My ginger root is still growing. I still have to see whether it survived the storm last night.

• Growing ginger root 6 Jul 2008

I had alcohol service training for Hillside Monday night.

Most of it was Dan talking about checking ID, dealing with drinkers, and keeping the licensed area secure. Later Bridget talked about some volunteering details and then Harry demonstrated how to pour beer.
I have done Smart Serve and seen Dan’s presentation in previous years. It was good that they tried to keep it shorter this year.

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There was a huge storm in Waterloo last night.

The weather station at Waterloo measured the highest quarter hour rainfall in its history (about a decade) at 23 millimetres.

Don and I were at the Castle when the worst of the rain blew down. We watched out the window, but I wanted to see out the front door of the place. So much rain was blowing around that when I opened the door a crack my sleeve got soaked and I got splashed in the face.

Call volumes were so high that police were asking citizens to hold off on phoning about downed trees until today, so officers could deal with more pressing emergencies.

The emergency room at Grand River Hospital in Kitchener was full when water a third of a metre deep started rushing in the front doors [...]

A few blocks away, on Westmount Road near Gage Avenue, drivers drove into rising water that climbed above their hoods.

Passersby pulled a panicked elderly man from a Mazda that had stalled in the deep water.

Paramedics lifted the man onto high ground and wrapped him in an emergency blanket, before loading him into an ambulance.
— Floods hit region TheRecord.com 22 July 2008