Blogs

After the Flood and Coast Conference in June, our Flood CDT gang started thinking about what to do next over the summer. We’d already had training meet-ups in Southampton and Bristol, so this time we thought, why not Newcastle? Then, the Newcastle squad happily organised the training and hosted us in August. I checked my calendar, saw I was free, and jumped on board right away.

It was a long six-hour trip from Southampton to Newcastle. Fardis and I travelled together, though sadly our…

Waiting with anticipation and an air of excitement, my finger lingered over the ‘join meeting’ icon on Microsoft Teams. I was about to become very familiar with online meetings over the next few months.
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On a chilly morning in mid-November, I set out on the long drive towards Glasgow. Armed with podcasts and playlists and filled with excitement and copious amounts of coffee I was ready to tackle the 8-hour drive. A fortunately uneventful journey meant that after a…

I got out of Chris’s car and immediately met a scent I hadn’t realised I’d been missing. The air was thick with brine, the breeze carried with it seaweed and salt - a tell-tale sign the ocean was within reach. The others hadn’t arrived yet and I felt a window of opportunity open. I can’t remember the last time I stood on a shoreline facing the open ocean. I had visions of kicking off my boots, then socks, and wading ankle deep into the icy blue (my toes be damned). Maybe I’d find a pebble or…

Flooding is a hazard; flood-related disasters are collective failures of imagination.

There’s something special about first days – the first day of school, the first day moving into a new home, the first day of a new job. They come with a mix of excitement, nervousness and curiosity – what will it be like? Until the actual day arrives, however, you can only imagine it. And for better or for worse, things rarely turn out to be exactly like we’d…

I watched him white knuckle the steering wheel as we followed the signs for “South”, then for “Oxford”, and then eventually for “Southampton”. “IDJIT!” My father-in-law cursed in his Yorkshire twang and through gritted teeth as a black car zoomed past us in the right lane, a wave of water hitting the side of the van with an audible “smack” as it drenched the windshield. The wipers worked overtime as Absolute 80’s played quietly on the radio. Two phones sat on the dashboard,…