Overflow of the river Vltava

I was at work when I heard the news on TV. It had been pouring with rain for several days and I could see that the River Vltava was swollen. Now It appeared that there was a real danger that the river would overflow. All of us who lived or worked near the river were being advised to get out and move to a place of safety. My office is in the Centre of Prague only a hundred meters from the river bank and I live in a flat in a small town just a few kilometers north of Prague, right on the banks of the River Vltava, so I was in danger both at work and at home.

My wife and baby were at my flat, so I did the sensible thing and went home immediately. I packed my wife and my child into the car and I drove them to her parent’s house. They would be completely safe there. So far, so good! But then I stopped being sensible, and I jumped back into the car and went back to our flat. Why did I do that? I told myself that it was because it was afraid of looters breaking into our flat and stealing things, but the truth was that I sort of felt that I wanted to be in the middle of things, to be involved in what was happening.

I stayed up all night watching the TV bulletins. They were giving regular reports on how fast the water level was rising at various places throughout the Czech Republic. There was a journalist reporting from just down the road from where I was, north of Prague, so I could sit in my sitting room and watch the danger increase as the minutes passed, but I still didn’t move. I suppose I had a kind of perverse desire to be the last person to leave our block of flats. I could hear cars starting up and setting off all evening, and from time to time I looked out at our car park and I could see that it was almost empty.

Tapescript 25.

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