July 21 st , 2007 was a typical English summer’s day — it rained for 24 hours! As usual, I rushed home from work at midday to check on the house. Nothing was amiss. By the time I lift work at 5 pm, however, the road into our village was flooded . Our house bad never been flooded but , as I opened the front door , a wave of water greeted me . Thank God the kids weren’t with me , because the house was 5 feet deep in water . We lost everything downstairs. And the plaster had to be torn off the walls , ceilings pulled down .
At first we tried to push on through. We didn’t want to move the children out of home, so we camped upstairs. we put a sheet of plastic across the floor to protect us from the damp. But after three months, we felt very sick, so we moved to a wooden house in a park. The house was small, but at first we were all just delighted to be in a new place. Unfortunately, things took longer than expected and we were there for 10 months. The life there was inconvenient. What surprised me most was how much I missed being part of a community（社区）.We had lived in a friendly village with good neighbours , and I’d never thought how much I’d miss that .
Although-our situation was very bad, it’s difficult to feel too sorry for yourself when you look at what’s happening elsewhere. I watched a news report about floods in Northern India and thought , “We didn’t have a straw hut（茅草房）that was swept away , and our house is still sanding . We’re lucky .”
We moved back home in August. With December coming, there’s reconstruction work to be done, so it’s difficult to prepare for Christmas . But I can’t wait — I’m going to throw a party for our friends in the village to say thanks for their support . This year , I won’t need any gifts — living away from home for months has made me realize how little we actually need or miss all our possessions . Although we are replacing things , there’s really no rush — we have our home back , and that’s the main thing .

2007年7月21日是一个典型的英国夏天里的一天----这一天里，下了24小时的雨！像往常一样，我中午下班冲回家里，检查有没有什么异常。没有丢失什么。但是到下午5点我下班的时候，通往我们村的路给大水淹了。我们的房子从没来没进过水，不过，当我打开大门的时候，一股水热烈地欢迎了我。谢谢天谢地，孩子们没有跟我一起进门，因为房子里居然有5英尺（1.5米）深的水。我们一楼的所有东西都毁了。墙上和屋顶的石膏也得铲了重做。

起初我们决定坚持就这样住下来。我们不想让孩子们离开家，于是我们在楼上露营。我们将一块塑料铺在地板上防潮。但是住了三个月以后，我们感觉很不舒服，于是我们搬进了公园里的一个木房子里。那个木屋很小，但是一开始我们搬进一个新地方都感到很高兴。不幸的是，解决事情花的时间得比我们期望的要长很多，我们在那里一住就是10个月。住在那里真是不方便。让我感到惊讶的是我感到非常怀念住在社区里的日子。我们的村里邻居之间非常友善，我从没想到过我会这想怀念那里的生活。


虽然我们的情况非常糟，不过如果你往周围的其它地方看都发生了什么，我们就不会感到自己是太不幸。我看到一段关于印度北部洪水的新闻并想到，“我们的房子不是茅草房，它也没有被冲走，它仍站在那儿呢。我们够幸运了。”


我们终于在八月份搬回了家里。十二月份马上就来了，有些东西必须要重建，那么就很难有时间准备圣诞节了。但是我已经等不及了-----我马上就要开个宴会，以便对村民们对我们的支持表示感谢。今年，我不需要礼物-----离开家居住几个月让我意识到我们实际上对于我们的财产的需要或想念有多么少。虽然我们在更换东西，但是并不着急-----我们的家又回来了，这才是最主要的。