A Wet Walk Home

The University Parks are flooded! The River Cherwell has broken its banks.

This young man is seen braving a flooded footpath at dusk, in an attempt to get home (so he told us). He didn't make it! After a few minutes out of sight, he came back with his jeans soaked to above the knees, and complaining of the cold... A couple of cyclists had a go, as well, while we were watching. They probably got a bit further than the walker, but also returned after a while, and said that the water got deeper later on.

Beyond the footpath lies a sports field with pavilion. On the far side, the lights of University Departments and Colleges look rather welcoming against the foreground of the wintery scene.

The water is actually quite deep in the Parks themselves, and you wouldn't want to sit on this seat.

I've put some more photographs of the flooded Parks in a collection.

For comparison, this is the scene near where the first few of these photographs were taken, when the river is at its usual level.

How different it is from Sunday week ago, when this is what the river looked like (in Christ Church Meadow, linked from my Blipfoto entry).

And how could the river be more tranquil than this, photographed a couple of miles upstream?