So wet...

October, November and December have all been rather wet months hereabouts. The rain has been steady and drizzly, only occasionally torrential, so the River Aire has been coping, just about. It is, as you can see from the picture below, rather full and very fast-flowing.

Everywhere is exceedingly muddy. In low-lying areas, lakes have appeared where usually there is grass. I think it is groundwater rather than overspill from the river. The 'pond' in the photo above is on the low land between the Upper Coach Road estate and the river itself, where they are trying to create a new nature reserve. The houses overlooking it are at a rather higher level, luckily, but even so, the residents may be a little wary, remembering the horrendous floods of Christmas 2015. Thinking positive, the reflections of the trees in the pool at least add a little interest to the scene.

On a personal note, I noticed a bit of damp appearing in the corner of the kitchen near the back door. Further investigation traced the problem to water dripping from the roof and I realised that I had a little hebe plant growing in the guttering, offspring of a bush in the neighbours' garden that had been allowed to get way too big. The new neighbours cut the bush down, thankfully, but I keep finding its babies all over the place! It was a difficult job to get a roofer to come out and deal with it; the roofs of these old houses are pretty high up and many don't like working so high without scaffold. The job has now been done, phew. Hopefully the damp patch will dry out in time...  Old houses are always throwing up problems!