It rained for hours and hours and hours today here in Charlottetown and this made it impossible to ignore a couple of leaks in our 18 year old roof. I spent a good part of the day moving buckets around the attic.

For this and other reasons I was reminded of the day in early December 2010 when Oliver and I got up at dawn, in Venice, to take the train to Tipoteca, only to find the streets around our apartment flooded ankle-deep. As streets in Venice, in December, do.

Fortunately, at 10 years old, I could still pick up Oliver and carry him up the street to the bridge over the canal; from that point until the train station we were able to navigate on raised sidewalks that had been set up for the occasion.

When we returned, at the end of the day, the water had receded; it was as if the flood had never happened.

I’m hoping for the same outcome here tomorrow.