As you are probably aware, Brisbane (and 75% of the rest of Queensland) has been under flood of late. That has meant that things like blog entries have gone by the wayside, as has reading books and the like.
That said, now that the clean-up has commenced, I can start to get back to life as we know it.
The floods that we have here in South East Queensland (and in Brisbane in particular) are supposed to be a once in a lifetime occurence. But what most people don't quite realise is that the average life span of 70 years is slowly increasing, so what used to be a once in a lifetime thing is now likely to be more than that. Having been born 4 months before the 1974 floods of Brisbane, for me, this is my second time around, and I have no doubt that I will see Brisbane flood again before my life is over. It comes with the territory if you live in the Brisbane area. These people who say it came as a surprise haven't done their research. You only have to delve into the annals of history to see that Brisbane has been flooding in a major sort of way every 70-odd years and in a less major sort of way every 30-35 years. And it's been 37 years since the last massive flood (1974), so we were well and truly due for one.
The Sunday Mail (our local Queensland newspaper of a Sunday) had a picture in the editorial page:
It is a rather fitting illustration for those of us who live in the district. IF ONLY. If only we had had the forethought after the last major floods to build levies along the banks of the river. If only we had looked around us at the rest of the world and perhaps taken into account that we are not the only place on the face of the planet to flood, and so learn from other places that have gone through this. If only we had listened to our weather forecasters when they told us months ago that we were likely to have some serious flooding this storm season (Dec-Feb). But we didn't. My Grandmother suggested on the phone today that we should look to London where they have the big concrete things in the middle of the Thames to help alleviate flooding. If a woman in her late 80s can look around her and see that we need to change how we look at our lovely city, then what is wrong with the people we are supposed to turn to in times of disaster?
However, to be fair, our Premier, Anna Bligh, has well and truly outdone herself. She has been the beacon we needed her to be. In times of need, we as Australians turn to those in power. Sometimes they are there for us, other times they aren't. This time, "hard-hat Anna" was there. Even our previous Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was to be found on the streets of Brisbane helping people get what they could out of their houses before the floods hit, and then he was also to be found helping with the massive clean up afterwards. While our current PM was to be seen in Queensland territory, to be brutally honest, she turned up to tour the area. I doubt very much that she mucked in like our Anna or our Kev did. That said, we saw a hell of a lot more of her than we did the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott. Either way, we were glad to see our first female Prime Minister take our floods seriously. I suppose not having been born in Queensland (like Anna, and Kevin and our Lady Governer General all were) means she can be more distant from the whole thing, and not get quite so involved.
It seems that at a time like this, Brisbane, Queensland is leading all the news all over the world. For a place that is generally listed by the BBC as "a far northern suburb of Sydney", or as being "on the far northern reaches of Sydney",(neither of which is true) it's been a joy to see that Queensland is getting noticed for once. Even if it has to be under such sad circumstances. Perhaps people will remember that we exist after this....
Now, onto more important things.
Books finished:
LEWIS, C.S.
-------------
The Magician's Nephew
FAULKNOR, CLIFF
----------------------
White Calf
I also know I have finished another book, but I cannot remember what it is called!
Books currently reading:
LEWIS, C.S.
-------------
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
PRATCHETT, Terry
---------------------
Going Postal
HIGH, Philip E.
------------------
Speaking of Dinosaurs
MYERS, Edward
-------------------
The Mountain Made of Light
BARNARD, Ellsworth
------------------------
War and The Verities
This last book, War and The Verities, is a non-fiction book. My copy has a stamp inside the cover saying it came from the Parliamentary Library of Queensland, and was entered into their collection on the 26th June, 1940. It is about whether we should fight in the current war (WW2 was only in its infancy at the time the book was written in 1940), and why exactly both England and America chose to fight in it. While only being a small book, it is a very interesting one, and shows how differently the world thinks now, compared to then.
As to other things going on -
Due to the floods, I was unable to get back to my place in the Caboolture Shire to collect the rest of my stuff, but thankfully my house survived, and did not flood. Now that the roads are beginning to open and public transport systems are starting up again, I should get up there soon to finish what I started so many months ago!
As of the last posting, we had a sick ewe. She has since died, but a lot of the other ewes we have are very very pregnant, so we should soon have some cute little lambs running around.
My time spent with the horse has resulted in some serious bonding between us, plus the problem of his being rather possessive of me, to the point that he follows me around like some over-grown love-sick puppy! But he's very sweet, and very gentle.
One of my cats, Mr Vampire Teeth, has a growth of some sort on his neck. Dad had a look today and we gave him a shot for it, but it resulted in some puncture wounds for me from his claws. The growth, I should say, is from a fight he's had with one of the other cats, and the skin has grown over it. Really, it needs to be lanced, but we will see how the shot he was given goes first.
The dogs, like the people, are going stir-crazy, unable to get out and about, unable of late, to even go for a walk/run in the sunshine. But now that our beloved Sun has returned to us, I am able to take my silly woofy one, and his friends for long walks around the property. Some good had to come of all the havoc of the past month, surely!
I will post again when I have finished more books, or have more to say. Until then....
That said, now that the clean-up has commenced, I can start to get back to life as we know it.
The floods that we have here in South East Queensland (and in Brisbane in particular) are supposed to be a once in a lifetime occurence. But what most people don't quite realise is that the average life span of 70 years is slowly increasing, so what used to be a once in a lifetime thing is now likely to be more than that. Having been born 4 months before the 1974 floods of Brisbane, for me, this is my second time around, and I have no doubt that I will see Brisbane flood again before my life is over. It comes with the territory if you live in the Brisbane area. These people who say it came as a surprise haven't done their research. You only have to delve into the annals of history to see that Brisbane has been flooding in a major sort of way every 70-odd years and in a less major sort of way every 30-35 years. And it's been 37 years since the last massive flood (1974), so we were well and truly due for one.
The Sunday Mail (our local Queensland newspaper of a Sunday) had a picture in the editorial page:
It is a rather fitting illustration for those of us who live in the district. IF ONLY. If only we had had the forethought after the last major floods to build levies along the banks of the river. If only we had looked around us at the rest of the world and perhaps taken into account that we are not the only place on the face of the planet to flood, and so learn from other places that have gone through this. If only we had listened to our weather forecasters when they told us months ago that we were likely to have some serious flooding this storm season (Dec-Feb). But we didn't. My Grandmother suggested on the phone today that we should look to London where they have the big concrete things in the middle of the Thames to help alleviate flooding. If a woman in her late 80s can look around her and see that we need to change how we look at our lovely city, then what is wrong with the people we are supposed to turn to in times of disaster?
However, to be fair, our Premier, Anna Bligh, has well and truly outdone herself. She has been the beacon we needed her to be. In times of need, we as Australians turn to those in power. Sometimes they are there for us, other times they aren't. This time, "hard-hat Anna" was there. Even our previous Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was to be found on the streets of Brisbane helping people get what they could out of their houses before the floods hit, and then he was also to be found helping with the massive clean up afterwards. While our current PM was to be seen in Queensland territory, to be brutally honest, she turned up to tour the area. I doubt very much that she mucked in like our Anna or our Kev did. That said, we saw a hell of a lot more of her than we did the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott. Either way, we were glad to see our first female Prime Minister take our floods seriously. I suppose not having been born in Queensland (like Anna, and Kevin and our Lady Governer General all were) means she can be more distant from the whole thing, and not get quite so involved.
It seems that at a time like this, Brisbane, Queensland is leading all the news all over the world. For a place that is generally listed by the BBC as "a far northern suburb of Sydney", or as being "on the far northern reaches of Sydney",(neither of which is true) it's been a joy to see that Queensland is getting noticed for once. Even if it has to be under such sad circumstances. Perhaps people will remember that we exist after this....
Now, onto more important things.
Books finished:
LEWIS, C.S.
-------------
The Magician's Nephew
FAULKNOR, CLIFF
----------------------
White Calf
I also know I have finished another book, but I cannot remember what it is called!
Books currently reading:
LEWIS, C.S.
-------------
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe
PRATCHETT, Terry
---------------------
Going Postal
HIGH, Philip E.
------------------
Speaking of Dinosaurs
MYERS, Edward
-------------------
The Mountain Made of Light
BARNARD, Ellsworth
------------------------
War and The Verities
This last book, War and The Verities, is a non-fiction book. My copy has a stamp inside the cover saying it came from the Parliamentary Library of Queensland, and was entered into their collection on the 26th June, 1940. It is about whether we should fight in the current war (WW2 was only in its infancy at the time the book was written in 1940), and why exactly both England and America chose to fight in it. While only being a small book, it is a very interesting one, and shows how differently the world thinks now, compared to then.
As to other things going on -
Due to the floods, I was unable to get back to my place in the Caboolture Shire to collect the rest of my stuff, but thankfully my house survived, and did not flood. Now that the roads are beginning to open and public transport systems are starting up again, I should get up there soon to finish what I started so many months ago!
As of the last posting, we had a sick ewe. She has since died, but a lot of the other ewes we have are very very pregnant, so we should soon have some cute little lambs running around.
My time spent with the horse has resulted in some serious bonding between us, plus the problem of his being rather possessive of me, to the point that he follows me around like some over-grown love-sick puppy! But he's very sweet, and very gentle.
One of my cats, Mr Vampire Teeth, has a growth of some sort on his neck. Dad had a look today and we gave him a shot for it, but it resulted in some puncture wounds for me from his claws. The growth, I should say, is from a fight he's had with one of the other cats, and the skin has grown over it. Really, it needs to be lanced, but we will see how the shot he was given goes first.
The dogs, like the people, are going stir-crazy, unable to get out and about, unable of late, to even go for a walk/run in the sunshine. But now that our beloved Sun has returned to us, I am able to take my silly woofy one, and his friends for long walks around the property. Some good had to come of all the havoc of the past month, surely!
I will post again when I have finished more books, or have more to say. Until then....
