'new york drowns while we hold hands'

sang jimi hendrix (on voodoo child). horsemouth does hope his remaining friends in new york are ok. (as far as he can remember nobody has a basement flat -  jacques did for while but he's no longer there).

a state of emergency has been declared. 

it seems to be rainwater  run off to horsemouth - not storm surge or high tides, that's the next phase.  the answer to rainwater runoff problems is to make the area greener (the soil will soak up more water wheras the concrete and asphalt will encourage it to run off and flood further downhill), to introduce more trees and to improve the drainage system). 

improving drainage systems is an expensive business. making places flood resistant less so. basement flats may have had their day. 

of course the flooding is all up through long island and new jersey also. 

horsemouth supposes red hook was the warning. it's on the floodplain. but then again most cities have grown up by rivers and lakes and the sea (for ease of trade) and spread out onto the floodplains. land values encourage increases in density (horsemouth is usually in favour of increasing density in cities so that transport costs can be lower, so that public transport can work more effectively). 

the neighbours basement flat two doors up from horsemouth's flooded out a few years ago but then again it is about 5ft lower than his (and 5ft further downhill).  

elsewhere horsemouth was reading some statistics on the UK (from the ONS - the office of national statistics/ the office of north and south) - he is now staying  in the place with the  second lowest productivity in the UK - herefordshire, the place where he mainly stays in london (hackney) is the 19th most income-deprived in the country (and this is despite all the rich people wandering round). 

so how will the 'levelling up' of south and north go? is it dead already? was it only ever snake oil? 

of course the problem with productivity improving (and income statistics improving) is that it doesn't necessarily put money in the pockets of the people who are there already, in fact it can make things more expensive and drive them out to be replaced by the people who get the benefit of the government investment. there is a construction boom in manchester but that doesn't mean people in oldham and rochdale are doing any better - in fact they may be doing worse as the increased money circulating locally  drives up prices. 

outside a grey morning. horsemouth contemplates a wander at some stage. he has already been out to water the tomato plants in the green house (last crop he thinks). his mum has just been out to feed and let out the chickens. horsemouth's mum's place is distinctly on a hill (so  while there is plenty of rain it is pretty safe from flooding). in recent years the roads have sometimes flooded for a day or so. there have been floods in hereford itself.