General Discussion Thread

[catbirds]

It feels like it's been a particularly bad year for hail this year, all around the world. Roisin, it's good to know you're safe, though nice weather would be a treat too! Especially considering it's summer in Australia now. Hope repairs go well for both your house and neighbourhood.

Actually, it might just be general extreme weather everywhere this year.

[Jitter]

Catbirds, welcome to the new normal weather…

[moredhel]

Actually, it might just be general extreme weather everywhere this year.

I fear it will stay like this or get worse. The Planet is heating up this means there is more energy in the atmosphere so clearly everything the atmosphere does happens with more energy too.

[Keep Looking]

Two days without power, phones or internet later, I’m back. We had really bad storm damage, what with huge winds and above 70,000 lightning strikes that actually hit the ground. We will need to get the car windscreen replaced, but looks like only minor damage to the house. The Telstra and power company linesmen are heroes, keeping on doing repairs through the weather we have been having. Now to sift through the wreckage and save what I can. But Star and I are okay, even if uncomfortable. Nobody we know has died, apart from one elderly friend who died of something completely unrelated to the storm. Let’s hope things get no worse!

Róisín, I'm glad to hear that you and Star are alright. That sounds like a really strong storm - I'm glad that none of it has reached us over here in the west. You've got my best wishes for the mending process!

[Róisín]

Well, here we go again! Half the day has vanished in power, phone and internet outages, storms and general bad weather. Now there is a huge fire happening a few kilometres south of us. The fire brigades are hitting it as hard as they can, last bulletin said sixteen fire trucks and four aircraft, so hopefully they will get it out before the wind changes, since a change of wind direction would blow it back toward us.

At present the fire is moving south southeast in light forest, grassland and farmland but its present path if maintained will hit Murray Bridge which is a largish country town. That would not be good. Hope they get it soon.

I shall go back to picking up storm debris while the wind has dropped enough to do that safely, and to retrieve my washing which has been blown about the yard while I was elsewhere this morning. Urgh! Weather! Hope the next bout of storms does not bring more lightning fires!

[catbirds]

That's really extreme weather! I forgot that it's almost summer in the southern hemisphere now, AKA the season when everything catches on fire or something, apparently. I hope you'll stay safe and that the air quality doesn't get too bad. Provided the fire doesn't make its way to where you live, that's probably the other major health risk. Hopefully what happened to your laundry will be the biggest inconvenience that comes out of this.

[Róisín]

There are a few bits blown off the house (drainpipes, windowbox, damaged storm shutter, and a lot of branches down, but so far hopefully nothing major. Hoping we don’t get anything like more of the giant hail from a month or so back, though I’m quite sure we will get more lightning-strike fires. Okay for the moment though.

[Jitter]

It would be ridiculous if it weren't so serious! It's not normal even for Australia, that there are so many disasters in a row, and in several years the same keeps happening, or is it?

[Róisín]

No it isn’t, even on a continent famed for ‘droughts and flooding rains’. Climate disruption is getting much, much worse, sadly. At least the Tungkillo fire a couple of kilometres away from our place is listed as ‘controlled’, and is down to 6 fire engines, and all of the water bomber planes have been deployed elsewhere. Thank gods that the wind didn’t shift! We can no longer see flames from here, and the smoke is thinning out a bit. Relief, it was hard to breathe for awhile. I fear that such events may become the new normal. I probably am better prepared than most, but am still not happy with all of my disaster prep, and with Star not able to drive at present there is not a lot I can do to prepare further. However, we cope as we can, and life goes on.

[Róisín]

Still can’t find where the birthday thread has gone, so will take advantage of this thread to wish Yastreb a happy birthday for Saturday!

[JoB]

Still can’t find where the birthday thread has gone

It's here, in the "Personal" child board of the "General Discussion Board", presumably because one can expect PII in it. I'm not aware of the exact restrictions applying, but I would've guessed that "properly logged in and not a Super-Newbie" should suffice ... ?

[Róisín]

Thanks JoB! I shall keep trying.

[catbirds]

Could it be because of Roisin's new (and unique) role? Egh, probably not, I think this has been a problem for much longer.

Edit: Well, it might be a possibility? Considering your promotion/new role was granted on September 11th, and the last post of yours was probably in LMoH on September 5th?

[JoB]

Could it be because of Roisin's new (and unique) role? Egh, probably not, I think this has been a problem for much longer.

Edit: Well, it might be a possibility? Considering your promotion/new role was granted on September 11th, and the last post of yours was probably in LMoH on September 5th?

Róisíns "role" should be a post-count-based rank title, complete with still-yellow squares underneath, so I seriously doubt that. (We'd have to ask an admin, like, here, to be certain, though.)

I can see the birthdays thread and the only group I'm a member of is one registered users supposedly cannot leave, but just to be sure, Róisín, what does that page say about your group memberships?

[Róisín]

Not quite sure what you mean but when I try to open the link to the birthday thread in your post at the top of the page it tells me ‘an error has occurred’.