Bloody rain

 Back at the start of the month I was feeling hopeful we might finally get some spring weather and be able to do some work in the garden.

Since then we've had what's been described as a once in 200 year flood and rain event.

Living in Beechworth on the side of a hill we've been okay. 

That said, we've had standing water in places in the garden and the nineteenth century open storm drain in the street has been running like a creek. 

The tomatoes and herbs I planted out earlier this month have mostly survived as have the plants I've got growing in tubs and pots on the back deck.

On Thursday last week I'd planned to go down to Chiltern for an extra days work at Dows as I'm trying to bring the project to a conclusion - it was only really meant to take around three years, but the pandemic has meant it has stretched out to almost five, even if the various lockdowns have meant only three years worked out of the five.

However while it wasn't actually raining when I got up it had been decidedly wet overnight and more was threatened, and I decided not to risk it - the road crosses several creeks and there's a long twisty descent through forest and then back up again through Mt Pilot national park, and while I'm sure my trusty 22 year old Subaru would get me there, I reckoned there was just too much of a risk of getting stuck by floodwater and trees across on the way back so I bailed. (There's no alternative route which is any better, or any less likely to be subject to flooding, short of taking the freeway to Wangaratta or Wodonga and hoping that the main road to Beechworth was clear of trees and floods.)

Definitely the right decision. Thursday turned into continual heavy rain in the afternoon and Friday morning wasn't much better. I made a quick dash to the supermarket, and the creek through town, normally a placid stream, was a raging torrent.

So now it's a case of letting the garden dry out and hoping we can rescue something of the spring ...