vilakins | Entries tagged with weather

One of the many reasons we moved to Oamaru was the weather. It's a lot drier here than wet, humid Auckland.

The latest storm hit the whole country, but especially the east coast of the South Island, this area particularly badly. Oamaru got over three months of rain in 26 hours. The infrastructure couldn't take it, rivers have flooded their banks, State Highway 1 is closed in many places including downhill from us where it crossed the river, and houses in the North End, a flat coastal area, are flooded, and steep Don Street, one we considered, is now a river with water running under houses.

At first I was pleased to live on a hill - and so far we're all right as the rain continues - but we woke up to see a slip on the hill opposite. There aren't houses on the slope (another reason for picking this place - nice view) but I suspect there are on the flat under it.

We have to go to Christchurch next week, so I hope the roads are open by then.

Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/708648.html

Last night Auckland was lashed by the worst gales in 40 years, up to 145kph - and I managed to sleep through most of it (with the help of earplugs, admittedly). I'm glad I did as I'd have been lying there rigid with nervousness about living on the top of a hill.

Trees came down, houses were damaged, they even closed the harbour bridge for a time because a truck and trailer were blown over and the bridge was swaying too much, and 90,000 houses (according to the latest report) in the area lost power. I'm glad to say we were fine; I've woken up before a tree in the driveway which had to be cleared before I could get the car out.

Photos here.

Today however was amazingly sunny and calm, though I had to negotiate fallen branches and wheelie-bins as I walked to work. Then in the afternoon the power went off for the whole suburb with no explanation - it can't have been weather - and when my laptop battery gave up, I was released early. Bonus!

I might even have done some writing.

Whaddaya know - another post!

We had a company planning day yesterday, held down at Westhaven Marina. When I woke, I could hear howling wind and rain, and suspected it wouldn't be the pleasant seaside day we were hoping for. I'd intended to travel along the waterfront via Tamaki Drive but I could see the traffic heading that way wasn't moving so tried another route down toward the sea. That was blocked too so I had to take to the motorway. And that was scary enough in driving rain and 130kph winds that rocked the car. I took an hour to get to the marina; it should have been 20-25 minutes. The company directors however had started a lot earlier and actually made it to the waterfront, a mistake which made their journey two hours. Some of us spent the morning barefoot as we'd got soaked from the knees down just getting inside even though we'd parked right outside the building.

Yep, this was the sort of storm they predicted recently that was a bit of a fizzer. Where were the warnings this week?

What was happening on Tamaki Drive that caused traffic chaos?

( This! )

The day started an hour late but we got everything done, then had dinner at Billfish; cajun spicy fish and salad for me; yum! I was exhausted after storm and full-on talk and presentations and was looking forward to bed, but when I got there, the almost solid smell in the kitchen/dining area (which I had to pass to get to the stairs) drove me back into the living room.

It was Jasmin's rat. She brought in a big one about three nights ago and released it in the kitchen and it promptly ran behind the dishwasher. We'd hoped it had got out the hole in the floor for the pipes but no. Greg had the dishwasher out, then the fridge, and finally found it behind the oven. Ugh.

Today is sunny and calm. I hope it stays that way; I know two lots of people who are camping out over the break.

Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/665371.html

Thanks so much to everyone who commented on my last post. Rather than reply to you each saying much the same thing, here an update.

Cyclone Lusi, despite the scaremongering on the news for the last few days and even last night, wasn't at all bad here in Auckland. There was only a third the expected rainfall and we've experienced stronger winds, though Greg said that when he went out for Indian tonight and started to open the car door, the wind almost sucked the door out of his grip. A friend once had her car door damaged and almost ripped off like that. It's still windy tonight but really, despite some trees down, it's a fairly standard storm and steadily getting weaker.

As for my finger, I half cut the top off and it started bleeding copiously again when I changed the sticking plaster last night. I put a really tight one on and it was OK today at the gym (though I didn't do the biceps pull-down) and salon, but I wasn't happy about it so I went to the local White Cross medical centre. The triage nurse said that mandolins should be banned (though I've had that thing at least 12 years and this is the first accident). The doctor said I should have come in last night but that it should heal up nicely.

Then another nurse gave me a tetanus shot and cleaned the finger and put a huge, intricate, bulbous dressing on it (Greg says it looks like the end of a ray gun), chatting away all the time about what she was doing. She had a button reading "Not all autistic people are quiet. Some can't stop talking." I asked her if she knew someone autistic, and she said, "Me, but Asperger's to be exact." We had a chat about obsessions; I admitted to fandom, and she said hers was wound management - and she did a bloody (umm...) good job too so it's more useful than mine. Then we talked about how pedantic we both get about word use and grammar, and she said she once refused to go to a nurses' party because the invitation read "Your invited". A woman after my own heart, says the one who has sometimes corrected signs in passing.

I have to go back on Monday for a new dressing (I hope I get the same nurse), but I now feel much happier about the whole thing. I'm also buying a kevlar glove for future kitchen chopping and slicing - thanks for the suggestion,

executrix!

Thanks again for your concern, lovely people.

Current Mood: relieved
Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/664807.html

I was telling Astro about this and thought maybe I should actually post because it's been weeks.

Tonight I sliced my finger to the bone on what's weirdly called a mandolin. I've had the thing for over 10 years, used it heaps, and haven't done it before. Not a pretty sight.

Neither is the huge cyclone (this hemisphere's name for a hurricane) is due to arrive tonight or tomorrow. It's already killed 3 people in Vanuatu and is now lashing Northland. There've been all these extreme weather warnings and admonitions not to make unnecessary journeys but I have to go to the gym tomorrow, then get my hair cut (it's hard to get Saturday appointments so I can't reschedule) when I'd much rather stay home safe and dry (and possibly cowering). We live on a ridge and it's breezy at the best of times.

Oh joy.

I found however that I can type which is good because I thought I really should get round to writing the trope bingo stories in my head.

Current Mood: nervous
Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/664326.html

I just got back from a day out to find that some of you lovely people were worried about me because I haven't posted since the tornado that ripped through West Auckland. It hadn't occurred to me that anyone would be, but I do apologise for not posting earlier. I was busy yesterday and too tired to post in the evening, and then we were away today.

The tornado was one of the more destructive ones, killing three (workmen crushed by the wall they were sheltering by), injuring 27, and making 250 homeless; the SPCA has gone into the cordoned-off area to find pets left behind in the panic to get out and reunite them with owners. West Auckland is the usual place hit by tornadoes for some reason. All we experienced over here in east Auckland was sudden bouts of torrential tropical rain, one of which soaked me to the skin from the thighs down despite my huge umbrella in a just few minutes while walking one block from my car to work--that rain bounces--and the power being out for a few hours.

After all that, it's been a stunningly gorgeous summer weekend. Yesterday I put up the tree of light (not that it actually has any lights what with the shortest night approaching) with the usual glass planets, stars, and the Liberator, and cooked the stodgiest batch of latkes I've ever made. I blame Greg for saying I should add more matzo meal. Eating those things was probably what made me so tired I staggered off to bed early. :-P

Today since it was so nice again we decided to got to Waitomo Caves to see the glow-worms as Greg had never been there and I'd bought two half-price vouchers. This meant that I drove two hours there and two back so yeah, I'm tired once again. On the way down we passed a convertible with a Santa and very unseasonal snowman in the back seat; Greg took photos with his phone. Silently floating on the river through the glow-worm caves was as magical as when I went with my mother and made me think of dwarves and Gollum and adventures.

What else? Oh yes, we took Jasmin and Ashley to the vet for their annual check-up and inoculation. Jasmin has put on 400g though she's still slim and sleek, and Ashley is still only 3kg. They're both in excellent nick though so she's just a small cat; the vet remarked that their fur is beautiful and in really good condition. He was really taken with them both. :-)

Anyway, hugs to you for worrying about me; sorry I didn't post earlier.

Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/638214.html

I don't think I've posted for weeks, but hey, I haven't had much to say.

We have a relative staying with us for what was meant to be a few days till she found a flat, but she's very picky and is still here almost two months later. She's not that much trouble, being a fellow introvert, but it means I have to cook a decent meal each night, no heating up samosas or having soup and toast more than once a week, and I have to do more housework than usual. Which is probably a good thing. But damn, I miss being able to come home and just blob out.

I haven't been much good at writing for picowrimo either and I've just realised that next month is art month and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to manage it what with a full-time job and a boarder.

I've also been meaning to post photos but I have to find somewhere other than LJ's crapbook to host them. Maybe Photobucket for photos and Flickr for art?

At least we're past the shortest day, yay, but just in the last week we've had one of the frighteningly intense tropical rainstorms we get here with flash flooding, two days of the worst fog in 20 years, and an earthquake centred in Taranaki which we didn't feel here, but Wellington certainly did (as a colleague down there on the 21st floor in his hotel discovered - his very first).

And oh joy, the single lift at work is out once again (this is the third time in the last month) meaning we have to walk up the stairs to the 4th floor (5th for those who count sensible from the ground). And that's after slogging up the hill from where I park in the first place.

I have some links. I will put those in another post.

Current Mood: blah
Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/630813.html

Axle grease of a certain flavour
There is this black axle-grease stuff called Marmite that we like to eat (sparingly in my case) on toast or bread and it's different from the Marmite they have in the UK. Unfortunately. Because the only factory that made it is in Christchurch and has been closed because of earthquake damage. It will be months before they set up elsewhere and this news sparked off a panicked run on Marmite. Luckily we have an almost-full jar so I didn't bother. Telling people to eat Vegemite instead however doesn't cut it. It's a whole other flavour.

Weathery weather
It's autumn equinox though we never really got a summer this year; it seems like we went from spring straight to autumn, and this week has felt like winter. It's not cold but it's wet, grey, dark, and depressing, a preview of the long months of gloom unrelieved by any bright spots that is our winter. There are of course the usual floods and our house is leaking again. Sigh. It was surprisingly lovely last week though. I think that was summer (and I will post about Thursday tomorrow).

TV
What new things has Vilakins been watching? My sister was saying how funny Modern Family is so we tuned in and caught one character telling another that "I could care less" meant he did in fact care a little. YES! Then they got onto the whole "literally" thing. YES! YES! We were in! We've been eating that program up at one or two a night. I adore Gloria, Manny, and Cameron to bits. My sister was right: it's a very funny show despite the title which had put me off. I do take exception to the "modern" though as each of the three family units has at least one child which seems pretty traditional to me.

We also started watching New Girl which recently started here. I like it; let's hope they keep it up. But what will they call it next season?

There was also the first ep of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency which I loved. It had some great lines, the only one of which I can think of right now is "You stabbed my chair!"

Current Mood: blah
Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/625873.html

It's been that long since I posted? Over three weeks? I suppose I just haven't had that much to tell people.

There are three official days of summer left* and we've hardly had one. I'd say maybe two weeks of decent summery weather over the last three months? And I chose this year to make a sky scarf; here's far too much grey and white in mine. Oh well at least I'm not limp and sweltering like I was last summer and I can sleep at night. March and April are often very nice though so I'm holding out hopes for that and maybe a few days off.

* [Edit] I think we regard summer as Dec-Feb (and other seasons as three-month blocks) because school holidays force people with kids to take their summer break between Christmas and the end of January. Me, I go for February or March to avoid those people and get better weather.

In other news I whacked my foot against one of the bed's legs on Friday morning and the agony almost floored me. I assumed I'd bashed my broken toe--but actually it's the one next to it. The broken one's bruises have almost faded now but its neighbour is deep purple. I think it's just a sprain though because it only hurt for a day or two.

Why yes, I'm a klutz, but I also have long prehensile toes which are excellent at picking things up but do get in the way sometimes. :-P

Current Mood: aggravated
Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/624210.html

I meant to post photos of what I can see through my windows at work but I deleted them from the camera under the mistaken impression that I'd already downloaded them. So I'll have to wait for a sunny day and take more. Because today is wet and miserable and the next few days probably will be too.

We were supposed to go my company end-of-year bash today, originally planned to be a combined adults' and children's outdoor thing at a park, satisfyingly separate according to the email. However it's now in a school hall and we weren't keen on sharing it with a crowd of noisy kids; I have a lot of things I'd rather do on a wet Sunday afternoon. Like reading the new Marlows book (Spring Term by Sally Hayward), having tea and sultana scones, knitting...

I have now met my first unpleasant person at work: some sort of sexist white supremacist judging by his comments who thinks everyone should have the right--and habit--of bearing arms in case they want to take down the government. I was warned about this guy and as soon as he started talking to me in the lunch room I guessed who he was. He is now up to his second wife from the Philippines; enough said. Luckily I don't have to have anything to do with him and if I come across him again in the lunch room, I'll just have urgent work to get back to.

What else can I tell you now the pressure of picowrimo (OK, I know several of you did nanowrimo and succeeded) is off? I have to go to Greg's end-of-year dinner on Thursday and have hopes of the restaurant being air-conditioned since it's in a hotel since I usually broil at those things. Today's quite cool (20C in here) but yesterday was so hot (30C) I broke out the portable aircon for this room and Sebastian has mastered Ashley's technique of charging and leaping through the small gap between the exhaust hose (jammed in the slightly open ranch sliders) and the venetians. As long as he doesn't do a Jasmin and try to go up the exhaust hose; he's far too big and would be difficult to extract. :-P

Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/618325.html

People, it snowed today! There hasn't been snow in Auckland since 1939. There had been hail earlier in the day but suddenly people in the place I was working started shouting there was snow falling and we rushed out onto the roof deck. Some people said it was more hail, but it was real, drifting snow, glittering on our hair and clothes though it melted as soon as it hit the ground. There was visible ground snow in the Bombay hills though!

OK, I lived in Germany for almost three years so I know about real snow and really cold temperatures, but this is news for this city. Of course the more southern snowed-in cities are pointing and laughing like they did when we had an earthquake recently, but the point in both cases is that we hardly ever get either.

I am so glad we have a heat-pump even though it's only managed to bring the house up to about 16-17C.

I should also report that my striped scarf and purple Wolf Bay mitts and possum-wool hat were very much appreciated on the walking part of my commute, especially in the morning gale.

Current Mood: excited
Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/606595.html

I didn't want to go out today because the weather was too weathery. It was bad enough venturing to the recycle bin, and the tap water is so cold it hurts my hands. Apparently it's snowing in the hills down to 200 metres. They said that if the wind had been different it might even have snowed at sea level here. Huh? It's never snowed here. There may be sleet tomorrow (and I park a few blocks from work). Sleet?

My feet are starting to hurt. I should have socks or the heater on.

But that's still no excuse for the cat (Jasmin, I think) who peed in the spare handbasin last night and in the bath today. I am not impressed. They have fur, dammit.

Current Mood: cold
Crossposts: http://vilakins.livejournal.com/606169.html

I was cuddling a very affectionate Jasmin this morning when the courier pounded on the door. It was my ARC (advance reader's copy) of Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner which I'd won for suggesting a name for the series on the publisher's site. This is the fourth book in an excellent and witty fantasy series set in an AU medieval Greece which subverts a lot of the tropes, has twisty plots, fascinating characters, and wonderful unpredictability. I was delighted because I didn't expect it to arrive so quickly. Not only that, but there were two more books with it: one of poetry by people under 25, and a novel called Mistwood by Leah Cypess. It says on the back that fans of Kristin Cashore, Tamora Pierce, and , yes, Megan Whalen Turner will enjoy it. [adds more author names to rec notebook]

I was amazed not only to win something, but even to be eligible, which doesn't happen very often for people living here (and I'm looking at you, LibraryThing).

In other good news, autumn seems to have arrived this week. The days are still sunny and fine, but there's a refreshing chill to the air in the mornings, and the temperatures and humidity are way down. I shall enjoy the weather and ignore the prospect of the long, grey, wet, unrelieved-by-bright-spots winter that comes after. Yes.

Current Mood: surprised and delighted

The weather's so humid I decided not to even bother trying to tame my hair because it will only curl and stick out anyway--and it went wild and out as far as my shoulders. I looked like azdak's default Music II icon, which I'll try to show you here. LJ's fiddling with Scrapbook and userpics, so this may not work.

What was much more upsetting is that I looked disturbingly like my mother. DO NOT WANT. So I gave in and straightened it just now and I look like me again. I know kerravonsen thought I should let it do its own thing when she was here, but not when I see my mother in the mirror. :-P

It's Friday afternoon and I am so ready for the weekend. I'm not just exhausted from coughing; I'm limp from the humidity. I love summer, but really, this is going too a bit too far. It's been between 75% and 85% all week and someone said it was 92% today. :-( No wonder the photocopier broke down during an urgent run. Coming home to a shut-up house at 35C isn't much fun either. [sips ice-cold water]

But anyway, I have posted my B7 cards, so yay! The stamps this year are fun and seasonal: a BBQ for Australia and for the US and UK, beach cricket. :-) I hope I didn't forget anyone. If I have, my apologies and do let me know, but I'll post the pictures and text just before Christmas just in case some arrive late anyway.

More storms; this is shaping up to be a bad winter. (And have I mentioned recently how I feel about winter?) The gales yesterday were too strong for brollies (I tried the trusty gustbuster but it almost carried me away) and I got worried when the power browned out while I was cooking dinner. This time it was the North Shore who lost power; we were OK for once. However this morning we found that a neighbour's tree had come down in the night and we had to cut the thing up and haul it off the driveway before we could get our cars out. Luckily it missed the fence and house.

[Edit] The wind was up to 200kph last night. I just heard it peeled the roof off an apartment building here and took out power over a lot of the North Island; 20,000 houses are still without power. The streets are full of broken branches and our driveway had rubbish down it including a recycle bin from at least the far side of the road. [worries as lives on a hill]

This is also the month when they hold the International Film Festival. Why, I ask every year, do they do that in the depths of winter when the last thing I want to do is go out in the wet and cold to share a cinema with lots of people who have colds but are damned well going to use their tickets anyway? Sigh. I've booked for five films anyway, including Paprika on the strength of the wonderful Tokyo Godfathers, and the Ghibli Studio's Tales from Earthsea, based on one of Le Guin's books (the third, I think). I shall console myself for being forced out in this weather with coffee from Stark's Bar. :-P

It's the 11th here and look: no gendered pronouns! :-D We should be glad that's all English has though: other languages have gendered adjectives and nouns, and in Hebrew even the verbs are.

Current Mood: sick of winter

Current Mood: sick of winter

I almost posted about the weather on Wednesday, but I didn't have time before I had to go out, then I decided not to bother. It was not a nice day. I was drenched to the skin just getting from the library to my car right outside, terrified by thunder so continuous it sounded like artillery, and when I got home, still dripping, and changed into dry clothes, I had to go out again to a play I had tickets for. I was tempted not to, but I had to pick up a friend. Let me tell you, we get subtropical rain here the intensity of the shower you wash under, and driving in it is unpleasant and scary, and raincoats and umbrellas do not help much when it's hitting the ground so hard it bounces back.

They had some tornadoes elsewhere that day in various places, but today six bad ones ripped through Taranaki (where I spent part of my childhood). I've just been watching the news and I think they're the worst ones we've ever had. No one was killed, but one woman only survived because she saw the "black cloud" coming and grabbed her kids and took cover in a doorway. She'd been on the computer in the office, and tiles from next door's roof were driven 6 inches into the floor and there were holes in the wall made, they suspect, by the PC being thrown about. If her kids had gone to bed early, they'd have been dead; there was glass all over the room. Another person was badly cut by glass just as she came out of the shower in nothing but a towel and is in hospital.

You have to admire the staunchness of these country towns though.

"Residents who have tornado debris on their property can put this debris out on the kerbside before midday tomorrow and it will be cleared," [Civil Defence group controller Graham Young] said. "We just ask that people don't abuse the opportunity."

Some of our friends here in Auckland lost part of their roof one night to a small tornado, but luckily that was all. Many of these people's houses are gone.

I've worked out that the best place to hide here would be in the walk-in wardrobe or the stairwell, but if it's at night I'd never know. I sleep with earplugs during bad weather and I'd never hear a twister coming.

Current Mood: worried

"Residents who have tornado debris on their property can put this debris out on the kerbside before midday tomorrow and it will be cleared," [Civil Defence group controller Graham Young] said. "We just ask that people don't abuse the opportunity."

Current Mood: worried

When I got up this morning, it was dark, but by the time I was dressed I could see a beautiful pink sky outside. So I braved the cold and rushed out to take some photos.

( Red sky in the morning )

Current Mood: hurty weak chest

Current Mood: hurty weak chest

It's been a lovely long mild autumn, but today, though still sunny, is suddenly winter. The temperature dropped to 6C overnight, and we weren't ready for it at work. I had to sit in an unheated meeting room for two hours this morning and the air was so cold my lungs hurt for the hour afterwards that it took me to warm up in my office.

I want to stay home tonight by the heater, but I booked another bead-working class. I'm sure it'll be fun when I get there, but I so don't want to go out.

In other news, found on B7 mailing lists, is the promising announcement that Kudos, who made Life on Mars and Spooks (which I haven't seen) are making a new SF series, Outcasts which sounds very like Blake's 7, and deliberately so. I'm a little concerned about the reference to one of them being a deviant (please don't give us a real pervert) and the comparison to the new BSG. I hope they don't go for the shaky hand-held badly-focussed mock-doco pseudo-realism of BSG (which uses it even in the CGI shots) which I found seriously distracting and annoying, or the thinly-disguised contemporary politics and issues but In Space which both bored and depressed me till I gave up.

I'll definitely give this a go though in the hopes it won't be another Torchwood.

Current Mood: hopeful

Current Mood: hopeful

We're back, unpacked, and the cats are back too; in fact, I'm typing around Claudia. They do make up for holidays being over, and so does having broadband again - Internet, I missed you! All I had time for down there was answering comments and having a ~~quick~~ very slow flick through my flist. Now I'll be able to go back and read stories and look at photos and vids.

I'm relieved we didn't go up north this year. They got three months of rain in 36 hours, people and whole towns are cut off, and the motel by the Haruru Falls has mostly been swept away. :-( It was lucky no one was killed. And anyway, I have now discovered the delights of Taupo: lake, mountains, an excellent cinema, and considerably lower humidity due to being 340 m / 1000 ft above sea level. I'll definitely go back.

Claudia has gone off to check everything's as she left it, and now I've got Tessa, purring with contentment. :-)

Current Mood: somewhat tired

Current Mood: somewhat tired

Happy Ides of March, everyone! (Well, it is here.)

And it's cold too, a whole 10 degrees less than it was last weekend. I hope the summer comes back now the big three-day storm seems to have passed (leaving branches everywhere and all my outdoor pot plants on their sides) because I'm going on holiday tomorrow. Actually, I don't mind if it's not hot, as long as it's dry.

Daylight saving goes off this weekend. I always mourn this as the death knell of summer and herald of the winter of discontent and colds. However they're talking about either extending it to give us a decent serving of longer evenings, or making it permanent, in effect moving the time zone forward an hour because of the energy savings (as the UK did during WW2). I'd be happy with either.

Oh and spunky PC guy brought my work 'puter back yesterday, yay! :-D

Current Mood: about to go to work

Current Mood: about to go to work

I'm getting very sick of crap weather. The longest day is only two weeks away, and I had to have the lights on today when I get home at 5pm because it's so grey and dark. Seems to me we got more sun in winter. Because of the constant winds, I have to wear my purple felt hat just to keep from being blinded by my hair, and earplugs at night because of it whistling round the eaves. Bah. I want to live somewhere hot and dry and healthy. [Beams acquisitive thought-waves at Microsoft so they'll buy Greg's company and she can move to Australia.]

Klaatu barada Nico

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