Kate’s latest nightmare: How much more can she take?
Her smile is usually ever present - but as her home flooded, her son’s party plans were thrown into disarray and her husband lay sick, it begs the question...
After all that’s gone on in the Garraway household over the past year and a half, you’d have thought GMB’s Kate would have caught a break by now. But no – not yet.
The TV presenter’s London home, she revealed recently, was one of those which fell victim to the recent storms that battered Britain, pre-heatwave – just as she was planning to host a party for her son Billy’s 12th birthday on 28 July.
The 54-year-old – who also had a hospital dash with her mum in June when she took a nasty tumble on the beach – has spent the time trying to dry out the house.It must have been terribly stressful – and the man she might normally have turned to in such an emergency, especially as her husband Derek, remained bedbound and as Kate said, ‘not very far out of the woods’.
The former political lobbyist, who caught Covid-19 last March, came home from hospital in April – but he has ongoing health problems, can’t move unaided and has minimal communication.
No doubt, the scorching heat and unpredictable, torrential rain have also taken their toll, too. The mum-of-two [she also has a daughter, Darcey, 15] looked under pressure, as she opened up about her home disaster with Alex Beresford and Charlotte Hawkins on GMB.
‘I have lived the weather of the week, Alex… Severe flooding and the storms on Monday night so woke up on Tuesday morning to find…
‘Well, we live on a hill. So, you come in the door at one level and you go down the steps to the back garden – everything underneath completely flooded.’
A sympathetic Charlotte responded, ‘Oh no!’
Kate added: ‘Completely flooded. Total nuisance. Total nightmare.
‘Thanks to Grandad, Derek’s dad, and Auntie Di, we have managed to clear it.
‘The only problem is that it’s Billy’s birthday… It’s absolutely lovely, we’ve got good weather and it’s going to be a paddling pool party… and in the clear-out we’ve thrown away the pool.’
At least it looks like Kate has the water damage in her home under control – and Billy will get his special day, pool or no pool. Though he still had to isolate the week before his big day as his classmate tested positive for Covid-19!
Stressful for a family that has already suffered 18 months of hell, trying to stay positive in the face of Derek’s uncertain future.
Here’s hoping Kate and Derek’s little boy gets the birthday bash he deserves. Never has a family deserved a day of carefree fun more than this one.
‘It’s flooded… Total nuisance. Total nightmare’