To celebrate friend Robyn's 'significant' birthday [ albeit 4 weeks after the fact ] we - that is, the members of our acapella women's choir, the Chat Warblers, augmented by some of Rob's other friends and my darling daughter - would gather at the Castlemaine Botanic Gardens and several sites along the way to Robyn's house for the choral equivalent of a progressive dinner.
Even the forecast of heavy rain all weekend wasn't enough to make us call it off. We're made of sterner stuff than that !!
... and rain it did for much of yesterday, all last night and into today.
However I don't think I truly realised the extent of it,
even after Nadie rang to report that she'd be late because of near-enough-to-zero visability on the Freeway
even after she had to drive through 2 feet of water at the bottom of my street.
I mean ... sure ... the goat paddock was awash, and true, there were four very vocal caprines camped under the eaves of the house because half the floor of the goat shed washed awayand the level in my dam is the healthiest I've ever seen it
but still somehow the truth of the situation somehow escaped me until we arrived at the Gardens to discover the local news crew filming what is normally a creek about a metre across - on a good day!
Quite a few wellie-clad locals were more than a little bemused by our somewhat eclectically attired gathering harmonising enthusiastically in the rain [ or as Nadie just said, to the rain really ]
We progressed in convoy to our next singing sojourn at the Macmanus Road bridge
and then we were back in the cars and off to our final destination for a lavish afternoon tea-with-more-singing.Despite the intermittent showers, we had a brilliant time ... certainly one of the more memorable birthdays I've ever helped celebrate
... although if we get much more of the forecast rain, don't be suprised if you see me out gathering up two of every kind.
and, if you're local, you might just see us on the WIN [ channel 9 ] news on monday night !
2 comments:
Bloomin ratbags......LOL
There were flood warnings everywhere.... But glad you are safe and hope Nardie can get home safely tomorrow.
I am sad for those who are getting flooded but I cannot help rejoicing when I see those rivers really flowing. It would be delightful if some of it actually went into catchments built for such occasions.
I get so frustrated with how much water we waste when in some areas they know it is possible that flooding will occur.
I am hoping a lot of the Lakes that have been dry for so long will be well filled.
She who grew up with dams and knew how important water catchments are.
We've had a lot of rains like that, and I know you don't get them the way we do, so just in case:
Be very wary of driving over a flooded bridge. Sometimes it's not there any more! And when the water is full of mud, you can't see one way or the other.
(I saw a film from last summer of a flooded bridge, and while the person was standing there with their video camera, first the guard rails fell in the water, then the metal culvert that had gone under the road popped right up out of the earth! From now on I'm waiting to see if the person ahead of me makes it . . .)
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