6/7/2012 return to Gundagai

I returned to the imagineering -engineering home site to survey the land and go back to the times of the chooks Jenny Henny and Penny. The chook shed was gone found in the creek where the flood of March 2012 left it. The stench was gone in the yard and the grass was cut by my neighbor. The scars have been left on the people as they all still tell stories and yarns but drift back to the flood and how some escape or excitement prevailed at the time. The tenants have left and now have a new baby delivered at the height of the flood. There are large releases from the dams at the moment to supply the irrigation properties further down the river.
Thoughts turn to the Platypus and River rats (Australian Otter) that lost there homes and lives with no form of social security as those from other countries around the world, get aid from Australians.

My neighbor has burnt the flotsam that was left behind from the flood waters  from homes from further up the river. Old lounges and sheds and the like, prised possessions from others like myself . Yes the scars from the flood are slowly dwindling. Then my eyes turn to the house the chimney in the lounge room is tilting. Closer inspection reveals the true nature of the damage. The outer walls are twisted not straight the iron on the roof is lifting and popping the nails.  Then I notice the roof on the east side of the house has dropped in the middle taking away the fall to nearly flat.
On the last visit I was in shock and never noticed all the damage as my time was taken up with nailing the roof and cleaning the sheds of the mud and wet contents.
 Again my neighbor had removed the bulk of the materials. How lucky I was to have such friends to have all this work done and more that I haven't even noticed, but now I enter the house and the shock takes over me the house is a shambles. The house is sopping wet, the mold has even taken over in every area even the parts that remained dry and the stench still remains. Walls and ceilings being made from ply wood have all delaminated, doors don't close and door jams out of shape. My friend whom I had bought with me to help photograph the damage, saw what my eyes did not want to see. He pointed out that the walls have separated from the internal walls at the bottom because the foundations have moved. The house rafted at the height of the flood and settled back on the foundations with the associated movement. Then we went back to the roof and climbed up the home made ladder,  to find all the nails popping and even the tech screws pulling out, the roof felt soft under foot so we climbed back down to the safety of the squishy ground. We went back in the house and the built in washing machine had been looted probably with other stuff that is not noticed.
I feel so lucky that I had moved to Nowra and not been involved in the flood in full swing as I was in the 1956 flood in Belengen on the north coast of NSW.
The house was insured but the building was not built to Australian standards of the 1990s was old (1890) The roof was leaking and all the other things that they can think of.
 Insurance is something that you pay a premium for, and this it is to stop you having a substantial financial loss as what has happened to me. I have suffered a large loss of income from the house being unlivable and the loss of rent.
Yes straight talk is out the door and criminal talk is of suing and strife. My best insurance was my gracious neighbors. God bless them all......Cheers

straight talk

I had this friend We will call him say, Peter C  cause that is his name and he said that authority didn't like straight talk. He owned a sawmill in Wollongong and the mill had been going for three generations or more before he got it. When his father died he transferred the mill licence to his name before his father died. On the death of his father the council came and told him to shut up shop as the licence was in his fathers name. Well Pete said "what was the piece of paper on the wall pork chops". They looked and said when did you change that?  He says are you oafs lawyers or some thing asken so many questions. They left.  They came back with the fire brigade and they asked what he would do if the wood caught on fire?  Well Pete being pretty smart but not one with them university qualifications,scratched his head for a while before answering and then said in a slow drawl "I.   guess.   I .  will.    have.   to.   get.  another.  load . in . then."  I was standing there and had to turn my back to stop laughing. Then there was this other time he sold some second hand wood for fire wood and this bloke and he came in and said there was some steel screwed to the wood and that he payed good money for fire wood!  Pete's reply was "just .  leave.   it .  there . and  . go .  and .  get .  another .  piece .  from.   the.   stack ..over. there!" The stack he pointed to was the farthermost stack away down the yard. On another occasion they complained about nails in the timber and he said "get .  that.   piece .  of .  timber. there .  with.   all .  the .  nails.   in.   it .  and .  take.   it .  home . for. free. and.   to.. watch ..  and .  see.   the .  nails .  burn.   brighter.   and   I.   didn't.   charge. you.   extra   for.   these.   good.   pieces" . Well strike me down the bloke fell for it and there was another happy customer.  Now that's straight talk and all them Co's from them big organisation's councils Lawyers and governments can't beet that. The trouble is that some folks talk heaps and say nothing and that aint straight talk.