Brisbane Floods 2011 - the cleanup begins

This is not something which I would normally put on my blog however these are unusual times. Wherever you are in the world you have probably heard by now about the floods that have swept through parts of Australia. I live in Brisbane and this is a brief account of what I saw today as I ventured out into the flood affected areas.

I must admit to feeling slightly guilty for being on the roads and driving through the devastation today albeit for legitimate reasons of checking on my in-laws who, though not directly affected by flood, had been without power and will be continue to be without power for quite sometime, while those less fortunate around them begin the cleanup of their homes. The sight of homes with brown, sludgy, lawns strewn with mud covered furniture and possessions was emotionally overwhelming. Streets were filled with parked cars belonging to volunteers eagerly helping residents to sift through possessions to find any salvagable items. I saw volunteers, wearing fluro vests and Id badges, being shuttled by city council buses to areas where they were needed. There is a massive cleanup in progress which will take months to complete. People are doing an incredible job and I commend volunteers and those organising this massive cleanup for their compassion, dedication and leadership.

Teenager takes to the streets, mum terrified

So I finally plucked up courage to take the 17 year old son out driving. I figured that he had close to 50 hours of driving time under his belt, mostly with a driving instructor, it should be safe. Hmmmm.... Actually he is quite a good driver but it is the fact that you are seated in the passenger seat with no control over the situation at all and you just hope that they have the sense to drive safely and calmly without too much stalling of car or dare devil driving. We had an hour and a half driving time over the weekend and I am sure there will be a lot more driving during the week.