At the time of writing, ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred was still impacting the Sunshine Coast – not as much as predicted but enough to still make people nervous about what could have happened and what still could.
Facebook has been very active in these parts about overreaction leading up to this event.
But for mine, authorities did what they had to do.
I still get amused about media stunts of standing reporters in howling winds for added effect.
But hey, media in this country is struggling, so I probably shouldn’t begrudge a bit of sensationalism.
For the record, I thought our premier and local council did a pretty good job to prepare us, so I am not going to jump on the bandwagon about scaring the pants off us.
No, I thought I would write about some good humans instead (not the d*ckheads that do not listen to authorities or unnecessarily risk their own lives and those of their rescuers).
The good human sequence started when my elderly but sprightly neighbour rushed across the park to tell me she was at the supermarket stocking up and the guy behind her paid it forward (it couldn’t have happened to a nicer lady).
That same day, I decided to get some sandbags, just in case.
I turned up at Caloundra Rugby with no clue on what to do and a nice young man called Richie helped me fill my bags.
Then, some Caloundra school footy kids helped me load it in to my ute without being asked – that actually stunned me.
I must also add that political hopeful Keryn Jones was on the shovel as well (and not a photographer in sight), which was impressive.
On my way home, I dropped in to Caloundra AFL ground where Sunshine Coast Council’s Simon Ball and a bunch of staff were all on shovels, helping residents prepare for what was coming, which was comforting to see.
I am not sure what is still going to happen, as I sit here looking out the window, but I will leave you with what someone wrote on Old Mate’s FB feed:
“If Alfred was a woman, this would have been all over days ago, but typical bloody male – procrastinating, putting off things until the next day, but going to the pub along the way and then probably sitting on the toilet instead of getting the job done.”
Ashley Robinson is chairman of the Sunshine Coast Falcons and Sunshine Coast Thunder Netball, and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident.
