News of the recent flooding in Bradford on Avon hit foreign shores last week, with a visitor from German twin town Norden writing about the torrential weather and its affects.
Heidi Janssen, 46, a journalist from Norden, has come to the town for three weeks to improve her English.
She will be joining the Wiltshire Times team this week, but arrived in town during the flooding and was amazed to see how calm it was.
“In Germany, the roads would have been closed. Even though the water was rising, I was surprised to see everyone just getting on with it,” she said.
She wrote an article about the conditions and sent it to Norden’s newspaper, which had heard about the bad weather and was intrigued to know what was happening in its twin town.
The paper published the article, along with five pictures Ms Janssen took.
She has been a journalist for 26 years and said: “At the moment, I have some spare time and took the opportunity to come to the town to improve my English.”
After she contacted Norden councillor Hans Enno Schepker, he arranged for her to stay with Roger Andrews, Bradford on Avon’s former mayor and town councillor.
It was Mr Andrews who arranged for her to shadow the reporters, giving her the chance to learn about the differences between a German and English newsroom and more about the English language.
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