Downward slide

Phew... what a rollercoaster of a couple of days it has been.


We are all safe and well, which is the main thing.


So many reports of destroyed houses, businesses, cars, and lives taken. Ours is a small inconvenience in comparison.

We have numerous electrical and furniture items that have been damaged by stormwater. The carpet in all four bedrooms has been ripped up by the carpet man, due to be replaced (yay) sometime soon. Oh our bedroom carpets were hideous, a deep cherry red, gross. It is a big expense to replace. One that we were kinda saving up for.

I don't know if we will get our kitchen replaced or not, water was pouring out from under all the cupboards. The builder will be here Wednesday, he will tell us.

The rain came down so fast and hard, and as we are on the lower side of a slope, backed up against our house, coming in between the hebel walls and slab, filling the rooms all along the western wall. My bedroom was the worst, as it is a little lower then the other rooms. Because we were renovating the family room, lots of things were being stored in there. Consequently, these things have been damaged.

Yesterday our power and phone went out. So it was a very silent night we had last night. Thank god we are 'into' candles and had heaps to light. The only sound to be heard around here last night was the sound of children bickering.

We got up this morning and tried to make some sense of this bomb site. As i was sitting sorting through the twenty or so loads of washing (towels, clothing, sheets, blankets, etc...) of things that got wet on Friday, with no power to wash them, and the decision made to send it all to a laundry to be done, the bloody power came back on. I had a load in the machine within three minutes. I didn't know how successful it would be though as our laundry was one of the hardest hit rooms too. But my darling machine worked and proceeded to chug away for the rest of today, along with its bed partner, the dryer, earned its weight in gold. We still took about 15 garbage bags of stuff to the commercial laundry, i don't have the drying space for so much stuff. Hopefully it will be done either tomorrow or the day after.


It is awe inspiring - the might of mother earth. No matter how clever we think we humans are, she can still decimate us with ease. I honour you mother and respect your might.


Well things are tidying up here (its amazing how much mess a bit of water through the house can create). With our power and phone back on, and all our family safe, we consider ourselves to be the luckiest people alive.


Tomorrow i will go for a drive, i want to see for myself the township of Wallsend. Apparently it will take a long time to rebuild.


this evening my thoughts go out to -

• Helen, on the passing of her father. My father passed many years ago now, and i know the huge hole it leaves in your heart. Peace be unto you.
• The families of those who perished in the wild storms and resulting floods of recent days.
• The people of the Maitland who are awaiting a flood rivalling the 1955 version. My dad survived this flood, and i remember his stories. Nightmare for all concerned.
• Those without power. Especially those with kids. Kids these days seem fairly incapable of amusing themselves (or is it just mine?) like we could when we were kids. They have been spoiled by instant gratification and amusements at hand. I could have easily coped with 24 hours of silence if it wasn't for the sound of bickering children, whose seemingly only form of entertainment was irritating the crap out of each other.
• The property owners and business people who are facing financial hardship by the ruination of their livelihood and properties. My neighbours friends had waist deep water through their house at Cardiff. Shit.

We are ok.

Lots of things are very damp but we are sorting that out.

I am grateful for too many things to list now.

Thank you to everyone for your kind wishes and offers. It means a lot to know people care about you.

Luv the slightly damp

Jen

xoxo