Hi there, Peter here. What a downpour last night. Did anyone hear the rain? It certainly sounded like hailstones on my roof! Poor east Devon has begun a clean-up operation after severe flooding caused by unpredicted wintry storm wreaked havoc. Heavy rain, hail and snow fell in what the Met Office described as a "freak event" in Ottery St Mary. Floodwaters rose up to 4ft (1.2m), which led to people having to be rescued by air from houses and cars. Crews from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service had to be drafted in to rescue dozens of people from homes. One farmer, John Burrows, lost 35 sheep as a result of the flooding. It seems, winter or summer, flooding seems to be happening more and more across Britain.
Motorway Madness? Fancy having a go at the M1 appreciation course? Apparently, there's more to motorways than Tarmac, tailbacks and tepid coffee served at tourist prices. To prove it a lecturer took a minibus of students on a day-long tour of the M1. Certainly, most would not choose to spend half their weekend thundering down the M1 - the road leading 193 miles (311 km) out of London - without the promise of, at least, arriving somewhere else. But, according to David Lawrence, who is equipped with a PhD on motorway service areas, it was very different in the not-so-distant past. As the shiny super-roads opened in the 1950s, "they became playgrounds for the fast and rich, rubbing shoulders with the newly affluent and motor-borne middle and working classes," says Mr Lawrence. "When the first motorways opened," he adds, "service stations were incredibly glamorous, modern venues which people would visit simply for the thrill of driving up the motorways." As part of the London-based alterna! tive education institute, the School of Life, Mr Lawrence is taking a small class of travellers, who have paid £95 each for the privilege, on a journey up and down the spine of England's motorway network - the M1. It's not just service areas that are the subject of this day-long lesson in motorway culture. There's the 193 miles of unbroken Tarmac that connects Staples Corner in London with Hook Moor in West Yorkshire. Mr Lawrence enthusiastically points out how clumps of trees, varying gradients and curving embankments were incorporated in the original design of the road, which opened in 1959, to offer a subtly stimulating driving experience, or to prevent you falling asleep at the wheel. I think I will put my £95 towards petrol! Mills and Boon's Only Male Writer There has been a lot of talk recently about women who feel the benefit of reading Mills and Boon books to relax. I wonder if they know that Roger Sanderson has enjoyed enormous success writing romance for the past six years. It is estimated he has one and a quarter millions books in print around the world, and has been translated into 17 languages. His output is phenomenal at four books a year. Roger has to write under a female pseudonym. He is currently the only male writer published by Mills and Boon, specialising in Medical Romance and writes under the name Gill Sanderson. Unlike many of the Grand Dames of romance - Roger is most likely to be found sinking a pint at the local Rugby Club in Liverpool when he's not writing. His early career was spent penning war stories, a far cry from the quivering Mills and Boon heroines and their obligatory dashing heroes. Dr Who? Thank you for your response on the question about the new Dr Who - I have received suggestions of Stephen Fry and Dawn French from Sue and Sir Derek Jacobi has been suggested by Chris from Holton Le Clay. I wonder if they will keep the element of surprise on who they decide to take over as the Doctor? Take care and enjoy the weekend. Bye Peter And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. Your email address will be held by the BBC and kept confidential, and will only be used in relation to this newsletter. You will be given the option to unsubscribe from this newsletter each time you receive it. Please visit the BBC's Privacy & Cookies Policy (www.bbc.co.uk/privacy) for more information.
