1. Hang out at the bridge

The place to be. Make sure to bring your dog, camera and war stories.

2. Queue at The Prov

Most popular items : bread, ciggies, beer

3. Be glad you don’t live in Black Street

And have half of your house underwater.

4. Take photos of the same things as everyone else (like me)

Look, the street sign is under water.

Hammond Street Bellingen in flood Feb 2009

(2009 option: post on Facebook)

5. Check out the coverage on online news sites

See what they get right and wrong and who’s being quoted.

6. Check out the weather and river heights online

Obsessively, about every 10 minutes.

There’s rain forecast for another four days…
Ohh, the river height at Thora is 5.2 now….
Looks like there’s more rain coming from up north on the radar

7. Wonder whether the bridge is under/still under

Better go down and check again…

8. Dig drains

To divert water from coming in to your house. Remember to do some ‘proper’ drainage work when the weather’s better.

9. Conduct an umbrella audit

Remind yourself to get an umbrella that works/doesn’t have holes/is big enough. So you can forget until next time it rains.

10. Reassure your anxious relatives

Yes, it’s rained a bit. No, we’re not going to drown. No, the river has never reached even close to the level of our house, ever.  No, the world is not about to end. Hold the food parcels. As above, we’ve got The Prov anyway.

and a bonus…

11. Drink beer

If you ever needed an excuse this is it…

Any other suggestions welcome – add comments below. Is there an alternative list for South Bello or Thora/Kalang?

Comments

yes very true Steve. I also counted helicopters and made a flying fox to get to the video shop. And who is it that always spreads the rumour that more big rain is on the way?

hi Steve – thanks for putting in an image we can download on our dial up. Has the water risen over the sign this time? See, there really was more big rain on the way…

Now for the South Bello list…

Much the same as the North Bello list, especially Point No. 6
BUT we have…
1. The pub and the Video store on the South side
AND we mourn the fact that we can’t get Hot Chips from the prov

Now for a Question…
Why is it that on these special occasions when the kids don’t have to go to school and possibly I don’t have to go to work, that people phone at 7am and wake me up?

7am phone calls are the sweet irony of the flood Marg….

As someone who’s never been stranded on the South Side in a flood I often wonder what it’s like. Sometimes I look wistfully at you lot checking out your side of the flooded bridge and wonder what it’s really like other there. Maybe we should set up some kind of cross cultural exchange programme one flood?

I’ve put my ex-wife (and our kids) up while going to my partners house. “More sex Dear?”.
Also blocking the street and playing cricket at Paula and Justin’s.
Impromptu parties, 3 days in a row
Receiving phone calls from freaked out relo’s thinking we’ve lost everything because the media overblows it. (My Dad’s quote “Oh like everytime you fart, you’ve shit yourself?” On ya Dad!)

Leave a Reply