yesterday we were very lucky, the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk avoided widespread flooding and wave damage by 20cm…. however what was lucky was that the storm surge happened at a different time than the height of the tide. storm surges occur when severe gales pushing on the sea’s surface and extremely low pressure combine to produce a mass of water moving across the sea. the effect is not unlike a bow wave produced by a ship, on an enormous scale. when such surges hit land at high tide they can cause severe and very rapid flooding, particularly if the local coastal geography funnels the water into a concentrated mass, as does the narrowing of the shallow North Sea between East Anglia and the Netherlands.

the surfers were going in at Gorleston yesterday. mad – the wind was bitingly cold.

there were some houses and businesses flooded, but not to any major extent. the worst victims were a few £100,000 beach huts at Southwold … and some less expensive ones at Cromer, which were completely destroyed. my neighbour rushed over from Spalding and arrived at 2 in the morning to secure his two small boats at Morston, and help the fishermen sort theirs out. it was horrifically cold and windy and the tide never went out in the creeks – the storm penned all the water up.

the wind has gone completely today and its dark and drizzling.

I have made my kiln ½ inch taller – I took out the 1 ¼” thick kiln shelf base and replaced it with 2 pieces of ¾” shelf. I have slightly less floor space and a crack down the middle, but I think I will buy 2 shelves the right size, and I can put some calcined alumina into the crack to block it – it’s right over where the flame runs underneath the shelf and into the bottom of the flue.. only thing is that the thinner shelves are more liable to warp and crack … but they do have one big advantage, I don’t have to break my back getting them in and out. I should just be able to squeeze that big pot in now – its resolutely sticking at 23”.