FYI: Stuff to say to someone who's house has been flooded.

*warning rant-y post*

Or ... What not to say...

Don't say:

* "Well it's only stuff, at least you're fine."
Yes it's true it is only stuff. But it was my stuff, some of it much loved and carefully curated, some of it crap. I don't suppose if I came along and got rid of all your stuff without asking you you'd be very happy about it either? Yes I appreciate that I'm alive but it is okay to mourn the loss of your possessions.

Maybe try:

* "I'm so glad you're safe." And/Or

* "Oh no! What have you lost? I'm so sorry"

Don't say:

* "Oh yeah our bathroom flooded once and it left such a mess, blah blah me me me..."
a) Don't change the subject to yourself. b) Whilst its nice to have empathy, believe me, it really isnt the same thing.

Try Instead:
* "How's it going with the insurance company? They can be a nightmare!"
I guarantee you they need to have a bitch about this.

Don't say:

* "Oh so you had a bit of time to evacuate atleast."
5 hours is not very much time. I'd like to see you try and pack up a house of everything you own and transport it to a safe place using just a ute or 2 in 5 hours. Not easy. I promise.

Try instead:

* "What have you lost that might seem only small and uninsurable but that you are missing?"
This happened to us. We lost our seed collection and my wrapping paper collection. Silly incidental things - but to receive all that wrapping paper and seeds in the post was THE BEST booster during a hard year.

Don't Say:
* "Do you want some help?"

Try Instead:

* "Im coming down in 2 weeks, I will do any jobs you want me to, I'm bringing beer."
If you just ask if they want help they might say no. It's all pretty overwhelming. And of course they might say Yes - but starting out by arranging a time shows that your truley want to come, its not just an empty gesture.

It's done

Yesterday we signed the papers. The building company and insurance company is now out of our life! Huzzah! These last few weeks we've been waiting on this:

And this:

Yes. A bevelled mirror (x2) and a door handle.
Which, frankly, just about sums up this whole drawn out process.
But now there's no more tradies unless we call them in. No more when this is finished and this is finished our life will be normal. And finally with a few more slaps of paint here and there I will have some completed rooms to show you around!

It's happening...

Last week tradesmen came, three days in a row:

The kitchen cupboards and bench tops were installed. Tim is now busily varnishing them. That gap in front of the window is where the sink will go, and the gap in front of the shiny insulation is where the oven (and a wall! ha!) will go!

A hot water service was installed, above flood height! We might need to touch up the paint where the old one was hey...

Freshly milled weatherboard, the right shape for our house was delivered.

And the joists in our to be bathroom removed - ready for concrete. It's amazing seeing the bones of a house...

This Week:
Apparently we will get a plumber and concrete poured... We wait with baited breath! This could be the beginning of our new beginning take two...

Part 2.

Part 1 here.

We heard that we were going to be cut off for a few days because of the rain upstream filling the river. I had to go to work, so planed to stay in town with friends and Tim would stay at home, stocked up on cous cous and baked beans - he could knuckle down into some serious PHD writing.
At lunch time on Sunday the sun was out, it had stopped raining. News spread fast from neighbor to neighbor that there was a meeting at the village hall at 5pm.
At the shabby North wagga hall we saw our various neighbors as well as my parents around the room plus a small news crew and the mayor.
A new peak of the river reaching over 10 metres was announced. Higher than the levee would hold - we had until dawn to be out otherwise we would be cut off and forcibly evacuated.
I still don't really recall the blur of the next few hours.
I just remember feeling so irritated at the whole situation. No I don't want to pack things up into boxes. I've only just finished unpacking boxes, there was no way I felt like wrapping up our plates in newspaper again.
Family friends arrived at our front door with their ute. They just jumped in and grabbed all our stuff. They did about 6 trips filling their ute with our possessions, taking it up to their shed on the hill, emptying and back again. They talked us in to packing the piano. I was going to leave it. I still didn't think it would happen - despite the frenzy all around me from people who had lived through the '74 flood.
We got in our car looked at each other and Tim asked me if I was sure we had everything. I just shrugged. Everything was up high on the kitchen benches, on top of wardrobes and bookshelves. He dashed back in and grabbed our favorite mugs. I hadn't packed up a single kitchen item, only pulled out drawers and put them on the kitchen table on the bench.
Our car was packed with computers, bedding, a bag of clothes each, a box of Lola's stuff, a very stressed out Lola and boxes of food from the fridge and we crossed the swirling dark brown Murrumbidgee at 9pm on Sunday.

ERMAHGERD!

Tradesmen. That rare and elusive species - they've arrived! Only two of them - but what lovely electrician-y types they are. We got a text from our neighbor this morning saying that they where at our house and we hot footed it over. I almost kissed them. Both. The oldie and the young good lookin' one! But I'm not quite that forward so I am making them cookies right now instead.
Finally something has begun. Who knows how long it will be between these guys doing their thing and the next BUT at least now the next lot (plasters/builders - I think?!) have no excuse not to start!

{Ermahgerd meme from here}

Aftermath Project

A first house in flood from ABC Open Riverina on Vimeo.

I just wanted to share that Tim and I are part of the ABC Aftermath Project. The lovely Sonya at the ABC Riverina who interviewed us, makes awesome cookies as well as being a ridiculously talented interviewer. This shares a snippet of our chat with her and many of our pictures. It so succinctly sums up our story I decided to put all awkwardness about the sound of my own voice aside and share it here.

I've hidden a lot of emotion from this place for the last six months - I like to stay focused on the positive here - but the flood is a constant in our lives for now. It's hard to put into words (though it was easy talking to Sonya) and it's hard to sound positive when we are so angry, frustrated and helpless a lot of the time.

Also I'd love it if you would watch the film Tim and I made together (about blogging and the flood) and if you like it vote for it here - I promise I'll buy something pretty for our home if we win!