I was just on Google, searching for my name out of curiosity and I found another person called Ross Brown. I was shocked to read he is still single - can't think why...

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Well, it looks like we survived the flood undamaged. The water level is slowly receding (well at the front of the house at least). The back garden still looks like a pond (it's about 20cm deep in places) - Candi said we should get some carp. Tonight it's going to be -8 degrees in some parts of the UK, so I wonder if we'll have an ice rink tomorrow? I'm looking forward to seeing ducks stuck in the ice when I walk to work tomorrow :-)

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According to our neighbour, the unusually high tide yesterday has been adding to the flooding. The next high tide is at 00:30 tonight, so I'll be up waiting for that. We've moved everything off the floor downstairs and brought most things upstairs. Candi rang AA Insurance earlier to check we are covered (good job I renewed the policy on Thursday - that's when it expired!). Apparently, not only are we covered for flood damaged household goods etc. but if this place becomes uninhabitable they will provide alternative accomodation. So that's good news at least.

The water level has been steadily rising all day and as you can see from the second set of pictures the back garden is now completely waterlogged. I know I always said I wanted a pond, but this isn't quite what I had in mind. One of the boats moored in the pond at the end of the road has sunk. I'll try and get a picture of it tomorrow (providing I can get close enough).

The question now remains, how much higher will the flooding get? The Thames has burst its banks, some of Reading and most of Lower Caversham is now under water, some roads have been closed and it hasn't rained for almost 48 hours, but the water level is still rising. I just hope it doesn't make it inside our house. Watch this space.

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Well the water level is steadily rising, we're still ok - no water in the house yet - but is is about 6" from the front door. One of our neighbours said the last time it flooded like this was in 1947. It's been funny watching all the people who live in the street come out to have a look. I just hope it actually starts going down soon, we haven't had rain for a good 36 hours and the level is still rising. Just sent a mail to my landlord (who is overseas) to let him know his house could be underwater soon... I may take some more pictures if it gets much worse. I'm sure the insurance company will be interested if / when we put in our claim.

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Lordy Lordy... Woke up this morning and took Candi to work at 6:30am and even though it hasn't rained for at least 24 hours the water level keeps rising! We are in serious danger of being flooded. The river has well and truly burst its banks and the water is right up our road, in our back garden and over most of the low-lying areas around here. (The playing field over in Caversham looks more like a lake.) I just hope it doesn't actually make it inside the house...
I've taken some digital photos, if you're interested.

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If, like me, you are a child of the 70s and arcade games like Robotron and Tempest hold a special fondness for you - take a look at Mutant Storm. I guarantee you'll like it (a lot). Plays great and looks splendid.

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Got a Playstation 2? Want to turn it into a DNS server just for the hell of it? Well, now you can! But from the looks of what is on the DVDs you will need to be a bit handy with a C compiler to get anything to work. No doubt this will change as time goes by - I'll be keeping my eye on developments in this area. The possibilities are (almost) endless, but I predict this. One of the first PS2 Linux projects will be a "h4x0r appliance". Stay tuned, kids.

In other news, the Xbox Linux project are making steady progress - you can already download a working copy of Xbox Linux Mandrake 9 that will work on your (modded) Xbox! Got to be a brilliant idea for all the non-PC owning wannabe hackers out there. Esp. with Xbox prices currently at �160 for an Xbox + 2 games (even cheaper on Ebay...)

Just finished watching my first DVD rental by post - Austin Powers Goldmember. Aside from the film itself (more of the same old AP), the DVD rental thing might just work as long as the postal delays I experienced are just due to the time of year. I'll post it back to them tomorrow and see how long it takes for my next one to turn up. At �7.99 a month for as many rentals as you can watch it can't be bad.

I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow, the river is literally full to bursting. The Environment Agency bods have pulled out all the sluices, trying to get as much water as possible through the weir. As long as it doesn't rain too much over the next few days, we should be OK. Apparently the last time this area flooded was 50 years ago. (I'm still trying to work out whether that means it won't flood, or it will.)

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In-keeping with the whole end of one year / beginning of a new one stuff that seems to be everywhere at the moment - here are my two top 5 lists of the year:

5 Good Things about 2002

1. A TiVo for �99!
2. Living 15mins walk from the office
3. Getting Engaged
4. Buying my new PC
5. Spiderman movie getting released

5 Bad Things about 2002

1. Not having a holiday
2. Fila Brazillia gig cancelled
3. 2% pay rise!
4. The job market
5. Still no closer to being a millionaire

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Happy New Year. Lordy, is it 2003 already? Before you know it we will be in 2005, then it'll be 2010 before you know it... The passage of time is a funny thing; when you're young the school holidays seem to last forever - now the years are whizzing by.... Must be getting old.

Hello to Mike (my Secret Santa giftee) - thanks for the note.

I've been looking into what DVD player I should get, seems like the Pioneer 454 meets my needs perfectly (and it looks cool). Amazon.co.uk are selling it for �129.99 - in stark contrast B&B HiFi up the road have one in their window for �179.99. Guess where I'll be getting mine from?

Well the rain shows no sign of letting up just yet. The pond at the end of our road is almost spilling out onto the road. Not much further and I will need a canoe to get to work. I'll try and take pictures if it does get that bad (hope not!).

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