Water Grand Day Out

By Laura Yates on Oct 25, 08 08:13 PM

I stepped outside my front door this morning and was greeted by a torrent of water gushing along the pavement. It appears a pipe has burst underground and water is welling up from under a crack in the tarmac.

My first reaction was to curse myself for throwing away all those letters from Severn Trent, advising me to get insurance for the pipes under my house. After consulting the oracle (Joan from next door) I was greatly relieved to hear that because the flood was on the pavement, neither she nor I are responsible for it. Severn Trent were duly called and promised to come and look at said leak within 24 hours.

The flood did give me an idea though - instead of heading into town for the day, the four of us travelled Kidderminsterwards for a wander round Trimpley Reservoir. A grand day was had by all; it's a lovely walk through the woods, by the river and by the reservoir itself, plus there is the Severn Valley railway. We watched some steam trains go past and squashed pennies on the tracks. (If you are concerned about health and safety there is a machine by Solihull library, where you can pay to have perfectly good, legal tender ruined.)

For the price of picnic and petrol we had a really good, busy day - I'd recommend it, but parts of it were very tricky with the pushchair; steep hills, long grass and felled trees lying across some paths. Also, while it's muddy it's worth chucking a bottle of water in the boot to wash the pushchair wheels down afterwards.

We returned home to find Severn Trent had been out, and drawn a blue line next to the crack in the pavement. The flow of water had not been stemmed, in fact it was bubbling away with renewed vigour. There was also a growing gaggle of children from the street around it, poking at it with sticks and pushing one another into it.

When trying to think of ways to occupy kids, it's always nice to be reminded that they can have a great day, with only the simplest of things to amuse them.