Modern Manners and Etiquette

I came across this article in a foodie magazine which I subscribe to in my Bloglines account. It's about the new entertaining etiquette and how to be the perfect guest or the perfect host. There's an amusing little quiz you can do to find out which one you are. They both cover issues such as cell phones, gifts for the host, smoking.
Not many modal verbs in the article though!
The content for the article comes from a journalist called Leah Ingram who also has a blog where she advises on common everyday etiquette issues which seem to permeate every aspect of our lives from real estate to sending emails.

Week Six Text Blog Entry Four - a narrative or recount

Last week much of Northland and the Bay of Plenty was hit by severe rain and flooding. Four metres of rain fell in 24 hours!!
Here is a link to an article about a woman whose house was threatened by rapidly rising water from a stream usually 100m away from her house. By the end of the day the water was 20m from her back garden.
Most of the verb forms which explain what happened are in the past simple form. There are two examples of the past perfect simple.
The first one 'had been recorded' is past perfect passive and refers to the time before and up until the continuation of the 'weather warning'. The second one 'had escaped' is used in reported speech.