As the extraordinary weather continues right across the West and North-West of Britain with only the briefest of respites punctuating an otherwise desperately miserable time for so many people, ten of the others are now helping out with bits and pieces in some of the foulest of conditions to hit the UK in living memory.

Meanwhile, only Dave (in Wales) and myself (in the South-West) remain on stand-by with my own, more “normal” ranger work taking a bit of a back seat during the last week or so as I continue to divide my time fairly evenly between the stuff I’m doing in Herefordshire and the dramatic increase in the intensity of Tess’s training. Mind you, today (25th November), I’m stuck at home for reasons completely beyond my control.