Stop calling this "freak weather"

I have been shocked at the state of the floods in Cumbria.

It certainly puts Ben's floods on the carpet in perspective, although it looks like those days are over as he's really got to grips with potty training.

Bridges are crumbling like sandcastles, with another bridge due to collapse, bringing the total to seven, and it looks like residents will have to do without any "replacement" bridges until the new year.

My brother is a graduate trainee structural engineer, and his profession will have a lot to say over the coming weeks and months about the state of the many other thousands of bridges in the area and elsewhere no doubt.

And something else. It's about time we stop calling this "freak weather".

I've heard that word a lot in the news recently. It's not freak weather. It's normal weather. We've already seen it wreak havoc in 2007 and it's about time people wake up and ensure we're properly prepared for it. If that means us all paying a bit more in our Council Tax for it, so be it, but let's have some proper flood barrier defences please.

The Dutch have managed to live below sea-level for donkeys without any major problems, so there's no excuse.

Something else that irked me was an Environment Agency spokesperson hiding behind a claim that the rainfall in Cumbria was a "once in a thousand years" event. Sure, it was unprecedented, but I'd like to think that we'd be in a slightly better position to deal with it now than our medieval forefathers were.

They'll be floating pontoon bridges up the River Derwent next.