What's Up Doc?

What's up? Its hot! Well, it was when I took this photo last week. This brown bugs bunny was sheltering from the sun in a drainpipe at Pitville Park, one of several shady spots in his enclosure. He was sharing his run with some other rabbits and a couple of chickens. Some of the other cages are home to an array of birds, a pair of peacocks and a host of chipmunks (they'll be making an appearance soon.) Time for a carrot ice lolly!

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Sparks Will Fly

I'm not sure what this drainpipe had done wrong, but this chap was certainly teaching it a lesson it would never forget! He was creating a lot of noise with his angle grinder and the sparks were flying everywhere. I had to dodge them as I walked by. Luckily I wasn't wearing my 80's shell suit or I would have gone up in a ball of flames! For more on shell suits, and a guaranteed laugh, go here. Have a good look around the site, it is so funny!

I'm not adverse to a bit of DIY, as long as my extensive tool kit (two screwdrivers and a hammer) are up to the job!

One Year Ago

On the 20th July 2007 the heavens opened across much of the UK and it rained for almost 24 hours. As many of you will remember Gloucestershire was one of the worst effected areas, with flooding in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury. On that day, one year ago, thousands of people were trapped in buildings and stranded in cars due to flash flooding. The motorway through the County was closed due to the amount of traffic that had become gridlocked. We lost our water supply for nearly two weeks (remember the bowsers?), 100's and 100's of homes and business were flooded and 500,000 people were nearly without electricity. The Walham Power Station came within an inch of being swamped, but thanks to the round the clock efforts of the emergency services and army the station was saved. If it had of flooded there were plans in place to evacuate 500,000 Gloucestershire residents to surrounding counties. That would have been scary to say the least!

The photo shows the River Chelt as it flows through Sandford Park. It then carries on under the towns streets. As you can see it's more like a stream than a river, its only about a foot deep here, but last year it was a different story. Click here to see for yourself. (In the video you can see the Weathered Man from the other day.)

They say it was a once in a hundred year flood. Lets hope so!

The Weathered Man

Have you ever seen a drain cover like this before?! Well, it is a big drain! This huge underground pipe is topped off with this large concrete cap and, to make it look less ugly, it has some art on the top. This is The Weathered Man by artist James Gould. The installation was commissioned by the Environment Agency. It has been in Sandford Park for as long as I can remember, although I can't find anything about it or the artist on the web. This part of the park is a large open space and backs onto Cheltenham General Hospital and the Lido open air swimming pool. In the photo you can just see the formal park on the other side of the road. This part of the park has fountains, flower beds and another piece of art. In last summers floods this area of Cheltenham was flooded quite badly. You would have thought this drain would have swallowed up all that water!