17 March, 2009 - Still Catching Up

Been a bit busy over the last few days - hence the need for Catch-up part 2.

I was writing about attending the STAR (St Andrew Recovery) Committee and my concern about the focus on not missing out and the lack of significant involvement by people who like us who have actually lost our homes. This is not to denigrate the efforts of those who have initiated the committee, there is no doubt in my mind that such an entity is essential. Rather I am worried that the people for whom the effort is being made, may not yet be in a position to effectively participate.

During the meeting, I tried to express this concern by citing my own rather schizoid or at best ambivalent position which became apparent on the evening of the fires and has stayed with me since.

I generally regard my self as living in St Andrews, I belong to the St Andrews CFA and we have a PO Box in St Andrews. However on the night of the fires, listening to news reports, all I could hear was Kinglake, Kinglake, Kinglake, Strathewen, Kinglake on and on and then finally a mention of losses in St Andrews and then back to Strathewen and, Kinglake bloody Kinglake. It was as if the area between Mittons Bridge Road and Ninks Road just didn't exist and I felt increasingly frustrated and angry that no-one seemed to know or care that upwards of 15 - 25 properties had been utterly destroyed, while the township of St Andrews which seemed to be getting the coverage was completely untouched. At the time I felt completely alienated from St Andrews and even suggested to anyone who bothered to listen, that we locals should form a movement to have St Andrews North re-instated. Is this rational? Probably not but I certainly didn't feel like I belonged to St Andrews.

I made the point to the meeting that I was only speaking for myself but wondered aloud if my neighbours, including those in Ninks Road, might possibly be feeling similarly disinclined to be engaged with the broader community at this time. There's a part of me that observes there are too many I statements here, but it's about me so the pedants can be revolted!

In addition to the sense of alienation and focusing on the notion that we as a community needed to act in a coherent manner, identify and ask for what we needed before the the money bus rolled beyond our reach; I explained that in a very real sense, I had no idea what I wanted or needed except to get back to our property and start the rebuilding process.

It seemed highly likely that others in my position were similarly inwardly focused and would need perhaps more time than might be available before we could begin to think about and effectively participate in the broader community and the Recovery Committee in particular.

The potential was acknowledged but I was left feeling that the message had been lost.

All of that said, I came away from the meeting, very impressed by the time and energy that many people had devoted to getting the process up and rolling and the sense of committment and community which they displayed. I was particularly touched by Maninder who thanked me for making the effort to attend.

I did get one very useful piece of info re a public seminar by the Building Industry Commission to be held in Sth Morang on the new building code.

Although I have some reservations, I will continue to be involved and add value where I can.

Wednesday March 10 - Thursday March 11, 2009 - Several things happened over these two days but I can't remember the order so I'll just chat along and see if any shape appears.

Contacted a REC - Registered Electrical Contractor for those of you who had forgotten or perhaps I haven't previously mentioned it, and arranged to meet him up at the farm to discuss how best to get power from SPAusnet, who seem a bit reluctant to impart useful information.

While waiting for Cameron to turn up, I spent a happy 45 mins or so watering all the living things in sight. I've been doing this every couple of days and today I was hugely rewarded to see that the Ginko tree (memo to Q - get a Picture!) I planted a few months ago for Ros and which has been looking very brown and down has suddenly burst into brilliant leaf! Calloo callay! The ten Pyrus usuriensis along the driveway have also started to bud up and one has even sprouted leaves. My good faith in the restorative power of water and hope has been rewarded. To celebrate, I gave even the roses which I'm sure are dead some more water and soaked the southern desert to encourage the few shoots of grass.

Cameron finally arrived and we agreed the most appropriate spot for the power board to be located and then called SPAusnet to see if he could work out what they required, as I hadn't been having much luck. The "agent" was very helpful but unfortunately the people who could help us had gone home. Don't suppose it was too unreasonable as it was 17:25. We took the offered number and agreed to catch up in a couple of days or whenever either of us had managed to get anything useful out of the supplier.

Spoke to a Council planning person about planning permits and was inundated with paperwork and the shattering news that the planning process would take 2-3 and more likely 3 months to process. Then there's the two months from order to delivery for the barn. Not much bloody chance of having a Bush Dance in the barn as I subsequently discovered Cait had been planning for my 60th.

On Thursday Evening - Horticultural Therapy Day, I picked up Macca from his place and we went off to NMIT for the final drawing of or Achievable Garden design for the 2009 Garden Show. I had been struggling with GardenCad, trying to work out how to get it to scale and had pretty much decided to give up on the competition and work on the longer term garden design for home.

Pete & Rhonda the lecturers weren't having any of it and I was more or less politely coerced into putting my thoughts into words and my words into design elements and then into a design with some supporting words on the philosopy of the design. I think just about everyone had some input into the process and I eventually began to enjoy it, finally completing a design which was recognisably mine but which is definitely and quite positively the result of a collaborative effort.

It was a great end to what had been a fairly crappy day.


Friday 13th

Collected Macca who had offered to help me shift bricks and took him up to the farm to turn his kind offer into a hot sweaty reality. We moved quite a few barrow-loads of full bricks from the southern end of the house and tipped them over on to the "flat" below the water tank, where if everything goes right, they will become the floor of the new barn.

Friday afternoon I loaded Phoebe into the car and we drove off to get a new retractable clothesline for Cait and some batteries for the Phoebsters vacuum cleaner. Got as far as the intersection when the car spluttered and then dumped most of the coolant onto the bitumen. I hastily drove the 150 metres back to Cait's and called the RACV. They arrived about 40 minutes later and the problem was diagnosed as a broken heater tap. The RACV chap was very thorough, both in his investigation and his engagement with Angus who obviously loves things mechanical.

Bypass in place Ros & I went over to Sue & Andy's for pizza and drinks a long standing tradition for their Friday evening meal, to catch up with them and "Uncle Bill's" brother John and his wife Maggie out from Cornwall. A very long and pleasant evening was had by all.