talking about the weather

It's all we are talking about at the moment. We keep swearing we won't but it's impossible not to. We wake up every day to rain amd go to sleep with the same accompaniment - the sound of rain hammering down. It's not cold, tho the wind has a cooling effect, but EVERYTHING is damp. There's no escaping it - the air is full of moisture which varies according to whether you are inside or out. There are queues a mile long at every laundromat dryer in Brisbane, thousands of pairs of gumboots were sold at the Woodford Folk Festival, every book and piece of paper feels thick and soft, and it's summer. A summer like no-one here is familiar with and which everyone wishes would just stop.
Things have really gone from bad to worse with the devestation in Toowoomba, where my aunt lives. And we are all holding our breath here as the dam that supplies Brisbane water is 43% over capacity.
This is certainly a very different summmer experience to Lima East, but it's still not as bad as waiting for fires to come over the hill.
Off to sit in a darkened cinema today with mum. At least I can pretend the sun is shining.

Well, since I wrote that a few hours ago the heavens opened wider, Claudia turned around and went back to her place with mum, and flood warnings are going out all over the lower lying parts of Brisbane, which, given the winding nature of the river, will be many households, and sandbagging has started. With a king tide to come tomorrow we are all holding our breath. The photo does not really capture the ferocity of the rain, but will give an idea of the day. Radio warnings are going out saying not to go out in your car, so here we are. More toast, coffe and reading.

Later: Well, have just been down to Fairfield, a low lying suburb on the river, to evacuate the house of friends who are away at the moment. A team of us ferried stuff out to the cars and van as the Brisbane River steadily rose at the end of the street. Word is that this will be worse than the '74 flood, the one everyone talks about, and it came up to the guttering of the house next door to our friends' place. God, it's terrible, trying to decide what to take, but we got a lot including photos.

All along the river there were people evacuating, cars, utes and moving vans everywhere. The river has broken its banks ... did so this morning, as Charles & I saw when we went for a walk down to West End. For those of you who visited Skinner St, this is where we went down to the river. You can just see the top of the railing and behind that is the walkway round the river...somewhere under the water. And beyond that is the river bank. By the time we walked back up the police were blocking off the streets down to the river. It's a sight to behold. The picture of the sodden city I took on the way home. Arrived dripping wet, changed, and now have to do it all again. A hot shower and dry clothes. Lovely.