Thirteen Things about Cyclone Larry that pissed me off. I live in Townsville. We caught the edge of the cyclone which means, thankfully, it was all talk and no action for us. Damage was minimal. I am ever so lucky. And thankful. And sorry for the people further north who bore the brunt of the storm. 1. The wind and rain. They started pretty lightly in the afternoon while I was playing tennis. It put me off my serve (which sucks at the best of times). 2. The cyclone panic that hit the shops. People scrambling for ice cream is DUMB! What good is ice cream when you have no electricity for five days??? 3. The Irish, idiot neighbour who didn't believe there would be a cyclone (and was to make $300 from bets if he was right) so didn't pack away all his shit in the backyard. Joke's on him - his (tarpulin - he's renovating) roof blew away. 4. The anticipation of the predicted four metre storm surge that would flood my house. 5. The people who suggested I go stay at their house because their house wouldn't flood and mine would and I'd lose everything anyway. Forget the fact that my car would be out in the open and could have been crushed by trees, roofs, flying chickens (though not sure that the chickens would crush a car, but you get my drift). Okay, so yes, the people were well-meaning, just very pessimistic. 6. The people at work who thought a little flooding shouldn't keep me from work. There was no flooding, but I didn't go to work. 7. The devastation that Larry left. I think everyone in this region now knows of someone who has lost EVERYTHING. 8. The bananas. Are all gone. For at least a year. 9. So is a huge amount of sugar cane. And rambutans. And lychees. Oh, the lychees, I miss them already. And heaps of other tropical fruits... 10. The petrol stations that increased their fuel prices by 10 cents per litre from Saturday. Trust the petrol companies to start rubbing their hands together greedily in the face of others' misfortune. 11. The fact that Larry made landfall near Innisfail and Mission Beach, which are gorgeous places. There are many other areas not too far away that it could have destroyed and there wouldn't have been nearly the amount of devastation. Does that sentence make sense? Does it matter? 12. The fact that the Bruce Highway is flooded again and the government STILL won't do anything about it. We are not a developing country, but sometimes I think we are when, every time it rains up here, the highway gets cut by flood waters. This is the tropics. We have a wet season. Which means rain. And the highway is the only direct link between the towns in the north. Why do the pathetic decision making government people neglect us and refuse to fix that road so that a little rain does not leave us stranded? 13. Cyclone Wati. Just lingering about 500km off our coast. Intensifying. Heading south, so they say. Hopefully, not to be as big an asshole as Larry was. Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

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To save time, I am doing the auto-link thing this week (if it works). Please leave comments also (please, please...). I will visit your T13's too. Oh, and thanks to Kimmy for sharing how to access the auto-link thing (technical speak there). You're great!

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