DEAR Jasminda,
My wife is preparing for the latest weather event like we are getting ready for a world war.
What can I do to put her mind at ease?
Kevin B
Dear Kevin,
I received your conundrum during the calm before the storm, so to speak, at which point some media outlets were using words like powerful, heavy, strong, and persistent, and others were using words like wild, smashing, battering, and cyclonic.
You are possibly like the early reports: becalmed and casually turning the pages of the newspaper, while your wife is in full bomb cyclone phase with her eyes glued to social media where she’s watching Insta reels of cows flying through the air and people canoeing down main roads.
There are some of us, Kevin, that like to be prepared.
Others call us catastrophisers.
Maybe we are, but you can bet when the mud hits the fan and the power goes out for five days, that we will be called upon for assistance.
And we may or may not choose to share our storm plan, complete first aid kit, battery operated AM/FM radio, torches with spare batteries, travel chargers, spare clothes and shoes, sand bags
and various dehydrated meals that we will be happily warming on our Butane Combi stove.
And we will be too tired, Kevin, to assist you with your preparations, because we have spent the last week, during clear weather, trimming branches and overhanging limbs, cleaning gutters, checking the roof for loose tiles, double checking the coverage of our home and contents insurance, and preparing our flood evacuation plan.
You, meanwhile, will feel that dusting off the UNO cards, buying a six-pack of tealight candles, and having a vague (and possibly mistaken) idea of where the solitary torch is, will suffice.
And it may suffice, Kevin, but those of us who have battled through past extreme weather events will most likely empathise with your wife.
Preparation is the key when we are experiencing more and more intense storms.
I sincerely hope, for your sake, that this one is just a storm in a teacup.
Carpe diem,
Jasminda.
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