Wow, David, you seem to always have an adventure on your vacations. This is one you will probably not want to repeat. No doubt you might get a few pints at the local pub on your story. Hope you have a great New Year and your friends find their kitchen. Janice Janice Blair Crystal Lake, 50 miles northwest of Chicago, Illinois, USA www.jblace.com http://www.lacemakersofillinois.org
________________________________ From: David C COLLYER <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sun, December 30, 2012 7:24:10 AM Subject: [lace-chat] Home at Last Dear Friends, I've now been home for 24 hours following my 3 and a half weeks in Fiji and have to admit to being somewhat jet-lagged and at the same time relieved. You see, on Monday December 17th the Eye of category 4 Cyclone Evan passed over the village of Nawaicoba where I was staying on the farm of my friends Praveen and Roshlyn. We knew it was coming and did some tidying up the day before. At 0730 hours I managed to get my last SMS out to let family know exactly where I was. 5 minutes later the government had cut all power (thank goodness) and mobile phone coverage ceased. I was able to stay out on the verandah until about 0800 by which time the winds were well over 100 kph and it became impossible to stay upright. Within the next hour those winds increased to over 200 kph with gusts up to 250. I watched helplessly as one chicken coop headed skywards, its occupants flying out on all sides. Thank goodness I had my knitting as that horrendous incessant howl of the wind made speech impossible. Although the light was dim I was able to see sheets of corrugated iron; 44 gallon drums; coconut palm fronds; whole trees hurtling past my window. I knitted on.... Some time that morning our outside kitchen also flew past my window and a teenage son had to be forcibly restrained from running outside to save it. It was 1700 hrs when the Eye gave us some respite. This, however, only lasted for about 30 minutes before the winds returned from the opposite direction as expected. That was when my louver windows began to bulge ominously inwards!! I discovered that where the central pole went into the concrete wall at the top the hole was widening. I quickly found a mere pencil to shove in there and prevent the window from exploding inwards. By this time I was knitting by the light of one candle.... By about 2300 hrs we were all almost insane with the noise of that wind. If you can imagine the loudest surf you've ever heard, then multiply that by about 10, and tolerate it for about 20 hours, then that is what the news reels can never portray. Eventually at about 2330 hrs I took a Temazepam and went to sleep. Next morning there was a mad scramble through the shattered sugar cane fields by all the village folk in order to find their own particular pieces of rusty corrugated iron before anyone else "stole" them. These were then promptly nailed back from whence they had flown. The 2nd most important thing of peoples' minds seem to be where and how could they get their mobile phones re-charged!! In our case we were fortunate that a neighbour's mother had died a few days before the cyclone and, being a Hindu family, they are required to have nightly prayers for 13 days. Thus they had hired a generator. Of course they got a good turn-up for the their prayers and people were actually paying money to charge their phones - never mind that there was no coverage at all for about 3 days. Alas some 2 weeks later the power lines still lie on the roads where they fell and the people are resigned to not having any power until February at least!! No water pumps can work and so they have reverted to using a pair of bullocks and 44 gallon drums to haul water from the nearby wells and bores. I did finish the front of my jumper that night.... enough for now David in Ballarat, AUS To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/ To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
