Hurry up and wait…

The windows are taped, the pool fence is wrapped, the garage roller door is braced. We’ve dropped off our valuable documents to friends with a storm bunker in their house and now we wait. On the drive back I took a photo of the Cook Highway (main road north out of Cairns) completely devoid of cars.

Deserted Cook Highway

The rain is swirling through in bands bringing gusty winds with them. We went for a walk to the beach front where a reasonable number of people were doing the same thing. The storm swells are just starting to build. To those from down south the waves will look tiny, but this is a beach, protected by the Barrier Reef, where the ocean normally laps the shore.

Waves at Trinity Beach

We headed home from the beach to do the final tidy ups. When Cyclone Steve ripped through Cairns in 2000 the roller door on our garage almost came out of its tracks. The same model on the house next door did pull free so Dad and I made a frame to fit inside ours to support it. Dad was famous for over-engineering everything he built. The frame is no exception, but as we put it in place today it gave me a great deal of comfort knowing that, despite being gone for almost five years now, Dad is still in some way looking out for us.

Braced garage door

The soft furnishings are all our own invention – I’m not sure he’d approve of such frivolous accessories 🙂

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15 thoughts on “Hurry up and wait…

  1. Ah yes, Dads – they are good for a lot of things, aren’t they? Miss mine terribly.

    Over-engineering – I love that word. Reminds me sooo much of my Dad and all the things he did for us around the house. All of it cleverly designed and still in working order!
    Can’t be helped, but DH has just two left hands in the DIY department

    Stay safe – thinking of you.

  2. Graham, unlike the rotary mower there’s probably not a lot of call for this little item – beside you almost need to be a weightlifter to fit it into place. xx

  3. Thanks Nicola. The sky’s just starting to look grey and stormy. The wind is still from the south and is picking up in strength but a long way to go yet.

  4. Karla, it’s made with really heavy duty steel that weighs a great deal. I’m clearly not as strong as I was back then…

    Thanks Kylie 🙂

    Cathy, he was a wonderful man and at the time we made that he was 89 years old. I may have provided some of the muscle, but the design and execution was all his!!

  5. Helene you have done well…this is a great idea, although it is a little late now I will show this to my family for future reference.

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