Friday's Storm
Yes, I know when I posted on Friday, I said I wasn't going out, but I did. I needed to get pet food before running out, so I went to Glendale on the bus. I'm glad I did (as I now have pet food for the animals, which would have to have been got anyway) but I got stuck.
Glendale
I noticed as the bus left that there was a giant puddle outside the Joinery, and that the creek was only 30 cm (a foot) below the bridge (it's at least 5 metres deep) but by then it was a bit late. Got to the centre and did my shopping. I missed the 2nd last bus at 6:36pm but felt safe to get the last bus at 7:27pm.
It never came.
A government bus rolled in at 8:10pm and was stalled there. The creeks and roads were flooding due to excessive rain. Cardiff, Edgeworth and Wallsend were flooded, and traffic couldn't get through. Then a woman and her son turned up. She was panicking saying how high the waters were, and how I couldn't get a taxi. She sounded in hysterics - apparently the bridge near the golf course had flooded, and MacDonald's nearby was underwater - but parts of the carpark there were flooded. Aldi's and elsewhere were flooded out. I gave the son 50c and he called his father.
I used my mobile and phoned home - got mycosys after half a dozen tries. It was almost 8:30pm and rather than try and phone for taxis that couldn't come (and after talking to the security guard who wasn't hysterical) I decided to go to the cinema which was still open. I got a hot meal of Wedges & sour cream, a drink, and went to watch Shrek the 3rd. OK, it's not as good as the first two, but it's not that bad either - and I got to take off my wet jacket and hat, have a hot meal, and relax for a while.
I came out at 10:30pm and conditions were unchanged. I wasn't the only one still there (and the mother and son were gone), but everyone else had cars. The flooding had receded so it was now worth trying to get a taxi. I got the Woollies staff to phone for one (Woollies and Coles were still open) waited for it. Only, I'd had wind all day and the runs off and on, and the five minutes I went to the toilet the taxi came. Woollies phoned again and finally I got a taxi.
I had a full trolley full of supplies, and was starting to get tired and cranky. We drove off over the golf course bridge, past the MacDonald's (where there was a huge giant puddle) and all the way to the bridge at Barnsley, only to find that it was closed due to flooding (the creek was now 30 cm above it). I got the taxi to detour an extra 10 km via Holmesville and got home.
Home
Didn't get home until just before midnight. Kevin had some hot chi and food ready for me. I tried to post something on LJ but there were too many power surges and the PC would reset. Gave up on that and went out looking for Xena. Didn't find her, though all the other animals were inside.
Finally, the power went off entirely at 3am.