A River Runs Through It

No Brad Pitt, No Robert Redford, but definitely a tale to be told.

I live in the namesake village on the Swartkops River in Port Elizabeth. I have always considered this a beautiful place to live and grow up. I still do, but am seriously thinking of adding a top story to the house after last week's flood.

Last week Thursday I woke up to stormy BMW (Baby making weather...heehee) and lots and lots of rain. Not long after my eyes opened I realised there is A LOT of water outside my house, and in my driveway, and my euphemistically luscious garden had turned into a marshland!!
Not being one for rain on a good day, I decided to thank the Lord for the rain and the pending lift of our water restrictions. That was until I saw a few people running past my house with all their handheld worldly possessions!! Whats going on??
I then braved the rapids in the garden, felt my bones cracking from the cold, and discovered the river had broken its bank and had now turned Neptune Street into an estuary! Algoa FM says "EVACUATE". My friend phoned to say a dead cow was floating down Amsterdamhoek! DISASTER!!!! I was convinced this wasn't God watering his garden as my Dad used to say. This was God filling his swimming Pool!!!!!!And if I didn't get out I was going to be part of the mosaic decoration on the bottom of his newly filled pool.

After some chaos, getting our feet very wet and a scary drive through to my sister's place on higher ground, came a night of wondering if my house was still in one piece, and more importantly, if my new red bedding was going to be ruined by the water! A bottle of cheap Vodka took away the fears and entertained overactive imaginations regarding "Large" pending insurance claims:)

Friday morning I woke up to two hangovers, bad breath, and reawakened fears about my house's current location and state. So we dragged ourselves into the car for a very wet ride out to Swartkops only to discover what we didn't imagine...

Mostly everything was dry! My heart jumped back into my rib cage and I was suddenly hangover-less.

So a river ran through it, and we only emerged stronger braver, luckier than most, and wiser.