Fires and Floods

It has been a time where nature takes control, and the whole world pays attention.  We have just experienced the hottest, driest, year on record.  Our beloved plants, from seedlings to tall trees, seem to be losing the battle despite Ben dumping a thousand litre tank of creek water on them daily.  As expected, following that came the fires.  Months of uncontrollable fires that consumed the state, starting in the North, and slowly making their way Southwards toward us.  What started as news soon became personal and we were surrounded.  Weeks of stressful vigilance and exhausting repeated preparation for departure made for a pretty crappy Xmas (again, becoming a seasonal thing…)   Hot Northerly winds followed by a cool Southerly change bringing with it smoke and fire, became a recognised pattern.  And still, no rain on the horizon.  Politicians began to blame each other for lack of back burning, and who should be holidaying where, and when.

Eventually, the rain did come.  Blissful, wonderful rain.  Things we though were dead started budding back to life.  I didn’t dare complain in the hot muggy days to follow, any form of moisture is good.  And the rains continued.  And the rains got stronger. 
'Cyclone season is here', we are told on the news, tracing the first cyclones making their way from QLD across the NT to northern WA and down.  All the while, south QLD, NSW, and Northern Vic still in flames.

And the rains got stronger.
Good news for the fires, everyone is thinking.
But slowly the fire maps turn into a flood alert map.  And finally, it arrives here too. 
‘We don’t get heavy rains here anymore, the creek hasn’t flooded for at least 15 years’, we were told when we bought our little spot of paradise.  In the four years we have been here, this would be the third flood, if true to forecast.

And so it starts on Thursday.  Gets stronger on Friday.  By Saturday the animals are not happy.  By Sunday morning the creek, only a trickle a few days prior, is rising fast.  By midday it is at its banks, and the animals are drenched.  The puppies are allowed indoors (yes, mommy the monster agreed…), the chickens are wading in puddles of mud, and mums are looking for the highest place to keep their chicks safe.  Everything is leaking. 

Sunday was a long day.  A very long day.  Adams Birthday is on Monday, ‘Crappiest Birthday ever’, we are promptly informed.  Oh well…  He had to do his maths, BD or no BD, he has a test, so suck it up.  By evening he finally got to stop and go to his beloved PS4.   No more than 10 minutes of blissful gaming begins, and the power goes out. 
‘Really, crappiest BD ever!’  Oh well…  He won’t hate us forever.
And BTW, did we flood?  Of course we did.

Power was promised to be returned to us by 9:30 pm that night.  Then 11pm.  Then Noon the following day.  From there, the information site was typical at ‘check later’.  Politicians began to argue about the wisdom of privatisation.

Monday came and went.  By Tuesday morning just as I ground my coffee beans for my one morning coffee the generator died with a cough and a fart.  No coffee for me.  The laundry floor still full of wet clothes waiting to go into the washer, slowly developing an uncomfortable smell.  The fridges now in the hands of the gods (the other generator was on a job site below 2 meters of water, the basement pumps failed…)

By Tuesday afternoon I began to develop a rash.  With rain, heat, sweat, no showers or proper meals, and of course, ongoing stress, the cause is anyone’s guess.  We finally decided to get a room somewhere, have a shower, find some food, and return home to our candle lit lounge room.  We had other appointments we cancelled after some argument -other issues don’t abate just because nature has awakened.

It has been a long time that I have felt disenchanted with life.  Human elements not failing to disappoint.  Surrounded by beauty I rarely notice nowadays; I try to keep everything else together under difficult conditions.  So, we made our way to an unpromising motel we managed to google on our phones, carrying everything we should need for our promised showers in our fire evacuation bag, ironically.  As we drive into town, half an hour or so away, the rain starts pouring down -again…

And suddenly in all that cloud, not much sun to be found, a rainbow.  A bright, strong double rainbow dead ahead.  A wonderfully colourful sight in what has become a bleak and draining reality lately.  When we got to the room (not awful) I looked up and there was a Kevin Best painting print hanging on the wall.  I was lucky to get to know Kevin in the last year of his life.  He was the sort of person that left you smiling to yourself all day after seeing him, not even sure why.  He just had a way of infusing joy into his surroundings.  I had not seen his work for some years.  After our showers we decided to find some Indian food.  We did not know where and as we drove around at a late hour food places were beginning to shut.  We pulled over, deciding to go with pizza instead, and there it was, an Indian restaurant right in front of us.  It was empty, and closing soon.  We got take away food and returned home, to find a house lit up like a Xmas tree.  (Over three days, I lost track of the on/off positions of the light switches).  When we dared taste the food, from a town that apparently didn’t have good Indian food, we were surprised to discover it was very good.

After what was now a very late dinner, I decided to share what had been stirring in me since we sighted the rainbow.  I detailed the events to my family, events that had awakened in me one by one, hope, positivity, and a glimpse of joy.  When I finished, my youngest son reminded me to list the power returned as the fourth event.  For him it might have been (after all, he had been telling us on the way back that we would return to a home, brightly lit), but not for me.  It wasn’t about that, I said.  This morning it was a bit clearer, this was not about getting what you want, or even what you need.  It was about knowing that there is something loving and nurturing around us always, despite and independent of, our lives events.  That no matter what is happening with us and what we are going through, there is a love that accompanies us always.  Maybe we need to look out for it more often, or just remind ourselves of its presence, I don’t know.  But yesterday it found me.
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More rain today and possibly more flooding tomorrow.  I hope the power stays on.

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