Day 3 - Wetter than an otter's pocket

19:00
We’ve been expecting the rains. Waking up on Monday morning, we see grimacing skies, and chop on the water. They’re not here yet, but they’re surely in the post. It’s still warm, but a stiffening breeze promises malevolence.

I’m up by 08:00, but leave Vicki to sleep a while. I briefly look in on her at 09:30, but she declares insufficient, so I leave her for another half hour. We’ve determined that the inclement weather necessitates an excursion, and we’re going to head down to Kotor for a wander around. We book cabs for 11:30, Vicki emerges, and we’re outside the villa by 11:25 waiting for our cabs. I say cabs, but really, it’s the brother of Maria who runs the management company that looks after our villa, and one of his mates. Ivan (brother) turns up on time, but his mate is 25 minutes late. Apparently there’s traffic trouble down in Kotor. It’s a town of perhaps 12,000, so I struggle to understand just how bad the traffic can be.

As we drive down to the town centre, I start to understand. It’s a perfect storm of terrible road planning, insane drivers, and perhaps 3,000 passengers flooding off a couple of cruise ships. We attempt to turn off the main road, but a cruiser is crossing the road, despite the crossing light being red. We nearly run her down.

As we walk into the old city of Kotor, the sky is darkening. We’re all ready for a beer, so head for a lovely little square just inside the city walls. Within moments, the rains commence. Fleeting at first, they build into some of the heaviest rain I can ever remember experiencing. I ping Felix a message to let him know that the rains around Khao Yai might just have been relegated to second place. The noise as the water pounds on the slick, stone paving is immense. The bar we’re in has an awning, but it is woefully inadequate for these conditions. Despite sitting underneath this covering, Vicki has her umbrella up. ‘A’ drink turns into several, as we’re in no rush to head out into the deluge. We decide to grab some food while we’re here. The rain keeps getting heavier, and heavier. I love the rain, but this is just something else.

Finally, FINALLY - after about two hours, it starts to abate. We grab the opportunity to settle up our bill, and make for the nearest supermarket to stock up on some supplies. It’s only a 5 minute walk away, but we’re all beyond soggy by the time we arrive. Because I’m such a goddamn hero, I’ve lent Whiskas my waterproof coat, making do with a small umbrella instead. Honestly, I’m so soaked through before we leave the bar, that a waterproof coat would have done no more than trap the moisture in.

We manage to grab most of what we need at the supermarket, before Ivan and his dad give us a ride back to the villa. Opening the door, it’s quickly evident that all is not well. There are puddles of water all over the floor. We quickly identify the the water is coming from the first floor, and discover water pouring in from the small baloney at the front of the 1st floor living room. It’s properly flooded. A clean up exercise commences, and I get in touch with Maria to request assistance. The next door villa is owned by a guy called Vuco. He’s had some similar issues, and has identified a blocked gutter at the rear of his property as the culprit. This perhaps explains the water in our kitchen, but our problem is definitely due to something at the front of the villa. The villa owner pitches up to help with clean up, and kindly leaves us a bottle of vodka as an apology.

The next heavy shower is only minutes later, and we experience the same flooding. Our diagnostics team has identified a gutter at the front of our vila that isn’t draining properly, and which is creating a waterfall that falls directly onto the balcony. The balcony has a raised lip about 2 inches high, and the water can’t drain away from it. As it fills, the water reaches the level of the door, and the door is not watertight. Knowing how and why we’re being flooded is heartening, but hardly the outcome we’re after. The owner’s son rocks up, and drills some additional holes into the balcony to allow for better drainage. Honestly, I’d probably have started with the gutter which is the genesis of the problem, but what do I know?

Look, the villa managers and owners can’t control the weather, obviously. But this can’t possibly be the first time this has happened. The rain is incredibly heavy, but it’s not some kind of days long, generational storm. We’re still having to deal with ingress of water 4 hours later, and it leaves us feeling more than a little irked. The hole drilling has helped, but when the rain gets really heavy, there’s still some water splashing against the door from the deluge coming down from the gutter, and some of it makes its way into the living room. It’s manageable for tonight, but needs more attention tomorrow.

23:45
Our evening is more stressful than is entirely ideal. Intermittent heavy showers have continued to leave us soggy. I guess we’re kinda inured to it. We’re certainly well versed in wringing out the various towels and rugs that we’re using as flood barriers. We make the best of it. The owner’s son turned up with a bottle of a decent Reposado Tequila for us - again, by way of apology. Honestly though, we’re pretty miffed that we’ve paid a whack of cash for our villa, and it’s flooding like this. We’ll need to get on to the managers tomorrow to try and sort out the guttering, as there’s heavy rain forecast on several of the next few days…Read more