Hi All

I flew over to Brisbane on Qantas last weekend for my annual visit to see my daughters and granddaughters. The young ladies and I were going to compete in a Sprint Triathlon for the first time together in the Sunshine Coast tomorrow

Lo and behold, though, I was informed on arrival that the whole region is on standby for a Category Two Cyclone – the first they have had here in some 50 years. They are expecting very strong, destructive winds with speeds exceeding 150kph and daily rainfalls of between 500 and 800mm! Back home we celebrate when our rain gauge closes in on 80mm.

The initial forecasts were for Cyclone Alfred to hit the coast late last night, but it has apparently slowed down to 10kph and is expected early tomorrow morning. Schools and businesses have all been closed since Wednesday afternoon, and the whole community is preparing for the worst possible floods – People were queueing all day alongside the beaches waiting to take away numerous sandbags in case of flooding. 

The weather, as I write, is still relatively calm in the Northern Suburbs, so I went out for an early morning run today with my daughter. I then decided to pop down to the local Woolworths supermarket for some fresh orange juice – 

The only shops open today in this part of the world are Woolies and The Red Rooster Takeaway. The sight that greeted me inside Woolworths brought back all sorts of memories from 2008 – so many empty shelves with customers buying up every single bottle of water, toilet paper, plus all the fresh fruit and vegies. 

The mom of the household is a teacher, so, at home this morning, she had placed a long “To Do List” on the fridge door hoping to keep the littlies suitably occupied. This list happily included reading and an indoor obstacle course ending with the words! “Switch off TV!” Cooking skills were being upgraded too, with the young girls offering Grampa first a pancake and then one of their freshly baked cookies.

Organised chaos is a term that first comes to mind when you watch all the preparations going on in the local TV News Channels: from relocating homeless folks to secure shelters; moving any moveable furniture or signs inside shops so that they are not blown away; checking that all the outside fittings are secure; Sandbagging the external doors to prevent flooding and much more Threats of power shortages and no water! – challenging weekend ahead for me. Watch this space – Mike G. Brisbane, Australia