This was the scene at Kerne Bridge and at Symonds Yat East on Wednesday. The Symonds Yat East on Wednesday photos were kindly sent in by Nick Stephens of Rose Cottage. By Saturday, water levels were back to normal and Tina and I sat in the tea garden at Rose Cottage with Nick and Angie Stephens, enjoying the beautiful Spring sunshine and fantastic views of the river.

If the sun is shining of a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and you feel like doing something completely different, the Rose Cottage Tea Garden is a great place to go with your family for a relaxing afternoon! It has a kind of 'sea side' atmosphere.

I would like to express some concerns I have about our dear County Council. I own a house on Wye Street in Ross which unfortunately caught fire 18 months ago and still has not been completely renovated. Despite this, I am being charged rates by the local council.

Approximately 4 weeks ago I was at the property to check how things were progressing. Whilst I was there an employee of Herefordshire Council came to the door asking to see me. I asked her into what was quite evidently still a building site. I was then informed by her that I owed the council £618.75 in rates for the house, despite the fact that the house was obviously uninhabitable. After pointing out this fact to her again and showing her the rest of the house, she was still adamant that the rates would have to paid and that the council would soon be taking steps to retrieve the debt.

This morning I received a letter at my office from Bristow and Sutor, informing me that a judgement had been made against me in the County Court for non payment of these rates and that they would be sending a bailiff around to remove goods from my office to sell at public auction. This, as you can imagine, did not go down too well with me and I was immediately on the phone to Bristow and Sutor. I tried to explain the situation to them but this basically fell on deaf ears and I was told to take it up with the council. Being in the mood I was in by then, I told them in no uncertain terms what would happen if they came to my door and tried to remove anything. To put that in language polite enough to publish, 'That I would stop them doing so with any means necessary.'

My next call was to the rates section of the council. Here I was told that the rates would have to be paid and that they would have the bailiff remove goods from my office. At this point I asked if they would record the conversation and carried on to inform them what would happen should they attempt to do this much, as I had done to Bristow and Sutor.

I have no intention of backing down on this and as anybody that knows me will tell you, I’m not frightened of them and will do what ever it takes. Apparently the council won't back off, so an interesting situation seems to be developing here. I don’t really care which way it goes. So far I have beaten the Norwich Union into submission, so why not the council? Nic Taylor…

No! The northern / southern hemisphere, water going down the drain / rotation of the Earth thing is a myth. It simply depends on the shape of the drain, not where the drain is located. In my bath (yes, I do have one occasionally) it goes down clockwise but in Homs Road, after a flood it goes down anticlockwise.

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