Rain, Rain, Let Us Not Forget the Wind

[blamebrampton]

There is a very stormy storm hovering over Sydney this week. It blew in on Sunday night, picked up speed yesterday, and has spent today pounding the ever-living crap out of the city.

Now while I don't wish to cast aspersions on the storm itself (a few have been calling it Cyclone Shazza, but it doesn't meet the Australian criteria for a cyclone, which are all along the lines of Catastrophic and City Flattening), it hasn't actually been that bad here. It's been bad up in the Hunter Valley, where floods have ripped away houses and lives, which is a genuine tragedy. But down here where the population densities are much higher, most of the city is built in rational places, accepting that winds will blow, waters will rise, and there could well be the odd bushfire around the edges. So we've lost some cars, some roofs and some beachfront so far. It could be much worse.

So the only adventures have been getting to and from work (and school for those super-cute kids on the bus this afternoon) wihtout being soaked, blown away, or whacked by a falling tree. All it requires is adaptability and keeping an ear and eye out. And an acceptance that some of the garden will need significant work in the near future.

Unless you're one of 4000 unlucky people who are currently on a cruise ship, outside Sydney Heads. With the harbour closed to shipping. For probably another 24 hours minimum, maybe 48. And there are 800 kids in that lot, two thirds of which will be having The Time Of Their Lives, the remaining third of which will be vomiting like bastards. To put it in context, the ship is not in any real danger, aside from uncomfortable pitching and some breaking glass as things go flying, their power and lavatories are all functional (unlike that ship in the Caribbean the other year) and there is plenty of food and drink.

But as I watch another dahlia topple, through the glass doors, I am profoundly grateful to be here, in my watertight if somewhat wuthering house, not there.

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Stay safe!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I'm an old hand with storms; it's not a patch on Sussex 88 ;-)

(Today I was keeping my brolly alive through judicious use of angling, folding and giving up and relying on my Barbour hat (alas! I have not rewaxed my Barbour jacket due to the wax still being in a moving box!) and my umbrella was fine. A friend asked, 'Where did you learn that?' and I laughed: 'London, Brighton, Edinburgh and Wellington!')

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

I still remember October '87.

Kent was an interesting place to be. I walked out of my then front door the morning after to find the other side of the street's roofs and chimneys in the road!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

EIGHTY SEVEN! I knew and meant to type that.

It's been a long two days …

And yes, that was over-exciting.

[anna-wing.livejournal.com]

I have a Barbour; one of the impermeables, not the waxed cotton, which does not do well in humid heat. Combined with Uniqlo's Heat Tech stuff it can cope with almost anything. It comes with a hood, so I've never had to use the hat. And the sleeves are long for me, so I just let them flap down over my fingers and I don't even need gloves. It's brilliant. Sometimes things do in fact live up to their billing.

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

Stay safe!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

All good for the most part. Though I lost my favourite oilskin hat :-(

[shu-shu-sleeps.livejournal.com]

I love that word - 'wuthering'..... Kind of apt for Canberra at present as well, but not as windy as you appear to be getting in Sydney, and those poor poor people in Newcastle and the Hunter.... My balcony garden will require some work as well once the winds die down, the plastic will probably be gone off the greenhouse, it was half blown away this morning and I will probably have to retrieve various poys and gardening implements from next door..... Ah, the joys of weather, as opposed to climate :)

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

It's good, isn't it? And yes, SO MUCH WIND! But at least it has been less gruesome here than up there. That said, Mr B did drive through a flooded intersection tonight. I had just said "Stop, we need to reverse" when another car arrived at the intersection coming through the other way. He wound down the window and waved them through. Once they had successfully navigated it, he drove through the intersection on the same path the other car had taken. I looked at him. "Did you just wave that car through as a sacrificial test case?" I asked. 'Mebbe …" he replied.

[dustmouth.livejournal.com]

I'm sending dry thoughts your way! I might stay down south where it's a bit more sensible, if that's alright-

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I think it's THE MOST SENSIBLE IDEA EVER! Though you have some serious cold headed your way, so rug up tight!