The TV Bushfire Ads Airing on Commercial TV

I’ve just had the pleasure (not) of watching the new Bushfire Ads, I rarely watch live to air TV for exactly this reason, to avoid media, to avoid news stories, this has become obvious after the Victorian Black Saturday  Bushfires.

I visually saw about 5-10sec and realised it was smoke, I could hear people panicking and then I realised it was one of the bushfire ads, that I have been reading about, in places like this http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2011/11/30/3380039.htm

I lost the plot.

I can smell smoke, my skin is crawling, the sounds, the memories, just because some people will always be dumb, do the rest of society have to suffer?

Remove the ads and save the sanity of those connected to the 173 people that died and the 1000’s that escaped with prior knowledge or by the skin of their teeth.

PULL the ADS before the inevitable occurs and someone is pushed over the edge.

2 years to today – Black Saturday Bushfires - We Remember

Today is the remembrance of the Black Saturday Bushfires, fires that changed many people lives, be it those that lost family members, those that lost friends, those that lost property, those that lost animals. None of those losses will ever be forgotten. Not in 2 yrs – not in 10years – not in a lifetime.

I’ve spent close to 2 years trying to make people aware of the dangers of bushfires and yet time and time again I see people waiting until the last minute, or complaining that they only received 20 minutes warning from authorities. Daily Telegraph - Forget you homes, just get out now! Feb 7th 2011 I’m sorry – but you have eyes and ears, you have radio, you have television. Do not lock yourself inside with the Air Conditioner and think “she’ll be right mate, someone will tell me” – Maybe the phones are down, maybe the mobile has a flat battery.

This entire blog is dedicated to those that were lost in the Black Saturday Fires, not because I dwell in the morbid, but because if I can prevent ONE loss of life with the information contained here then I have achieved something

Today we remember 173 people who lost their lives to the Black Saturday fires, don’t let their loss be in vain. Get out whilst you can. If you know the weather is a high risk day, pack up the night before, go to friends houses.

You know the drill – don’t wait until the last minute I beg you

Think of your children, think of your family.

XXOO

Take care

The memory of Bushfire

It lives with you forever.

This morning the hot northerly wind was blowing, the only difference to two years ago, was the grass was green and the temperature wasn’t 35’c at 8am in the morning.

The words of my father came back to me “Are you ready?” – he called me at 8.15am the 7th February 2009, he knew, I knew, the CFA knew. It was going to be bad.

Just nobody knew how bad.

I never want anyone to go through what others did on that day – and that is why I keep pushing people, be prepared, be alert, don’t turn your back on the outside world.

Sure an air conditioner is great to keep you cool and closed blinds help with that.

Many people weren’t aware there was problem until the power went out, by then it was too late.

Too late to run, too late to prepare, too late to do anything other than pray.

I want people to realize that the CFA website, can’t keep up with the fires, with fast fires like those of Black Saturday. I remember watching the fire start at 11-11.15am in Kilmore and seeing the smoke. The CFA website didn’t list any problems, until 11.30am from memory, by then it was too late.

I can’t stress enough, be prepared, don’t pretend it won’t/can’t happen to you, 173 people died and many only came through by their shirt tails.

Clear your property now, clear your gutters, clear under the house. Remove overhanging branches.

Please don’t think it won’t happen, don’t let your family, friends and parents find out the hard way.

Take care out there – it may have rained, but that has only increased the amount of undergrowth, and thus the overall fire risk. Don’t become a statistic.

Marysville - Almost 2 years on after the Bushfires of Black Saturday

These are some photos I took last week.

90%, maybe 95% of the trees are dead. They will stand as a reminder of what has happened for generations. Falling as those that remember fall.

Do not let the memory of these trees be in vain. Prepare yourself, your family, your house, your animals.

Remember these trees and remember never to forget that preparation is the key to survival in a bushfire.

Before and After - The Difference 110 Days Makes

I don't think you need any more words. I didn't realise I had these photos until tonight.

20th October 2008

February 8th 2009 approx 5.30am

October 2008

A little closer than the original - taken about 5.30am 8th February 2009. Notice the bucket? - I used that to stop the smouldering retaining wall.

My Memory – in Flames

Went to Marysville again over Easter. I’ve resisted walking around, simply because everywhere I look I see burnt stuff (Yes pun intended)

Everything I once knew has gone, changed or now seems so far from reality I can’t fathom it.

Hubby and I played tourist for all of about 10 minutes, I had to mail something and thought that to mail it from Marysville would be appropriate considering they were “The Marysville Cookbook”. We parked behind the bakery and used the mail box there.

We then took the opportunity to walk down the arcade or what’s remaining of it and onto the main street. There was photo exhibition, run by volunteers and funded with donations Go Marysville which I thought I should go and have a look at. We did,. I walked in and started looking at the room from the left hand side. I was fine until I got almost out the door and there attached to the wall was the phone box from outside the post office. The last time I saw it, it was still burning. That is something I remember. I remember other things, but that phonebox seemed so important, the reason I was in Marysville that dreadful morning was because the phones no longer worked and it seemed symbolic.

I ended up having to walk out and hide my tears. I couldn’t let others see me like this. I’m meant to be strong. I put myself in that situation; therefore I’m not allowed to say anything.

I can’t imagine what it must be like for residents. I can’t pretend to – I don’t know. All I know is they must be better and stronger people than me.

I can understand why long-time/life-time residents say they can’t and won’t return. I can sympathise with them fully.

There are some things Marysville need from what I’ve been able to understand
1. Tourism and the money it brings in, with it comes employment
2. Physical memorabilia, things like mementos, real photos, china, things from Guest houses etc
3. Photos, not just photos from the 1900’s but photos as recently as January 2009. They don’t need to be professional quality. But photos of guesthouses, of homes, of streetscapes, of shops, of people, of signs, anything that is Marysville.

Marysville will rebuild, Marysville will live on, Marysville will still have the colours of autumn, the snows of winter and the coolness of summer and the new life of spring. It takes time and support from the wider community of the city and interstate and international people. Marysville will live on.

Let your memories be happy ones, make memories. Photographs might set the scene, but can’t convey the feelings and the happiness of the times.

364.25 days ago - Black Saturday 7th February 2009

I was trying to sleep and couldn’t – I realised what I was planning to do was possibly suicide and I could possibly end up dead – but I HAD TO DO it.

I left Whittlesea at 2.30am in the morning and got to Marysville at daybreak – I don’t remember very much of the trip – other than what I have recalled in My Story – I drove with eyes ONLY for the road, I didn’t have a choice. The dangers were many, the sights from my car window too scary to comprehend.

The smell is something that will never leave my mind. Driving over electricity wires is scary even when you know that the power is off – it’s unnatural.

Then seeing some animals alive and looking fine and to see others either dead or near dead – was heart-wrenching.

To see cars and trucks ‘parked’ in the middle of the roads was strange – like an apocalyptic movie, where you know the people have gone mad and just run off into the distance chasing some figment of their imagination. That was what it felt like.

To see burnt out shells of vehicles – you dared not look, just in case. Power poles cut at the knees, where the fire had burnt them through and they fell across the roads.

I did what I did because I am me.

Some people have lost everything they have loved for as long as they can remember – their loss must be enormous. Some people have come forward and have shared their stories; I congratulate them on being so brave. By sharing their stories, they are trying to make sure you don’t suffer the way they have. I can’t thank them enough; the pain of retelling must tear at their already broken hearts. I hope if I was in their shoes – I’d have the guts to do the same.

May the next 12 months be better than the past 12 months and may every year that passes be better than the last.

On that note:- thank-you to all the people on the ground fighting these fires, thank-you to those people who after the fact, stepped up the mark and assisted with everything from toilet paper to cars and accommodation. You did a wonderful thing.

Let us hope that we never again suffer as we did on February 7th 2009.

Let us be vigilant of our surroundings and of people who may pose a threat to our homes, our families, our lives. If you see someone acting suspiciously please make a note of anything and if you feel it necessary report it to 000. Lives, maybe your life could be a risk for not doing so.

Take care out and remember Mother Nature talks to each and every one of us – perhaps you might need to turn the music down a little and listen once in a while.

In memory - Black Saturday, 7th February 2009

I was reading a book, as I often do and came across this – I thought it fitting.

He had no home, no roots, no family. Absolutely nothing! No family photographs, no family bible that would have recorded the dates of the family lives – the day they were born, the day they were wed and when and how they all died. Everything had been destroyed. Everything. All he had was pictures in his head. That was what the war had done to him. Others had fared just as badly, and some much worse, he chided himself.

Exert from “Cockney Courage” Elizabeth Waite, 1999.

The similarities are too close to real life, living in London in the Blitz or in Victoria in 2009. Very very similar.

To those we lost – we won’t forget

To those that survived – we can’t forget

To those that helped – thank-you from the bottom of my heart

Let us not forget – to be prepared is to survive, to be ready to flee is not a sign of weakness it is a sign of wanting to live.

Do what you have to do as a family – don’t be swayed by the voice of others

Let us not forget Black Saturday 2009.

12 months almost

It’s almost 12 months now since the Black Saturday fires and my gut is tied up in a ball, I feel sick constantly – I shouldn’t feel this way – I’m bigger, better and stronger than this.

I get flashbacks, but I try not to think about them

People now that 12 months has passed, think it’s safe to talk about the fires. But they keep telling me I could have been killed – shit – hello – We all die at some point in time – I’ve just been closer than most get in their living lifetime. I don’t need to be told that – I know that. Why not talk about how people are managing, how they are coping, what is being done to fix the people and the houses and the families. Why only the death? – We all know someone or many someone’s who died.

Those that remain in the fire-affected areas I believe will have an easier time of 'recovery' (if you can call it that) than those that left. Simply because those that have been 'there' know what it is like and it is so much easier talking to people who have been through the same experience.

I did what had to be done – not because I am any sort of F**** hero – but because it had to be done.

I want to crawl into a hole and ignore the world – it would be so easy and yet I know it is not the answer.

Every hot day now (even before a little) I was on tenterhooks worrying – now I STRESS.

Not just a little – but I wonder if I am doing the right thing going to work – I worry about my animals – I worry about the older people on my street, what happens if people forget them? What happens if they don’t hear the evacuation signal? – What happens? – Will I feel responsible for them also? I can’t – I refuse to.

Remember when you were a kid and you would do turn your body around and around and around with your eyes shut and your arms stretched out – and when you stopped you felt sick and didn’t know where to turn?

That is what I feel like now.

I can’t even imagine that those lost family and homes. If I feel like that – they must feel like they are in the middle of a never-ending cyclone.

The Battle is Not Won, Even When You Save Your Home From Bushfire

The fire has come, the fire has gone. You have somehow managed to save your house. You still don’t know how.

You are tired. You look around, everything you once knew has now all gone, You don’t remember the Jones house burning, but it must have, you can’t see it anymore.

You are half deaf, the noise of the fire, the noise of the gas bottles venting. The large explosions, you don’t know what they were. But you have survived.

You don’t know about friends, you can’t contact them. The phones no longer work, either landlines or mobiles.

You look around the place, everything outside is burnt or melted, God knows how you managed to save the house. The down pipes are all bent and melted. The retaining wall will need to be replaced. The clothes line? – Looks like a sad scarecrow.

At some point in time, you ripped the smoke detectors off the ceiling and threw them out – the noise. OMG – which was worse? The screeching or the sound of everything burning?

You are afraid to leave the house in case there is a fire you haven’t put out. You are running out of water, for some reason the gravity fed water supply has stopped running. You don’t know why.

Exhaustion, you want to sleep but can’t. Everything keeps flashing through your mind. Suddenly there is a knock at the door. The DSE are there asking you to take in some people who couldn’t save their homes. You can’t turn them away. You make room.

It’s now morning – you feel like crap. There is still no water. There are still no phones, there is no power.

Do you stay or go?

There is a knock at the door. It’s some officials. They advise that the town is being evacuated because there is no water.

You don’t want to leave, can they make you leave? You don’t know.

What do you do? Where do you go? – What do you take? – You can’t empty the house. What happens if when the house is empty, some bastard decides to help themselves?

You make a decision to stay. You don’t know if it’s right or wrong, but it’s all you know. At least at ‘home’ you can sleep in your own bed, Things are familiar.

What would you do somewhere else? This is all you’ve known for the past 40 years.

You hear a car in the street, it’s xxxx, they tell you that the water should be okay now, make sure you boil it and they move on.

That means I have water, I don’t have to go. I don’t have power, but I have a generator. I should be okay.

Someone else has come into the street. They are taking photos?????????? Who would take photos at a time like this?

A helicopter overhead, Jeez, I hope they don’t see me. I look horrible.

Everyone else leaves, they lost everything, they are going to the evacuation centres, they have no-where else to go. I don’t have enough food and there is no way for them to contact family. So they have to leave.

There is no sound, no birds, no cars, no mowers. Absolute silence. Can I stay here and not go mad?

We hide in the house for 2 days, hiding because everyone lost so much, we lost nothing. We feel ashamed.

The police are everywhere, they tell us at the outskirts of town if we leave, we can’t come back. How can they say that? We have a house, what will happen to the animals?

We are running out of fuel, we have eaten everything out of the freezer, the canned food is running low. Can they starve us out?

I thought this was Australia? Why are we being treated like this?

We’ve spoken to the kids, they know we are okay. There are 6-7 houses where people have stayed. We are not meant to travel around the town, as it has been declared a crime scene. We can’t talk to each other. When night falls, we move between the houses, making sure everyone is okay.

Food and fuel that is meant to be at the police point is not there. And no-one knows anything. A guy from out of town gets into town with a car full of stuff – the kids dropped it at his place after the police wouldn’t bring the stuff in or let them through the roadblock.

Are You Prepared to Stay and Defend?
Why Must Government Save People from Themselves

Thank God for friends and family.

Protecting Your Possessions Against Bushfire

I don't normally do this - as I like to put all my own 'stuff' together and not stuff my blog with other guff

Well - this is vitally important if you ever are affected by fire.(Which I hope not)

From the "The Australian Institute for the conservation of Cultural Material" they have put together some information that may help ease the heart-break and allow items to be salvaged.

Since the Black Saturday fires, we all recognise that fires of a catastrophic degree can cause extreme damage on a scale previously unimagined. However, stories that have emerged from the experience tell us also that some treasures did survive. Even some paper-based items miraculously endured intense heat, soot and fire. With careful storage and by using heat-resistant materials, certain risks can be reduced. While not a guarantee that items will not suffer damage, minimising risk through the storage methods recommended may offer some hope for items that have to be left behind on evacuation.

If you are affected by fires, the AICCM encourages you to retain any damaged keepsakes and memorabilia that are still recognisable, even if damaged and dirty. Consult a conservator before you throw them away. It is possible that they may be salvageable.

Please refer to this link for full details and downloadable information that can be of assistance, both, before and after. http://www.aiccm.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1117:protecting-your-possessions-against-bushfire&catid=11:media-releases&Itemid=52

Take care out there and remember a scanned photo, may not replace the original BUT, it preserves the image.

Refer my post about data storage and remember you can't always remember everything, especially when under pressure and worry - http://itaintalwaysso.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-safe-is-data-in-your-safe.html

My father said……………………..

“You shouldn’t have come”, with tears in his eyes. My response was “and if the shoe had been on the other foot, what would you have done?” His response was “I would’ve come” My response, “Then please, don’t tell me what I should and should not have done.”

This conversation took place when we were still cleaning up the property in town some 9 months after the fact and was in relation to the fires and my escapades 8 hours after the fact.

He’s not coping, my mother pretends she is coping. I’m not coping, but like mother, like daughter I pretend I am coping. Deep down I know I am not.

There are many other people like me and my parents out there. We are all pretending we are managing; we have to for our family and our friends.

The posting of this into the blog is somewhat delayed from when it was written, simply due to other posting material which has been previously written and yet, this material could be posted some 12 months down the track and I am sure it would read exactly the same way.

Yesterday the 19th November 2009, saw the first day that could have posed a threat to my family, and I spent the entire day at work, thanking my lucky stars that my daughter was not home and praying that nothing would happen. There are people on my street that have no-one to care for them other than me. I was the only person on Black Saturday that stayed in contact with them and made sure that they were aware of what was going on and who they would be going with if and when the path of the fire changed.

South Australia and Victoria have had record breaking temperatures in the last 48 hours and I think that is only going to get worse. Hotter nights, even hotter days, winds and storms will increase and with that the increase in lightening strikes and fires getting away from our esteemed fire-fighters. As I have said previously and will continue to say, firefighters, paid and unpaid are our lifeline. Without them, these fires would devastate everything we know.

My father lost many friends, his home town of 40 years has been wiped from the face of the earth. There are 173 people dead, there are 1000’s of displaced people, wondering if they should re-build, wondering if they should move on. Wondering what life holds in store for them. Spare a thought, not just for those that lost their lives, but for those that have to live with the memory of those losses and the loss of property and their job and everything they once knew.

BTW – just because it has been said, doesn’t make it right, neither does it make it wrong. It just needed to be said to clear the air.

We all do things we sometimes regret, both words and actions, I regret neither. I did what had to be done and it shows that one woman in action can do much more than words.

Stay strong, stay safe and remember if you don’t feel safe, get out and save your life (and your mind). It is not just the event, but it is what you see and hear that can affect you for as long as you live.

Are you prepared to stay and defend or do you need to leave on “CODE RED” Days

Ask yourself these questions:-
1. Are you physically fit?
2. Are you mentally able to cope with the noise and possible devastation?
3. If you have children, do you have someone outside the area who can look after them?
4. Is your block surrounded by cleared lands?
5. Is your house roof clear of overhanging trees and branches?
6. Are you able to get onto the roof and block the gutters?
7. Is your house built on relatively flat land?
8. Is your house on a slab OR stumps? If stumps,is underneath of your house clear?


These are SOME of the things you MUST consider, There are many other factors to determine if you go or stay. It is not for me to determine your choice. Only YOU can make that choice.

If you answered Yes to the above Questions – then it is possible you have a better chance of saving your property.

If at any time in the past you have suffered from asthma or a heart condition, I believe you have to leave. I can’t stress this enough. The air is thick with smoke and flying embers, the heat is unbearable.

Here is a re-cap of all my posts over the last couple of weeks, from what to do and what not to do.
Things not to do when a bushfire is approaching
You can feel a sense of de-ja vu in the air
Things NOT to do when confronted by a bushfire
The Fire Season and the Procrastinator

Things to do months, weeks, years ahead of an approaching bushfire
Are YOU prepared for a bushfire?
Be Prepared or Prepare to Die
The threat of bushfires, your family and particularly home alone children
Children in the care of others, during CODE RED bushfire danger days (Victoria, Australia)
CODE RED affected schools (Victoria, Australia)
Fire bunkers – are they safe?
Caught in Car During a Bushfire
Animals and Bushfires

If you don’t feel able to stay and defend, leave, tell your neighbours, take your valuables with you, take your animals with you.

If you have water, let the local CFA know that you have water, if you are able – sign post that water, so the CFA are able to locate it. Don’t be selfish, it could be your house they are trying to save.

Take care and remember that the fire season of 2008/09 cost the lives of many and taught those that survived how to make survival a little easier.

Do not let their lives be in vain. Remember life is precious and family more so.

Take care out there

In Memory of Marysville and New Life

This post is in memory of what has been lost – This photo was taken by a 12yo – without the intervention of an adult. He was allowed to wander around town as he has done since the age of about 6yo.

He and his dog (grandparents dog) are recognized and many people say hello simply because he’s hanging onto the other end of the leash.

This piece of art somehow managed to survive the Black Saturday Fires as they are now known. He is a sculpture done by Bruno of Bruno’s Sculpture Garden, – He is titled the 'Hiking Man' I believe

I imagine him looking over and protecting the township and its people.

He’s been removed for safe keeping whilst the re-building occurs. He will be back and will stand as a reminder for eternity of what was lost on the 7th February 2009.

Once again this photo was taken by the same child, now 13yo and this is what the 'Hiking Man' looked like shortly after the fires devastated Marysville and before his removal to a safe place in preparation for clearing the ground he stood on.

Let us not forget those that didn't make it - Don't become complacent. Don't let their deaths be in vain. Read what you find here, assess your situation and remember you are responsible for your own actions.

Stay safe. Today is another 35'c here in Melbourne and surrounds. It only takes one idiot to ruin our lives forever.

Survivors Guilt

You survive, you still wonder how. So many people you know did not survive. You saved your house, so many others couldn’t.

You are embarrassed, you are ashamed.

You are suffering survivors guilt.

You avoid the main roads, you avoid public meetings. You avoid the life that you once knew.

It is all too hard. You want to know why you have been saved and so many have not.

You have passed your years, you have done your time. Why were the children taken so early, they had not lived their life, they had not seen life.

It is not fair.

You help where you can, but wonder if your help is not wanted, due to the fact you have lost nothing and they have lost all.

What do you do? What can you do? Will the place you have known for 40 years ever be the same again?

Will you ever be able to shop in your home town again?

Will you ever be able to buy petrol in your home town again?

Will those that left to find a roof ever come back again?

There are so many questions and so few answers.

Nobody is prepared to give answers, nobody is prepared to step up and be accountable.

Can you survive the guilt?

Flash Back of the Worst Kind

Went back to the place I grew up in (I can’t call it home as I have my own family now, with my own home). This is the same place that was burnt out by Black Saturday fires in February and I made a mad pre-dawn dash, running road blocks and upsetting several ‘official’ people

It’s amazing what the smallest thing can cause you to recall at the strangest times.

The morning of the fires, I came around this corner, there was an almighty tree across the road, obviously the smoke and fire that goes with being in the middle of a catastrophic event like Black Saturday.

I turned the same corner today and saw the stumps of the trees and was thinking about that horrible morning. When all of a sudden a light dust cloud swept across the road, accompanied by the smell of smoke. I almost panicked.

The only thing that stopped me slamming on the brakes was that my partner was riding shotgun, whereas before I was alone.

The dust was from the cleared ground due to fire cleaning up and the smoke was due to a fire that had been lit to burn off the tree stumps and rubbish that had been graded into a pile.

I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like for someone who has lost family in Black Saturday. How do they cope on a daily basis?

I was lucky - only lost friends, not family. I couldn't imagine

How safe is the data in your safe?

Not very. Yup sounds like a contradiction – it is a contradiction. Safes are only for honest people, safes are only a place to store stuff that you don’t want anyone else to see. The sort of stuff I am talking about are the XXX rated videos of you with someone other than the person you are married to.

All safes have a fire rating, the best you can get without paying an arm and a leg (and I mean that literally) is four (4) hours, some cheaper safes are rated under that.

I’ve seen safes drilled, I’ve seen safes blown apart, I’ve seen safes burnt, I’ve seen safes look fine from the outside but when opened everything is either reduced to ashes or melted.

The polymer notes that are Australian Currency these days just melt when exposed to heat. The old paper money used to turn to char.

Don’t rely on a safe to protect your data, don’t rely on a safe to protect your wills, don’t rely on a safe to protect anything of value. Because it can’t when exposed to anything other than ‘normal’ trauma.

You’ll notice that since I started blogging, many of my blogs have been about the Black Saturday’s fires, that is because they are a big part of my life at the moment and will probably remain so for the rest of my life.

Someone was talking about data protection – computer hard drives and the like. They were saying move HD onto portable drive and just pull the drive and leave. Life is never that simple, life is never that easy. Trust me you don’t have time. Don’t rely on remembering – don’t rely on it won’t happen to you – don’t rely on off-site servers (Although better than nothing) Rely on friends and family outside the area and rely on duplicity.

I can’t be any straighter to the point – remember it may not be tomorrow, it may not be the day after, It may not be next year.

Don’t lose those precious family photos because you think you have plenty of time.

YOU DON’T HAVE ANY TIME. DO IT NOW.

“A Trouble shared is a trouble halved”

Was just talking to someone about the dust storms in Sydney and realized that the reason they send shivers down my spine is that days after Ash Wednesday a dust storm rolled over Melbourne. I was a teenager at the time and was unable to get home due to the risk of fires and was staying with relatives in the ‘big smoke’ – Association by memory is probably the best way to describe it.

Just looking back over my life and the memories of said life! – and it is amazing the number of events both locally and world-wide that I have witnessed or been one of the first to know.

Ash Wednesday (1983)– couldn’t get home, had to bunk with relatives in the city. Didn’t know if family had survived, communication was jammed.

Dust Storms (1983) – was in the city when this happened and saw the clouds rolling over the top of us.

Russell Street Bombing (1986) – Was in the basement of building approx 500m from the site of the bombing. I can still ‘hear’ the recoil of the air pressure.

Hoddle Street Shootings (1987) – Drove along Hoddle street moments before the shooting, think I heard a shot, but wasn’t aware until work called and asked if I had got home okay!

World Trade Centre (USA) (2001) – I was up watching something on TV when the show was interrupted to bring live footage on that horrible horrible event. People woke up and found out about it – I didn’t sleep.

Floods (2003) – Northern Suburbs – the worst flooding in 100 years. I was watching buildings in Heidelberg be inundated.

Black Saturday (2009) – I was in the middle of it

These are the BIG events that almost everyone is aware of, if you are a resident of Victoria.

Have I had my fair share or have I had more than my fair share?

Only God knows. Simply due to the fact that people won’t talk about these sorts of events due to the flashbacks and memories. Trust me – the ONLY way to cope is to talk about them. Allows you to realize that it may not be as bad as you first thought.