Sorry to all on Tuesday chat last week. My computer kept losing the signal and throwing me out! I did manage to get back in a couple of times and then nothing! The computer couldn't find the site again. Then the next time I logged on the computer wouldn't go on the internet. Trev was away back at Mt Victoria and Steve was so busy with funerals etc after the long weekend. He and Pam both worked a fair bit of overtime this week so I didn't like to ask him to come and fix it.

So I have had a week of reading and watching movies and listening to music. There is always handicraft to do and one night I even sorted out a couple of shelves of the main storage area. But I did miss you all. Today Steve came and looked at the computer and it had gone back to some old default and didn't recognise our present IP address, may have been as a result of one of the sudden power cuts, but it was easily fixed and so here I am again. I will have a lot of reading to do to catch up it seems.

I have Tori over for a sleepover. She was to come last weekend but the weather prevented that. So she came this afternoon. Her brother Alex is walking a few steps now so I will have to start putting more of my craft materials etc above reach of his small hands. He is a bonnie boy and so happy. He will soon be running around the place and getting into all sorts of strife.

The floods locally are not entirely subsided as we have had more rain the last couple of nights and a couple of heavy showers today. Wild winds were predicted but here at least they didn't have the same velocity as last weekend. I did notice some fresh tree falls, one two doors over is partly across the block next door. Insurance claims so far are listed in many millions. Some people will take a long time to get over this as they do not have much above what sustains them week to week. Our Samaritans which is a church charity is helping out and some of our churchfolk are helping the Red Cross set up an Aid Register for Disaster Recovery aid promised by the government who have declared it a natural disaster. Young families particularly are hard hit as a car under water or loss of clothing, food etc is hard blow to overcome.

We are lucky, our power came on after 39 hours and we lost very little food etc but some people were off for four days and in some areas the whole system is unsustainable at present. The hardest hit are those around the lake edges where wild winds, king tides and other circumstances have backed up the little creeks which run into the lakes and that has flooded low lying areas quite a way inland. The seas are high and sand across roads is another problem. If this sounds like some of your winters I guess you'd say we are lucky we don't have snow and ice as well!

There are elements of all this that are good. Fishermen are predicting a lot of prawns and good fishing next year as this is releasing a lot of nutrients into the lake system and far out to sea. The creeks that needed a dredging after years without heavy rain are now nicely scoured out and neighbours are getting to know each other as circumstances cause them to band together for help. And the powercuts may result in a record crop of babies in March 2008.

One large nursing home was flooded out and the patients who were ambulatory evacuated to a working man's club close by as they have large modern kitchen. Volunteers there said the men particularly had a good time as the meals they were served were very different from the ones they were used to and came with a free alcoholic beverage of your choice until matron found out! So when the waters go down I don't think any of them will want to go back.

Of course there have been tragedies and hastened deaths as a result of this and many thousands have lost cars and property of all kinds but I think we all feel now that nature occassionally has to be heard. We may be smart scientifically and have what we think is control over most things but nature sometimes over-rules us for our own good. Up against a fierce storm, a flood of water and without power and light we all seem pretty puny. And we do well to learn a lesson from that.

Glad to be back on again. I'll hopefully catch some of you in chat next week.