DAVID RIDGWAY’S (W 59-64) DEBUT NOVEL ‘THURSDAY’ AVAILABLE NOW!
Former Mayor of Kirklees, David Ridgway (W 59-64), has released a debut novel titled Thursday. Thursday is an attempt to demonstrate how sharp is the knife-edge on which we all live – many cities around the world will inevitably be affected by rising sea levels. The story is about an event which could happen, how individuals might react under such stress and pressure, and what the outcome could be.
David visited Canvey Island following the The North Sea Flood of 1953 (which killed 58 islanders and led to the evacuation of the 13,000 residents) and remembers the devastation, which sparked a life-long interest in meteorology and global warming. Married with three grown-up children, David has worked in the textile trade and financial services. He has owned and run a restaurant with his daughter, as well as being a magistrate and an elected Councillor in Kirklees, rising to become the Mayor in 2012. Basically retired, he now writes, weaving his own wide experiences of life with issues of the day.
Thursday is a tale of how a meteorological event could bring flooding and devastation to a modern city like London.
Please see a plot synopsis below:
Two conflicting weather systems, after wreaking havoc in North America and the West Indies, come across the Atlantic, the first in the far North, the second moving swiftly past the Azores. Both are held up by a massive anti-cyclone over Northern Russia and intensify, the first in the North Sea off Norway, blowing a hurricane southward, the second centred over Oxford, blowing a hurricane up the English Channel.
During the spring tides in February, these systems meet off Dogger Bank, creating a massive storm surge, which firstly devastates Holland and the northern European coastline before moving up the River Thames. The wave is so high, it swamps the container ports and the Thames Barrier, bringing chaos, havoc and destruction to London.
After flooding the road tunnels at Dartford, the sea-surge inundates the London City Airport before entering the underground, firstly at London Bridge, flooding the rail tunnels under massive pressure, causing death, destruction and disaster.
David, an A level student who is aware of these weather systems, cuts school to travel into Central London with his girlfriend. They witness the wave crashing through Tower Bridge, ripping HMS Belfast from its moorings and demolishing part of London Bridge, flooding Bermondsey and Southwark and toppling the London Eye.
This story is about an event which could happen, how individuals might react under such stress and pressure and what the outcome could be.
Click here to purchase the book on Amazon.
