London's drowning

In the middle of a flash flood

It's Monday morning and we were preparing to leave the lodge. It's a shame we have to leave today. I've really enjoyed my time here and I know it's not something I'll forget any time soon. Also I've become closer friends to Patrick and Benny.
And I think Courtney and Jonathan have become closer friends too.

We packed and said goodbye to Patrick and Benny at the car and then went our separate ways.
Today it was pretty cloudy and a lot cooler. And the clouds looked heavy and dark. I thought it might rain today, just like we heard on the weather forecast.
And then during our drive back to London in the afternoon in Jonathan's car, it suddenly started to rain.

I was in the passenger seat again, Courtney in the back and Jonathan was driving. Jonathan put the windscreen wipers on.
The rain was coming down harder and harder and the cars and the motorway were getting very wet.

„This doesn't look good. Hopefully it'll stop soon and won't keep on raining all through the night. I don't fancy walking to work tomorrow on wet streets.” Jonathan said, while looking up at the sky.

Then we joined the long queues and it still hadn't stopped raining heavily.
It was always faster to drive out of London than driving back in. The queues into London were always so long.

Courtney was on her phone, but after a while she was getting a little bit bored, leant forward and said:„Hey Jonathan, do you mind going a bit faster, I don't want to walk to my flat on soaking streets in these high heels?”
Obviously Jonathan couldn't go any faster, we were in queues. So I looked at Jonathan, wondering how he'll react to that. I can never be sure what he'll say or do next. But I saw him slowly breathe out and roll his eyes, so to prevent any conflict from occuring between him and Courtney, I said quickly:„ I'm sure Jonathan is going as fast as possible. But it's difficult because there are queues.“
Courtney sunk back down in her seat and breathed out.

The rain was coming down even harder now and the water started running down the road. There was also a very strong wind, which didn't make the situation any better at all, because it was blowing the rain heavily against our window screen.

Finally, we arrived in London, but the sky was already going dark. The amount of water on the streets was a lot worse in the city and it was very difficult to drive through it.
It was still very windy.

Then we saw people in front of us get out of their car and leave it, just roughly parked on the street. They rushed out and gathered onto steps, so that they weren't standing in water.

Then Jonathan turned off the motor.
He turned to me and said with a worried look on his face: „We need to get out of the car now and find somewhere we are able to stand and won't get wet.“ Courtney couldn't believe her ears and said: „What! No way! Are you crazy? I'm not getting out there in the pooring rain with these clothes, I spent a lot of money on this skirt or walking on those streets in these heels.
No I'm not doing it“

Jonathan turned back and looked at her straight in her eyes. He said with a raised voice:„ Cortney, I don't care what you do or don't want to do! We need to get out of this car right now. Maybe you haven't noticed yet, but we happen to be right in the middle of a flash flood and that means, if we don't leave this car now and find somewhere higher than the level street to go to, we probably won't be able to get out of here at all, because the water is only going to rise more and more. So get out.“

At that moment I felt a sense of fear. Usually Jonathan always stays calm, but this time he wasn't. And for me, that meant this situation must be really serious and perhaps even dangerous.
Jonathan looked at me, but I couldn't tell if he was scared too. Then he opened the door and got out. I looked back and said: „Come on Courtney. This is the only way.” I opened my door and stepped out. The water was actually flowing quite fast through the streets and it was already just above my ankles. It was so cold and went right through my shoes. I instantly felt my feet get wet and cold too.