Rain

It's been pissing down for about three days here.We have gone from drought to floods.After some of the driest months on record now we are having the wettest November for 16 years.Yesterday was big German car show in Newcastle.It was cancelled but I was silly enough to drive upto Newcastle anyway in my 1977 911 to the Porsche breakfast which went ahead.The driving conditions were appalling particularly on the 75km drive back.The roads were flooded in places and were very slippery after the months of dry weather.Not a comfortable place to be in an early 911.

It surprises me that so many drivers just do not appreciate how slippery wet roads are.This was brought home to me literally with a bang this morning when a "P" plater ran into the back of my car (not the 911) at walking pace at a local roundabout.Just a scratch on my back bumper but it could have been a lot worse.

I did not take any photos of the conditions but I did find this old shot of downtown Milwaukee on a wet July afternoon which reminded me of today. It was taken from the window of my room in the Hilton Hotel -a particularly dull hotel-on my Leica Digilux1 back in 2006.I often visited Milwaukee on business -it's usually an ok place in summer (well just)-but after one visit in mid January I said never again in winter.I know it's a dreary photo but it suits the subject.

And as a counterpoint and to add some sunshine to what have been three very wet days another Digilux 1 photo of a field of sunflowers in somewhere in Italy.