I can't believe ...

[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.

Comments

[bookofjude.livejournal.com]

Fellow Australian-dweller! I read somewhere that it was 75,000 tonnes of dirt on both Brisbane/South East Queensland and Sydney/New South Wales. There was this really amazing photo of the dust storm from a satellite...

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

[treacle-tartlet.livejournal.com]

*looks out window at endless dampness and threatening rain clouds*
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!

[timeasmymeasure.livejournal.com]

I know that's probably a bad thing, but goodness that's a gorgeous view.

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

It looks... wow. Gorgeous.

[agreva.livejournal.com]

It's horrible here in Brisbane as well, I haven't seen the footage from Sydney but as far as I know it's not quite as bad.

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!

[meredyth-13.livejournal.com]

We'll all be ruin'd, said Hanrahan,
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 ...

[tsosh.livejournal.com]

I feel sorry for the ppl with asthma, but it looks so pretty... *is superficial*

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!

[deensey.livejournal.com]

TOTAL LIES ABOUT THE RAIN! We got two intense days of coastal rain three weeks ago, two days after I planted the garden, and one more day of middling rain in the middle.

>.>

I make it sound like that's somehow enough.

[annes-stuff.livejournal.com]

I had four different sets of photos e-mailed to me today of Brisbane and Sydney, and that was before noon. I will e-mail them to you if you would like?

[libby-drew.livejournal.com]

that someone planned the apocalypse and forgot to send me a memo!

That was me. Sorry.

Reminds me of all those videos we used to watch in school about the Dust Bowl.

[faynia.livejournal.com]

If that wasn't so terrifying to think about I'd say that the day-glow orange look is a nice one for the city.

Otherwise. D:!

What kind of laptop?

[jigglykat.livejournal.com]

It looks like you're on Mars or something. Is it at least dying down a bit?

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.

[rickey-a.livejournal.com]

woah! iamshadow posted some crazy arse orange world pics yesterday. Freaky. Feels like you expect to look up and see a Dark Mark in the sky.

[pingrid.livejournal.com]

OMFG, that is truly scary. It's a good thing global warming isn't real, or it might have been even worse!

[spacefragments.livejournal.com]

motherfucking whoa. so stealing those for painting refs.

[aldehyde.livejournal.com]

i've been checking out the pics all day and they're pretty fabu :D we used to get frequent dust and sand storms in kuwait [obviously, hee] so the pics have been bringing back a lot of childhood memories of waking up and wondering why the entire world outside my windows was shades of yellow and orange ;)

[arcanetrivia]

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.

OMG. :O

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

That's scary stuff; stay safe.

[absdax.livejournal.com]

WOH! thats ORANGE! kinda freeky! but cool pic none the less!!!

[ladyjaneva.livejournal.com]

So scary and beautiful and unreal all at the same time!

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.

Canberra

[dookadook.livejournal.com]

Have been in Canberra the past couple months, but we got it down here as well. I walked to the shops in it and had to wear my bloody ski goggles cause my poor eyes can only take so much dirt. After each 10 min leg of the journey there and back I had to stop and blow my nose to be able to breath through it. My housemate was cruel as she whinged about how dry and dusty her throat was before remembering that she'd brought a bottle of water. After taking a sip and gagging, with the choked comment "Now it's just more muddy", I ended up with the last laugh. Serves her right, I think, we take our water seriously here in Australia. Did you guys get rain during your dust storm? We did, in the late afternoon we had a short downpour that helped clear the dust from the air but that's only cause it literally attached itself to raindrops to fall as orange mud. I've never felt dirtier after standing in the rain.

[ldydark1.livejournal.com]

Its amazing what mother nature can do.
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.

[rubyemerald-1.livejournal.com]

Woman who doesn't know about light refraction would be apoplectic by now.