Thursday, November 19, 2009

Bushfire Survival Queen and Hunter of Lost Car Keys

Hmm, so its all happening on the meteorological front tomorrow.

The Bureau is telling us that not only will there be a duststorm with vile air quality but we're expecting severe fire weather in Sydney as well.

Ye Gods.

I blogged a while back about how helpless I felt knowing my area will at some point be threatened by bushfire (you get that in an extreme fire danger area).   Since then I've done some research and talked to people and have nutted out a When To Leave plan.

So, for what its worth (and because its been a slow hot day in Chez Nicholas) this is our bushfire evacuation plan...
  • Severe fire danger
    • See or smell smoke - locate fire (internet, radio, phone RFS)
    • Fire 20kms away - stay put and monitor
    • Fire 10kms away 
      • Moving towards us - Leave
      • Moving away from us - stay put and monitor
    • Fire 5kms away - Leave
  • Extreme fire danger
    • See or smell smoke - locate fire (internet, radio, phone RFS)
    • Fire 20kms away
      • Moving towards us - Leave
      • Moving away from us - stay put and monitor
    • Fire 10kms away - Leave
    • Fire 5kms away - Leave with extreme urgency
  • Catastrophic fire danger - leave
We've got all sorts of contingency plans and whatnot, but I won't bore you with them.  Except to say that the shirt below is my official Fire Fighting Shirt.  Pure cotton flannelet and striped pink, pale pink and cream.  Should there be the slightest hint of fire I'll be slipping this stylish baby on (bought in 1986 - thank goodness flannelet never goes out of fashion) and hurtling down the highway to have coffee in Killara.  Yes, I am a seasoned survivor. Seasoned I tells ya.


In other news My Wretched Husband - let's refer to him as SOMEONE - buggered off to Chatswood this afternoon leaving me to discover that the SOMEONE had decided to play hide the car keys five minutes before I had to pick up Miss Five from pre-school.  Ten minutes later I was just pulling on  my sneakers to RUN through the 37 degree heat the 2kms to the pre-school and get her (desperate phone calls to friends had gone unanswered) and I glanced at the pram. A suspicion dawned and sure enough there in the back pouch were the keys. WHERE HE HAD LEFT THEM.

Argh.  Don't worry, I've made him suffer and I'm not done yet.

Manic drive and I got there late but not so late that she was sitting forlornly alone on the mat waiting for me. PHEW - bless the other slack mums in the world. Bless. Them. All.  Had to recover sitting in the bed with the kids eating ice-blocks and writing letters to Santa (for the kids - Santa already knows what I want, same thing as last year... a pirate).

Also the dog has eaten a lot of unripe plums (yes, I feel that is going to end Very Badly).

sigh.

5 people love me:

Quixotic said...

lol - I can relate on all levels, I grew up bush, fire plans were down pat by the time we were 5, hubby is CONSTANTLY misplacing MY keys, and we have Scout the Wonder Dog, as in: Wonder what he'll eat next? So far: 3 pairs of my underwear off the line, irrigation tubing, the plastic cover off the bbq, numerous plastic toys, foam stuffing from his bed and approximately 17,894 of the beady, seed things from a palm tree.

greenfumb said...

Still trying to get the butter vomit stain out of the carpet here, about 8 years after she had an entire packet. ( actually that's a lie, we had to replace it)

Next time you're hiding out in Killara - drop in, you can swap one chaotic scene for another!

Suzanne Brandyn Author said...

It's very scarey isn't it Cait.
Today is suppose to be very high temps as well, I haven't heard about the dust storms.. geeish... I need a breathing mask.

Take care,

Suz :)

Unknown said...

Greefumb be careful what you wish for!! Nice to know there's another bloggery type locally tho. I'd love to do coffee one day :)

LOL Quixotic - only THREE pairs of underpants. I don't have any left now that aren't... er... a bit holey. Hmm, just don't think about that too hard if we ever meet!!

Quixotic said...

lol - bear in mind, I'm not talking CHEWED, I'm talking ATE, as in, consumed, digested, and very luckily, passed through ol' Iron Guts and out the other end. Vet reckons only a Lab would survive it!! :-{