I can't believe ...
Sep. 23rd, 2009 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blamebrampton... that someone planned the apocalypse and forgot to send me a memo!
Sydney this morning:
(Shamelessly lifted from a Flickr gallery, go here to see the whole set, especially the Bondi one!)
When I put out the green waste bin this morning at ungodly o'clock, I looked up and saw a red glow in the sky. Being well used to this Australian business by now, I sniffed, but there was no tang of burning eucalypt in the air. Nor did it turn out to be the lightspeople at the Sportsground playing silly buggers. By the time I had been to bed and woken up again, the full horror had rolled in and the city was under a thick, gritty cloud.
That, my friends, is the desiccated remains of the topsoil New South Welsh farmers once used to grow things in back in the days when it rained in the bush.
After yesterday's brief coastal rain – the first in months, mind – nature clearly decided to remind we city folk that the drought is going quite well, thanks (I believe we've had a grand total of six months of non-drought in the last 13 years, dam levels are reported on the news of an evening) and so picked up thousands of tonnes of dust and dumped it on the coast.
I have been out walking about in it all day. The last time I was this filthy, I had just been swimming in a mud puddle!
People have been amusing, though. Two girls on the train behind me were chatting:
Girl one: It's just diabolical, cataclysmic, end of days stuff!
Girl two: Did you hear there was an earthquake in Melbourne yesterday?
Girl one: I have a theory that the planet's had enough and wants us to bugger off ...
People in Australia become eco-conscious from a sheer sense of oppression. When your environment constantly wants to burn, flood or boil you, you eventually throw your hands in the air and shriek 'All right! I will recycle!'
Of course, having said that, the green waste collectors did not pick mine up, bastards.
As to the laptop, wholly dead, I am afraid. They think they can retrieve the data, I have bought a new one for $300 more than the price of the replacement part. Let us not speak of it.
Sydney this morning:
(Shamelessly lifted from a Flickr gallery, go here to see the whole set, especially the Bondi one!)
When I put out the green waste bin this morning at ungodly o'clock, I looked up and saw a red glow in the sky. Being well used to this Australian business by now, I sniffed, but there was no tang of burning eucalypt in the air. Nor did it turn out to be the lightspeople at the Sportsground playing silly buggers. By the time I had been to bed and woken up again, the full horror had rolled in and the city was under a thick, gritty cloud.
That, my friends, is the desiccated remains of the topsoil New South Welsh farmers once used to grow things in back in the days when it rained in the bush.
After yesterday's brief coastal rain – the first in months, mind – nature clearly decided to remind we city folk that the drought is going quite well, thanks (I believe we've had a grand total of six months of non-drought in the last 13 years, dam levels are reported on the news of an evening) and so picked up thousands of tonnes of dust and dumped it on the coast.
I have been out walking about in it all day. The last time I was this filthy, I had just been swimming in a mud puddle!
People have been amusing, though. Two girls on the train behind me were chatting:
Girl one: It's just diabolical, cataclysmic, end of days stuff!
Girl two: Did you hear there was an earthquake in Melbourne yesterday?
Girl one: I have a theory that the planet's had enough and wants us to bugger off ...
People in Australia become eco-conscious from a sheer sense of oppression. When your environment constantly wants to burn, flood or boil you, you eventually throw your hands in the air and shriek 'All right! I will recycle!'
Of course, having said that, the green waste collectors did not pick mine up, bastards.
As to the laptop, wholly dead, I am afraid. They think they can retrieve the data, I have bought a new one for $300 more than the price of the replacement part. Let us not speak of it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 08:49 am (UTC)http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6971306,00.jpg
From: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26114000-421,00.html.
Scary to wake up to! :S
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 10:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 08:54 am (UTC)My camera case grew several different kinds of mould on it this winter, hanging on my hatrack in my bedroom!
Sometimes it's hard to believe we live in the same country, my love. I'll be impressed if we have bushfires this summer, I think the worst we'll manage is a bushsmoulder.
Also:
Alas, poor laptop, I knew it, Brammers!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 10:29 am (UTC)*Remembers ;-)*
So far this year we have had mould in the kitchen from the month of rain (I think it was May, possibly April), a dead bed of plants from drought and blazing wind, actual fucking locusts, and a plague. I await the rain of blood with detached interest.
As to bushfires: they are doing hazard reduction on the railway verge, it's that bad. :-(
OH MY POOR DARLING DEAD LAPTOP! *WEEPS!*
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 08:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 10:30 am (UTC)(Edited because I changed the unit of measurement, but not the figure by two decimal places!)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 09:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 10:32 am (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 09:05 am (UTC)It's still disgusting though; my eyes, lungs and throat feel itchy and have a slight burning sensation so I really hope it lifts soon!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 10:33 am (UTC)And yes, vile! The back of my throat is so scratchy!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 09:45 am (UTC)before this day is out
:D
*goes off singing 'It's the end of the world as we know it'*
Yes, yes, Melbourne was wholly devastated by our horrific earth tremors. Families killed, buildings destroyed, dogs and cats, living together ...
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 10:41 am (UTC)And when the whole country burns down and we are all loaded onto ships for New Zealand, I will not be surprised in the least, you know!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 11:23 am (UTC)It's good they can retrieve the data from your old laptop, so nothing is lost. Except, you know, your money. But on the plus side - shiny new laptop!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 12:37 pm (UTC)It did look pretty, but tasted and smelled pretty bad. I slathered on perfume, but then walked far too far and hard and the results were not pretty. Sigh. (Sends tickles to Merlin!)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 12:18 pm (UTC)>.>
I make it sound like that's somehow enough.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 12:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 12:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 12:36 pm (UTC)Nah, no need for pix, the reality was bad enough down here. Were you safe driving to work? And that bear is gorgeous! Plus, GOOD GIRL for going to biff!
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 12:29 pm (UTC)That was me. Sorry.
Reminds me of all those videos we used to watch in school about the Dust Bowl.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 12:38 pm (UTC)Our agricultural sector at the moment should come up with a new income stream doing docudramas about the Dust Bowl years. They need the cash!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 01:04 pm (UTC)Otherwise. D:!
What kind of laptop?
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 01:08 pm (UTC)It's another MacbookPro 15", having found the one that is just right I cannot think further. At least the new model has a better battery and is lighter.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 03:34 pm (UTC)I not-so-frequently get a phone call from my parents just to inform me that it's raining at home (they're in Southern California, I'm in NYC). They're having an awful drought as well, while I'm here, complaining how summer was ruined by all the rainstorms.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 03:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 05:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 01:31 pm (UTC)At least it wasn't a bushfire!
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 09:08 pm (UTC)OMG. :O
no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 01:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 01:27 pm (UTC)Which leads me to believe the actual end of the world may be very very polite ;-)
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-24 04:38 pm (UTC)Just think of the stories you'll be able to tell your children or other children in the family ;-)
Go out and buy an additional external hadrdrive right now! It's worth the money. I got mine after a similar experience, and at least the most important things are safe.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 01:23 pm (UTC)And the natural disaster story collection I have amassed in Australia may require me to actually have, or adopt, some children ;-)
Canberra
Date: 2009-09-24 06:06 pm (UTC)Re: Canberra
Date: 2009-09-27 01:21 pm (UTC)And no, no rain during or since, so everything is still grimy. Rain of blood does not sound appealling, though give the locusts have been back, I shouldn't be surprised ;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 03:08 am (UTC)Frightening, makes the human element
feel so small. Some talk about the
earth changes. Weird weather.
Stay safe and look out for yourself.
The pictures were amazing but scary.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 02:24 pm (UTC)On the upside, it's actually reminded everybody of how appalling our climate is. A poll was done on Thursday about how concerned people were for the environment and the figures were well up on the usual.
And it was beautiful. Not the most beautiful sky I have seen in Sydney: that was in 1994 when I was still fresh and there were fires ringing the city. It was wholly apocalyptic, but unimaginably gorgeous.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 07:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-26 02:18 pm (UTC)