This weekend was one of the wettest ones we've had in the UK for many months. It happened to be the very weekend I went away to take part in a Napoleonic re-enactment event.
On the way to the event, at about 6.30 on Saturday morning I drove through a massive thunderstorm in the Swindon area. The traffic on the M4 motorway was reduced to about 30mph for a while because visibility was so poor and the water was deep enough to cause aquaplaning if you went any faster.
But luckily, by the time I arrived near Worcester the weather was better. We were very lucky that Saturday daytime was overcast but mostly dry. That changed overnight.
From early in the morning it absolutely hammered down with rain. We had a short break for a couple of hours late morning. The plan was to do a battle display at 2.30. Not that there were any public to watch us ! They'd clearly seen the forecast. We marched onto the field, and within five minutes the sky opened and the rain hit us. My musket stopped working after a massive raindrop flooded the pan. It wasn't the only one, the display devolved into a series of bayonet charges delivered very carefully due to the slippery surface - after all we're only acting, new re-enactors are hard to recruit and equip, and in reality we're all friends.
The camp had to be packed up in the rain, and when I got home I was faced with the daunting task of drying everything off. Luckily, we've got a de-humidifier. It's an awesome machine ! We put the sopping wet tent canvas over a drying rack, with everything else scattered around the room, turned the de-humidifier on and closed the doors so it only had to worry about the humidity in that one room. We also turned the radiator up in the room, to help the moisture evaporate.
24 hours later, most of what is in the pantry is totally dry, and even the tent is likely to only need another few hours. The good news is that the de-humidifier doesn't use much electricity - certainly much less than a tumble dryer or electric heater. So far we've emptied the tank twice, so that's about 6 litres of water. No wonder the tent canvas felt heavy !
It is definitely my favourite machine, without it I'd have had terrible trouble drying everything before mould set in.
All photos by me - they show the wonderful de-humidifier and the drying rack with the tent over the top and soggy gaiters and overalls on the middle shelf. Tomorrow's job includes ironing them !