… for morning to break.  It’s grey and wet and grim here.  If the Aesir came galloping over the hill heading for Götterdämmerung , no-one would be remotely surprised …

Holmrook Bridge is still closed.  Rumours abound about the reason for it, none of them good, but in the meantime the only way to get from the south of Holmrook to the north of Holmrook is a 5 to 6 mile detour via lower Eskdale, on narrow Lakeland roads which are now becoming virtually impassable because of the volume of heavy traffic on them.  Strong men are quailing when confronted with the prospect.

There are also flood warnings out on the Irt, the Esk and the Calder.

Unless things turn around dramatically, Gretchen and I will not be attending the Women of the Year awards lunch at the Wordsworth Hotel in Grasmere … because we can’t currently see any way of getting there and in any case, it seems foolish to even try, especially as the Police are asking people to keep off the roads unless the journey is essential.

Looked at with a dispassionate eye, a free lunch – however good the cause or convivial the company – doesn’t  exactly qualify as ‘essential’.

Cumbria is a bit like a war zone at the moment.  It’s almost impossible to drive anywhere – the road north is completely blocked by thigh-deep floodwater at Holmrook and the river is over the road at Muncaster Mill too.   Muncaster Bridge is expected to be submerged again by the impending high tide.  The run-off from the Fells has eased a lot since the rain subsided – but there’s more forecast, so it’s not quite over yet.

However – compared to many – we’re in really good shape.

Spare a thought for the volunteers of the  local Mountain Rescue Teams who have been working through the night to help rescue people – and also for the family of the police officer who’s missiing in Workington.  It’s hard to credit that Northside Bridge has gone … it was a solidly built stone structure … the force of the river must have been staggering.

It’s wet.  We’re safely above flood level, but at the moment we’re surrounded by water.  It’s cascading down the fells, flooding the river valleys and generally making a bl**dy nuisance of itself.  The main road is flooded at Muncaster Bridge, it’s looking distinctly dodgy at Holmrook and  poor Ralf (our resident woodworker/handyman) is working on a table out in the shed, splashing around in a pair of wellies because there’s water actually running through the workshop.  The back garden’s awash again, we have a river running down our drive, and most of the gravel that we paid £500 for just before our Birthday Party in August is now somewhere on the A595.

Still, compared to the poor souls in Cockermouth, Kendal and Keswick, we’re in good shape …

Righty-ho.  Early details of the Spring 2010 raffle, which was launched at the Christmas Fair are now up on the Centre’s website …

Clickie:  Spring 2010 Raffle

There are more prizes to follow, and I’ll add them in as I receive confirmation of them … but I think those three are enough to be going on with …

ALSO – the Trivia Quizzes are ready …

For those of you who don’t know, every year I produce two trivia quizzes with the sole aim of reducing everyone to tears.

One – called simply The 2009/2010 Trivia Quiz (snappy title, eh?  It took me ages to think of it) – features 100 questions ranging in difficulty from “Reasonably Easy” to “Really Rather Unkind”.  The second quiz, called the Abandon Hope has just 50 questions, but THEY range in difficulty from “Really Rather Unkind” to “No Normal Person Could Possibly Be Expected to Know That.”

Both cost £1.00 and you have until February 15^th to return them to the Centre (but don’t say you weren’t warned).  They’d make an ideal ‘little’ Christmas present for someone you don’t like.

If you’d like to have a go at either of them, just email me on Admin@cccare.org and I’ll put them in the post to you.  I trust you to send me the money.  (Besides which, I’ll have your address …).

… but it was a jolly near-run thing.

The Matriarch and I set out at 9.00 in the morning for Cleator Moor in the teeth of a biblical deluge to collect some cakes from our wonderful and faithful cake-baker Mary.  At 10.00am, Mary was ‘phoning the Centre to ask where we were …

Wading through flood water down at the Co-op, as a matter of fact … and wondering if we were going to make it back to Ravenglass.  The prospect of getting marooned and having to live on fairy cakes and coconut slices until we were rescued wasn’t an attractive one, let me tell you.

By the time we eventually got to to the Centre, the main entrance and driveway looked like this:

and an entire new river system was busily engaged in carving its way through our back garden …

Meanwhile, indoors the volunteers were eating all the food, talking to each other (on account of there being no-one else to talk to) …

and exchanging fashion notes on wet-weather gear …

However, in the afternoon, the customary Muncaster Miracle happened.  Briefly (very briefly), the sun appeared and West Cumbrians emerged blinking into the light.  Then, bless their loyal hearts, they headed for  the Centre, spent vast amounts of money, drank vast amounts of tea, waited for the raffle to be drawn, then left again – with the renewing storm clouds snapping at their heels.

And somewhere along the line, we managed to make  over £600.00 …

The highlight of the day, by popular vote, was the moment when one of our volunteers – who is Dutch – asked me what  I would win if I was actually voted ‘Cumbrian Woman of the Year’.

“A big rosette?” she hazarded solemnly,  “Like a cow?”

For some obscure reason, everyone found this absolutely hilarious … and then, when someone else said, “Oh yes!  Prize Cow of the Year!” … well … they just  laughed until they cried, didn’t they?

Righty-ho – you can find all the details of how to buy your calendars and cards right here:

How to order your Calendars and Cards.

In the meantime, the Christmas Fair is (shudder) almost upon us. We have just four working days left in which to organize everything. I ordered the sandwiches (for delivery on Saturday morning) and we’ve got our most faithful cake-bakers lined up and raring to go. The on-the-day raffle priizes are sorted, the Great Spring Raffle prizes are displayed and the tickets printed and the main Trivia Quiz is ready.

The ‘Abandon Hope’ trivia quiz is proving more intractable. I’m stuck for two final questions. I just can’t think of anything mean enough … (believe it or not).

(Edited to say – Oops.  Sorry.  Something went wrong with my link back to the website.   All better now.)

I’m currently engaged in making a poster for our Christmas Fair (Saturday, November 14th – if you happen to be passing), and raffle tickets for – wait for it – our 2010 Spring raffle, which are going to go on sale at said Christmas Fair.

I’ll be posting details of the main prizes (and they’re little crackers – trust me on this …) very soon, but in the meantime  I can announce that the Centre’s calendar and Christmas card are ready to buy.

The Christmas cards (blank inside for your own greeting) are A6 in size (that’s approxinmately 5.75″ by 4″) and are  60p each or £3.25 for a pack of six:

The Calendar, which is wirebound and opens to A3 to hang on the wall,  features six views from around the Centre.

Calendars are £6.00 if you collect them yourself and £6.50 if you would like one posted to you.

Ordering instructions to follow shortly …

]]> http://centcompcare.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/christmas-must-be-coming/feed/ 0 Moira The Chase in the snow Old grindstone - The Chase 2 Mossy logs - low light Front garden - The Chase The Way through the Woods Rear courtyard - The Chase Apple store http://centcompcare.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/the-wisdom-of-emails/ http://centcompcare.wordpress.com/2009/10/27/the-wisdom-of-emails/#comments Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:31:50 +0000 Moira http://centcompcare.wordpress.com/?p=822 ]]>

I’ve persuaded all but four of the little swine to go through.  They saw the error of their ways.  The four standouts have no idea how much trouble they’re in …

I’ve just spent all morning setting up an email mailing list for our Autumn/Winter newsletter, and of the 69 newsletters and enclosures I sent off, fifteen have bounced straight back.

Yours, through the tears,

M.

Remember, back in the summer, I went off to Penrith to give a talk to the Romantic Novelists Association at their annual conference?

Well, you might like to read this sometime … Crazy Like a Fox.

It’s an abridged version of the talk I gave.  It comes, however, with a warning.  ‘Abridged’ only means it’s shorter than it was.  It doesn’t mean it’s short.  It’s only ’short’ if you’re comparing it to – say – “Gone with the Wind” – which I wouldn’t.

Think ‘De Profundis‘, only more cheerful.