>>>>It's a but like Katrina, only without the loss of life, washed away houses, poor black families, lootin' and a-shootin'... Wait a minute - it's NOTHING like Katrina.
>>>
>>>LOL!
>>
>>But seriously, there are maybe as many buildings flooded, but spread all over the country.
>
>I knew you were being serious ... I didn't mean to make light of the situation. Flooding is nasty business. =0(

Oh I knew you knew. I was just pointing out the serious bits of it. Some years ago I worked for a short time for a builders that specialised in insurance repairs to properties. Back in 2000 we had terrible rains. This dumb farmer had ploughed his downland field with the drills going down the hill. So there was a mudslide that inundated several houses. I saw one house after the mud had been cleared out, with just the tide mark all through. And I water jetted the high-mud marks off the exterior walls. THAT was bad enough!

>
>
>>>We might be heading out to the UK in September. It'll start out as a business trip, but we'll tack on some extra vacation time while we're there to head on over to the continent and spend a week or so in Chamonix.
>>
>>What part of the UK? Looks like we're back off to France at the end of the month.
>
>Our company has a branch office in Manchester (actually, just outside Manchester, in Altrincham). Last time we went there, we had some additional business in Cambridge, so we rode over to Cambridge with one of the guys, had our meeting and then, our business part of the trip completed, we wandered around Cambridge for several hours before hopping the train to London, where we spent 3 days. Very nice!

But Manchester and Altringham. I feel sorry for you.

>
>If we *do* go again in September, I suspect we'll only be in Altrincham for a couple of days and probably fly out of Manchester to Geneva and then the short drive from there to Chamonix.
>
>Where in France are you going this time?

Just to Brittany camping again (can't afford owt else) but this time maybe hopping down to the Vendee - la Rochelle.

Terry