Finding Some Sanity

There was a time not so long ago when real estate dominated the conversation in Sydney. Now it’s the rain. And as boring as the real estate conversations were, the conversations about the rain are now equally as boring.

But as boring as it all has become, it’s dominating life in Sydney right now. Normally at this time of the year we have days and weeks of endless fine weather. For the last ten years, we’ve been lucky enough to have mostly avoided summer bushfires, with the weather mostly very mild and pleasant.

But this summer, we’ve been inundated with rain. We’ve had days and weeks of wet weather. La Nina is to blame. Even though I’ve lived in Sydney for 16 years now, I’ve never experienced anything like this, and it’s driving me crazy.

There was a wonderful piece of ABC Radio today about how we should be building an ark, and about all of the Sydney tribes we would need to make sure have a place on board: the dispassionate, disinterested inner-west barman; the drive-by shooter; the North Shore Soccer Mom; the Sutherland Shire Ballet Mom. It was very funny, and brought some sanity to the insanity we’re all feeling, thanks to the continued weather. It doesn’t help that it’s nearly full moon.

Thank goodness for another lovely Wednesday night at the pub with my friends. In the midst of it all, this wonderful Wednesday night ritual keeps me sane. We have a new restuarant manager at the pub, too, with a new menu.

On the way home, I asked the taxi driver how he was coping with the wet weather. “Terrible”, he told me, adding that it’s difficult to drive in these conditions, and everyone has stayed at home.