Our hurricane

I have managed to live through a couple of natural disasters. Both were minor, but worthy of media mention. The three-point-something earthquake that woke me up in the middle of the night during our first year living in Wollongong was a mild adventure. It merely disturbed my sleep. I woke feeling the house wobble and hearing a low growling rattle. I mistook it for thunder, wondering why it was so extended. I was too sleepy to comprehend until the shaking throb had disappeared. I then put the question to myself, had that been an earthquake?

The other incident connects me to music. I was back at my parent's home for two or three weeks, having been diagnosed with chicken pox. I had decided that to save contaminating the other trainee nurses, I would return to my parents for the quarantine period. A couple of days prior to my planned return, I slept right through what I considered a rather windy night. It had been blustering about as I had gone to bed, and on waking was still hurling a gale about. It was not until I got up and descended to the kitchen that I realized the extent of the wind - which had actually been a hurricane.

As I looked out the newly parted kitchen curtains, my mouth fell open in surprise. Twigs, stigs, and leaves were littered all across the yard and part of the fence had fallen! On further investigation, the whole street was covered in litter, mostly of natural formation. My father informed me later that day that it had officially been a hurricane.

On returning to the nurses' home, I passed city streets covered in broken trees and litter. On arrival, the manageress halted me. She had bad news. My lovely top floor room had been damaged in the hurricane. Water had broken through the ancient roof and dripped into my room, damaging some of my pictures and my bedding amongst other things. I was replaced into a ground floor doctor-on-call room and never did return to my luxury-view fifth floor room.

When I first obtained my copy of the Genius Of America album by the Tubes, the first thing that came into my mind was that hurricane - because one of the songs on the album was called Who Names The Hurricanes. Luckily, the hurricane I survived had not been as dramatic as the ones that kill. Only roofs, sheds and trees had been lost. I think it quite lucky for my parents I had been at home at the time, for I was able to help them fix their yard and fence.