to Drought or Not to Drought

So much talk this spring about the lack of water and the drought we are going to be having and a hosepipe ban. some of this needs translation for the poor former colonists who don't speak the Queen's English anymore. Hosepipe is what they call a garden hose. simple enough. Spring is apparently the time between March and June when it is lighter and brighter outside but still could freeze or snow or hail, and has several times on us. Not at all like spring in Houston - our last address - where spring meant you saw all your flowers bloom briefly before the heat killed them.

Supposedly, we have heard, you get a mailed notice if you are under a hosepipe ban because of lack of water. Then unless you get an exemption, you can't water your grass, wash your car, fill your birdbath or any such thing with your hose. You can do all of that if you carry the water out of your house in a bucket. Also we have been told that neighbors are particularly good at ratting you out and telling on you if they see you with the hose in your hand. Exceptions are if you have a pond with live fish. Then you are allowed to use the hose to keep it full so your fish don't die. We do have a fish pond and while our fish died over the winter, we have since restocked it. It has still been so cold thought that we haven't seen the fish since we released them into the pond.

Now to the meat of the drought - we're thinking it's not much of one if at all. For the past two weeks, it has rained pretty much every day and almost all day long. We spent several days emptying out a bucket from the overflow of our water butt and also from a drip in our gutter. Then we got smart and went and purchased another water butt. Now this butt is also full. Our garden is so saturated that it is swampy in the low areas. I squish when I walk across the grass/moss. I expect to find ducks out there any day splashing about in the puddles. Also, we visited Ham House which is a historical manor and located on the Thames. The Thames was out of its banks and well across several walkways in the area.

This being our first year in England, not sure how much of this is normal and how much is just luck (good or bad) that it didn't rain much for January and February but started raining in late March and hasn't stopped really. I'm hoping that there isn't a drought and that we will not get an official notice not to use our hosepipe but should that happen, I have my water butts before I start hauling water out of the house. I'm good to go.