that we don't live in Athens! They really had problems with the rain. It showed an underpass that had filled with water/snow and frozen overnight, filling it to a depth of about 18 inches. The morning traffic was ploughing through looking like a fleet of icebreakers. Some poor guy on a motorbike had the worst deal, he almost got through, and then ended up on the central reservation where his wheels fell into some ruts and got totally stuck. We watched him waving at each car that past him as their bow-waves of icy water washed over his legs. Somewhere else in Athens they had a flash flood that had been about 4-5 feet deep. Houses and cars looked totally wrecked by the muddy water.

As a result of the rain we now have a swimming pool, well just a small muddy one. We have had a spot in the garden where we had been accumulating rubbish, bricks, bits of concrete, iron and any other bits and pieces left over from building work. A few days ago Vagelis arrived with his lorry and digger and scooped this all up to clear it for us. Where he used the digger to remove the rubbish we ended up with a patch that is 5-6 inches lower that the surrounding area, so this has filled with water. During breaks in the rain we are now trying to level this out, but the ground has become like heavy clay in England. It sticks to your boots and shovels so that everything weighs about 10 times what it should. Ah well, its good exercise.