more rain

14.1.2011 BUILDING NEWS

We woke to a storm with driving rain and winds. Another non-building day. Mike came over after the milking to view the site and talk about digging the foundations. I have decided that it might be best to dig the drains and foundations at the same time so that no one has to drive or dig over the others work. Mike is happy to work along with the plumber and do this so now we have to see if the plumber will work with Mike. They do know each other.

Mike ended up staying with Edd until mid after noon because the floods came right over the Hargreaves road bridge again and he could not drive out for several hours. I was stuck on the civilised side of the bridge and waited out in Bo’s house in Yarra Glen. We watched the UK grand designs program on TV last night. The lady was all inspired about the look and fittings of the house she was building. I do not feel anywhere near that stage. At the moment just having a bathroom with a chair to put clothes on and a towel rail seems the sort of fantastic dream I do not dare to dwell on in case I get upset.

OTHER NEWS

The floods in Queensland, NSW and now Victoria dominate everyone’s thoughts and all the news. Seeing the people on the TV queuing up at welfare desks and picking up second hand clothes brings back our own experience of two years ago when we lost everything in the fires. We really know what they are going through. We are really worried about people living in the country in isolated situations. Like us they will probably be left much more to their own devises compared to the people in the big centres.

We so emphasis with the families who are still waiting to hear if relatives and friends have survived. For us this was one of the worst aspects of the first few weeks after the disaster. I had thought that mobile phones would solve the problem in places that they work but I had forgotten that their charge runs out and if there is no power they cannot be recharged.

At home we are coping with mud and humidity. Everything seems damp and there is nowhere to dry clothes. Today the rain came at us horizontally and blew into everywhere. Flynn had to come back indoors with us as he was getting wet on the veranda. He seems to have slowed down in his growth and is staying at about the same height as Janner. He now has one ear up and one ear down and he is probably as sick of the rain as we are.