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Tue 11 Nov 2002An Irishman's DiaryThe old saying was that if the Dutch lived in Ireland, they'd feed the world; and if the Irish lived in Holland, they'd drown. But with the modern Irish state we don't even have to go to Holland to be overwhelmed by water. We manage that perfectly well at home.How is this possible? How is it that every year, a vast rain-storm is photographed by satellite as it forms out in the Atlantic and is carefully tracked as it moves towards Ireland, where with utter predictability, it unloads billions of tons of water: and each year, unfailingly, the state is taken completely by surprise by the floods which result?