It's never going to happen to me

I have a friend who lives in Nottingham (possibly more than one).

I spoke to her a few weeks ago and asked how the floods were, just before the next set of warnings came out. She said that there were flood barriers all along the Trent now, which she thought would only move the problem downstream.

I was asking if she and her family had been affected. "No," she answered, "we stood at our front window watching it come along the street but fortunately it stopped half-way along our frontage to the road. Just below the step into the house."

So I had to ask, had they moved everything upstairs? There was a pause. "No," came the answer, "we stood there like some sort of fools, assuming it could never happen to us." They had made no effort at all to lessen any potential damage.

Sometimes of course, things happen totally without warning, such as the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. I have online friends in that area too. I do hope all of you, whether in Nottingham, Minneapolis, or anywhere else in the world, are safe.