Good and Bad news

 

The solstice has passed and though the days will gradually get longer, the coldest days of winter are yet to come.  This week has not been too bad. We are into he third dry day with sun shine, not that the mud has noticeably started to dry up yet.   It was dry last week too and the machinery arrived and put all the earths back around our new carport. It was too wet to do the top soil but the back hoe was able to lift the car port roof beams up into position.   Luckily Edd and Stevo had got all the measurements correct again, and the bolt holes all lined up perfectly.  It was all pretty worrying, especial having machinery on the slope behind the carport. I chose not to watch!

Indi is moving house. She and a friend who also a single mother are renting a mud brick house on a small holding,  She is even able to get her horse back again.  Moving with a toddler is hard and she is very stressed but we will all go and help later in the week.  She also plans to move her bee hives but luckily Josh is very keen to get his own hives here so we will still have the benefits of pollinators and honey.      Indi has brought her caravan here and left it by the ruins so Josh could move in to it. I am sure he likes having his own space but I am missing having him around the house already.

This morning we had sad news from the UK because Edd's brother in law has passed away. He has been in hospital for weeks but took a sudden turn for the worst this week.  We feel so sorry for Edd's sister. At present Edd can not even phone her because she can't hear us.  We are not sure why but think there is a problem her end as we can phone every one else in the UK.   Luckily Edd's niece is keeping in contact with us.  We just feel so bad about being unable to help or offer support.

This has been a bad Covid week too.   Most states are in some form of lockdown now that the Delta strain has got loose in the community. Victoria is OK for the moment but things could change fast. The problems are that hotels have been used to provide suboptimal quarentine accommodation and there does not seem to be enough of the recommended vaccine. Al and Josh have had two shots but the rest of us only one. There are long waits for appointments.

bad gets worse

14.6. 2021

 

This week has probably been the hardest one we have experienced recently. On Wednesday night the state of Victoria was hit by horrific storms.  The electricity went off in the night as trees fell and took down all the power lines. After a few hours all the phone lines went dead too. There are electrical connections on the mobile phone towers and thel nodes on the landlines that have a limited time of battery backup.

 

We were already under covid lock down rules and so when we lost communications it was illegal to physically visit anyone. To make matters worse the torrential rains caused the flooded rivers to overflow into the surrounding land and closed the main road into Yarra Glen, among many others. 

 

Indi had a friend who lived in a yurt by a river. On Wednesday she gave birth just before the floods started to rise. The midwife, (who we all know), was worried about the family so she ended up swimming through the water next day so she could check up on how things were going. The water was just below the platform supporting their yurt, and she was worried that the whole set up was in danger of floating off in the flood. The baby’s father was not worried and felt that if the worst happened, he could load his family into his canoe!  Somehow the danger of being afloat in a raging flood had escaped his thinking.

 

When Indi heard about this, she tried to ring the SES, but of course the phones were out of action and even the triple zero emergency line was not working. She thought about going to the police but as the living arrangements for the family were not exactly legal, she decided to mount her own rescue.  She could drive through the water to a certain point but then she had to wade to get everyone out. They all ended up at her mother’s house, but I don’t think anyone got much sleep.   Some candle wax got on the carpets too, which did not go down well.

 

We were all very relieved when our power was restored, and we could communicate again. We are the lucky ones and only had this situation for 4 days. Other areas with more trees down are still waiting and it might take another three weeks. Our house works OK without power too. The water still flows by gravity, the stoves are wood, and gas and our toilets still work without the pressure pump. We also had brought a generator so we could keep the freezer and fridges cold, but everything still took more effort.