This is Australia, QLD style…
Monday night, sleep escaped me as I breathed in the humidity.
Que music, Mark ‘Cal’ Callaghan from Gang Gajang singing ‘The sounds of then, (This is Australia)’
Out on the patio we’d sit
And the humidity we’d breathe…
I was lying in bed waiting for the storm. Waiting for the promise of the drop in temperature and slight relief that it brings. It was always magically falling asleep to a storm. I grew up in an old Queenslander.
For my overseas friends, an old Queenslander is a timber-built house raised on stilts that is allegedly designed to allow whatever available breeze to flow through and under the house. This is true for the hot winds, rain and cold winter winds as well. However, we tend to have more of the former. Typically, old Queenslanders have tin roofs. I love tin roofs…
I love the story they tell as they express the temperature changes through their range of sounds. As kids we use to sit on the veranda and one of us would grab the hose and hose the veranda roof. And she would release her cracking sounds and we would very briefly embrace the slight drop in temperature… then sit around and nominate the next one of us to drag our lethargic bones up to do it all again. It was like the heat put anchors on our feet and our brains slowed to crawl.
The first drops of rain landed, the tin cracked overhead and like magic I fell asleep.
The rain continued the storm unleashed. I woke. Normally, I can happily listen to a storm and fall back asleep. However, my mind went to our boat Saboteur.
Saboteur is back in the water after getting a new deck. Happy dance…
Her teak deck was old and tired and had started to leak, so we replaced the deck with a fibreglass deck with anti-slip paint (white-on-white). When considering what our new deck options were, putting down new teak, not only was the most expensive option, it is also becomes very hot. Monday delivered with 39 degrees (after all this is Australia). So teak was ruled out very quickly. We are very happy with the results.
I was now wide-awake wondering if:
- our new deck was leaking…
- the cover over the aperture waiting for the (absent) mast… was holding up.
If you recall, we have removed the mast to get the rigging renewed. This leaves a big hole in our boat where the mast goes which I had covered about 3 months ago.
Yesterday was meant to be a writing day, however the storms and my waking thoughts saw me dash out to the boat to check it all out. And the balance of my day just did not flow.
The good news is the deck does not leak… and the mast hole cover had held up but was really due to be replaced. I replaced the cover and headed back home to my keyboard. Happy to have put my feet back on Saboteur and still in love with her.
Wow… Some relief there.
And I was happy to get back into my writing, even if my day was disjointed.
#liveyourlife #QLDstyle #ThisisAustralia #whatareyouwaitingfor