Christmas is coming

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » December 26th, 2015, 1:59 am

I've never seen snow. So I'm not sure if I buy that whole "no two identical flakes" thing.

Mind you, I have cousins ... second or third cousins, really ... who grew up in the Far West, who didn't see rain until they were about seven or eight years old. They were so far out that they attended the School of the Air ( http://www.assoa.nt.edu.au/images/sized/files/images/1954_Christine_Benz_nee_gehling-350x0.jpg ). Their Mum used to tell the story of how, when the drought finally broke after about seven or eight years, they both rushed indoors, scared out of their wits, by the "water falling from the sky".

SOTE

Hazel Pethig · Post by **Hazel Pethig** » December 26th, 2015, 9:49 am

Here on Vancouver Island it's winter as normal. For us that's rain rain rain! I live in a coastal rainforest. Emphasis on the rain. Yes most people associate Canadian winters with snow, but where in live on VI is south of the 49th and IF we get snow it usually stays for only a few days. It works well for me as I don't own a vehicle and I bike everywhere. So far this winter we've had 2 monsoon like events, and one pineapple express. (A very heavy rain event originating down near Hawaii)

- Hazel

MBraymiller · Post by **MBraymiller** » December 26th, 2015, 3:52 pm

SonOfTheExiles wrote:I've never seen snow.

That statement just boggles my mind. Living in upstate New York for most of my life, snow is so commonplace.

However, a dozen or more years ago, when my wife was working as the property manager for an apartment complex, she got to witness someone's first encounter with snow. A couple from Thailand had shown up to see an apartment and while they were there filling out the paperwork, it began to snow. They were so very excited and went out to frolic in the falling snow. They'd never actually seen falling snow before.

Remarks like yours make me realize how very big this world is.

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » December 26th, 2015, 4:36 pm

Who needs snow when you have a colourful substitute

: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215443/Australia-dust-storm-sweeps-eastern-coast.html

Piotrek81 · Post by **Piotrek81** » December 27th, 2015, 1:06 am

SonOfTheExiles wrote:Who needs snow when you have a colourful substitute : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215443/Australia-dust-storm-sweeps-eastern-coast.html

Do you often have things like that? Are they very dangerous?

SotE wrote:I've never seen snow.

Well, according to my former Spanish teacher from Andalusia, it's only fun for the first few days when you can take some photos to send to your familiy

And then there's shovelling the stuff...

Mind you, I have cousins ... second or third cousins, really ... who grew up in the Far West, who didn't see rain until they were about seven or eight years old. They were so far out that they attended the School of the Air ( http://www.assoa.nt.edu.au/images/sized/files/images/1954_Christine_Benz_nee_gehling-350x0.jpg ). Their Mum used to tell the story of how, when the drought finally broke after about seven or eight years, they both rushed indoors, scared out of their wits, by the "water falling from the sky".

Now, THAT is mind-boggling. I mean snow may be commonplace in some places, but far from all the world, but RAIN?

How do you even survive seven or eight years without rain?

Post by **annise** » December 27th, 2015, 1:41 am

You have to realise that most Australians live in a very small part of the continent and close by our standards to the coast and that much of the rest has a very low rainfall. A few years ago I flew across Lake Eyre which was full of water and birds across red soil covered with greenish growth , but if I went now it would be just red soil - it fills about 1 time every 7- 10 years . So dust storms are common - not safe to drive or fly in but just a part of life. Water is short, sheep and cattle need big grazing areas. Feral goats and camels abound. Kangaroos are very well adapted - they store the joeys until the food increases
And it's a long long way between neighbours

Anne

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » December 27th, 2015, 2:07 am

Dust storms like that are, oh, maybe a once in twenty year event in the city of Sydney. More common inland. Dangerous to the old and asthmatic. Otherwise, you just get on with things. (Would I be correct in saying that Poles have a similar attitude to the Rasputitsa?) I remember getting some good labour hire work out of it. A tactical/sporting knives warehouse hired me and another guy to go though the entire warehouse, over some weeks, lifting the stock off, wiping the dust off the shelves and products with a damp cloth, and then replacing them on the shelves. Talk about a complete education in "Tactical Knives of the World"! The Hungarian knives were things of beauty, though I also admired the no-frills practicality of the Polish Air Assault knife.

You get a variation on dust. Sometimes it's bogong moths. They have an inland migratory flightpath, but sometimes a freak wind blows them off course over the Great Dividing Range. Then I guess it's like what a daytime blizzard would be if you replaced each snowflake with a moth. I remember there was one such major event in Sydney when I was at Uni in the early 1980s, though Canberra, our Bush Capital City, being inland, gets it more often than Sydney does. (Colonial jealousies dictated that the Federal capital had to be approximately halfway between Sydney and Melbourne). Here's some photos of what a bogong plague looks like:
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/10/30/moths1_wideweb__470x345,0.jpg
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/10/04/bogongmoths_wideweb__430x286.jpg
http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2013/10/11/1226738/270230-9efccbde-3211-11e3-b930-2baf736c7422.jpg
The Aborigines used to feast on them, it was an annual event. Apparently they were "initially strongly purged, then they grow exceedingly fat on them." You have to toast them in the campfire first, otherwise your mouth soon fills up with moth fuzz.

As to eight year droughts? When tank water runs out, the answer is artesian water. (You need a strong stomach, like my wife! But then, they say the stomachs of the Irish are lined with copper.) http://www.travelling-australia.info/Inform/AAGraphics/gabprofile.jpg Like drilling for oil, except that it's water. I can remember, as a little kid, going out to stay for a month with those Far West cousins I mentioned. I remember, we all went in to clean our teeth. I left the water running. My cousins' eyes went wide, and grabbed for the tap, to turn it off until we were finished and it was mouth-rinsing time. It seemed that leaving the water running while you brushed your teeth was a "cloutable" offence on that cattle station!

Son of the Exiles

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » December 27th, 2015, 2:13 am

"And it's a long long way between neighbours"

There's an old joke about getting directions to cattle stations in the Far West. ("Stations" = "Ranches").

"Yeah, well, you go west for three days, and, on the third day, make a sharp left."

Piotrek81 · Post by **Piotrek81** » December 27th, 2015, 2:39 am

annise wrote:You have to realise that most Australians live in a very small part of the continent and close by our standards to the coast and that much of the rest has a very low rainfall.

Yes, I realise that. It's just that it boggles my mind that people even bother living in such remote areas, hundreds of kilometers from civilization and in such inhospitable conditions. (NB, this situation reminds me of Iceland which has somewhat similar population concentration structure- almost all of people live in the coastal towns, and the frozen interior is practically uninhabited).

SonOfTheExiles wrote:Would I be correct in saying that Poles have a similar attitude to the Rasputitsa?

What's Rasputitsa? I've never heard that word before. Is that the name of the army knife you've mentioned?

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » December 27th, 2015, 2:43 am

Yes, Anne, I've never understood how kangaroos do that "put the pregnancy into stasis" thing. Talk about your Super Mums!

SOTE

SonOfTheExiles · Post by **SonOfTheExiles** » December 27th, 2015, 2:53 am

Oh. I must be mistranslating. I don't understand the Polish language, only a smattering of Russian. I was under the impression that it was the term for the "Time of Mud" on non-surfaced Eastern European roads. Perhaps the term is obsolete.

SOTE

P.S. "What's Rasputitsa? I've never heard that word before. Is that the name of the army knife you've mentioned?"

I think I just got that. Subtlety was always lost on the colonials.

I think you would fit in really well in Australia, mate!