PHEWWW!!!

Kwan Yin be praised. Everyone I know in Brisbane is fine, although I have yet to hear from Didi but, since she has a stream at the bottom of her property, I guess she's still going through this, without power and so still waiting it out, maybe just playing Scrabble - the best game ever while you're waiting out disasters ... after you've plaited everyone's hair so they look like Bo Derek - so I won't fear the worst.

Loredana, right in the danger zone and who expected to go under, didn't and she says it feels very surreal to still have her normal life while so many around her have lost so much!

Andrew too is fine.  I wasn't really worried about him since he was well out of the danger zone - although I did have one "Too Hong Kong" moment when I remembered that his house was perched on the side of a gully and thought maybe all the torrential rain would destablise his foundations -  till I remembered I wasn't actually a True Hong Konger and got sane again!

However, I was "True Blue Hong Konger" worried about Margaret in Toowoomba because I hadn't heard from her and so, after an entire day without word, I contacted Judy in a mild panic and felt most silly when she pointed out Our Marg was actually in Berlin and probably wasn't even aware that dreadful "Inland Tsunami" devastated her town.  Judy and I then discussed her house and where it was situated above the park and if it was high enough to have escaped ... or if Margaret has a very unwelcome homecoming ahead of her ... and if we should contact mutual friends and ask them to pick her up when she returns later this week and be with her when she makes this discovery!

Not hearing news while you're traveling is a real problem, isn't it! Remember how Collette and Jimmy were traveling and didn't know about the earthquake in Christchurch until they reached Spain, and, because their son was at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, it was immediate panic ... but they got through to him on his mobile straight away only to discover he was well and happy. And, after they reached HK they heard about the aftershocks, so when they again rang him in a panic, they discovered he was still well and happy and doing good work with Search and Rescue and thus on that "Out Volunteering" high!!!

Gosh, that's such a good high, isn't it!  Have you ever had it? When you're out in an emergency and doing really good and important work, including saving lives?   WOW!!!

Growing up in Fiji, after every cyclone, The Royal Suva Yacht Club would be out there, our boats trawling up and down Rewa River, doing Search and Rescue ... and I now recall those harsh days of hard, hard work - sitting on the prow of our boat, not wearing my too-cumbersome life-jacket, living up to my childhood nickname "Bright Eyes", watching out for for bodies, hopefully still alive, clutching to trees and logs in among the debris - as the very best times of my young life.

And I notice all the young folk in Brisbane who are doing SES volunteering have a similar high!  It's a good, good feeling, folks, so if you're ever in a disaster area ... GO OUT THERE AND DO YOUR BIT!!

Good luck with this Brisbane ... and Ipswich ... and Toowoomba ... and Rockhampton ... and everyplace North because I hear they've started doing food drops up there because the roads and railways have all been cut off so nothing is coming and going at all!  Gosh, I do hope the beer supply is OK!