The Great Flood

Every now and then the weather goes crazy. But a rain like this I have seen only rarely.

The Big Flood or: a small Apocalypse

During winter we had temperatures for a while that were far below zero even during daytime. Last October was long and golden. And today we had a rainstorm like I've rarely seen before.

We were unhurriedly collecting hay at the camp, had just finished the field and were doing a short break, when the first drops started to fall.

And then, within five minutes, the world was ending. A wall of water, coming from all directions at us, even though we tried to take shelter in the roofed community area. The rain was drumming on the roof so noisily that you couldn't hear your own words anymore, and when you leaned against one of the roof's pillars, you could feel it vibrating softly.

We realised very soon we wouldn't been able to continue today and the next bus which Linda and Narek could take back to Velence would come in only 20 minutes.

For the three to four minutes walk to the bus stop, usually more than enough.

But if you have to walk ankle deep through running water, then it's getting a bit more complicated.

We reached the stop at the same time as the bus did and said goodbye to the two Velencer volunteers, then continued our way for the last few metres through the cold waterfall.

Soaked to the bone we crawled into our rooms and waited until the rain had passed again - the horses would still like to get dinner at some point - which took about one and a half hours.

Back to the camp we didn't even take our shoes with us. Everything was flooded anyway.