The River (Don) is wide...

".... I cannot see
Nor do I have light wings to fly.
There'll be a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I ..." 

There are many versions of 'The Water is Wide'/'The River is Wide', which Wikipedia tells me is of Scottish origin and dates back, in parts, to the 1600s.   There's a good one here, among many others:

https://songoftheisles.com/2013/10/21/the-water-is-wide/

Anyway... back to the local perspective.
With all the rain this week, and the hills on 3 sides of the city saturated, the river levels are rising steadily.  I walked down to the Don this afternoon, after a morning's work at the laptop. It only takes 15 mins or so from our house;  thankfully we're far enough up a steep hill to avoid any floods. Sheffield's flood defences were bolstered heavily after the Don burst its banks and caused catastrophic floods in 2007.  The problems may only have been displaced, however, as towns to the east of us (especially Doncaster) now have regular problems while we rarely do.

I pondered the Don, with my back to a section of ring road and the sound of  rushing brown water easily masking the traffic noise (the extra is a shot of that rushing water). During the first lockdown, the local roads were deserted. Not this time.  Nevertheless, our local Covid numbers are dropping, so it looks as if the restrictions are having an effect.

Then I walked home (back up that hill - definitely today's cardio exercise). And I listened to Joe Biden's inaugural address while I cooked tea. It is a relief to hear him talk, after the madness of the last 4 years. Let's hope that he and his team get a fair chance to make a difference, a good difference.