Sweet sweat

Well here I am settling down for a nice quiet afternoon of grey skies, rain and the imminent threat of a cyclone heading along the coast towards us. At this moment it's a category 5 cyclone. Australia's most famous cyclone was the category 4 storm that hit Darwin 30 years ago on Christmas Eve. That one totally flattened the town and it's taken the last 30 years to re-build and recover.

My attitude is that it's a really big coastline. Why is the destructive heart of the cyclone going to choose this one little speck on it to cross the coast and give us a direct hit? Are cyclones attracted to city lights or something? ... and I hope I'm right! If the centre of the storm hits us we can expect winds up to 260 kilometres an hour. If it's only the outskirts that hit us, the winds will probably be not more than about 160 kilometres an hour - still pretty destructive but not devastating.

The thought of spending who knows how many hours camped on the floor of a local high school or shopping centre (the cyclone shelters) doesn't really appeal, so unless something changes drastically in the meantime I'm just going to sit it out at home. I've got enough food and water and can block off a reasonably secure area. I'm only on the first floor, so if the building looks like falling down it's a short run to the carpark and God willing, it will pass us by.

So I've got batteries for the radio so I can hear the cyclone instructions and soon I'll get some tape to tape over the windows but in the meantime, I'm just cruising.

I went to the supermarket yesterday and wondered what was happening. Every car parking space was filled, there were queues stretching the length of the store for the checkouts and everyone had big trolley-loads of groceries. Then it dawned. It's the impending cyclone - the nesting and provisioning mentality. Seems to me we're unlikely to be housebound for more than 8 hours and a couple of tins of baked beans and a few litres of water should last that distance. I'm glad I don't have young children here to worry about though, otherwise I guess I'd be frantically stocking up as well, but just for me, well I've got a big bag of fruit, some cheese and biscuit snacks and I reckon it won't hit till after dinner tonight and I'm planning a roast, so there should be a plate left-over that will last even without refrigeration until tomorrow lunchtime!

I also went to the doctor yesterday - nothing major just a persistent eye and ear infection that wasn't responding to my home remedies. Waiting an hour to be seen was only an irritation, but paying the bill!!! How in hell do families or people with a lot of illness manage financially? $50 to see the doctor for 15 minutes (which Medicare will give me $22 back from if I go and queue up at their office to get it) then another $35 on prescriptions. Hell, that's more than my whole spending money for the week. Friends, I am going to be one whinging and complaining old person if I start getting sick and having to pay bills like that as a regular thing. Thankfully I didn't need a 'long' consultation because 20-25 minutes costs $85 and 30 minutes costs $140 and the Medicare rebates on these items don't increase by nearly so much.

Sometimes I think the government will have to introduce voluntary euthanasia to put all the old people who can no longer afford medical expenses or medical insurance out of their misery - God forbid I should have to give up drinking and smoking just to stay alive!