My Kingdom For Some Rain

Where the bloody hell is this rain we were promised?

It's been a month since we had any rain here on the Sunny Coast and the forecast for yesterday (Wednesday) was 'thundery rain' followed by 3-4 days of similar conditions to provide nearly 100mm over the period. Alas, it's now Thursday afternoon and not a drop in sight despite plenty of clouds around.

Why do I care so much? Shouldn't I be happy for sunny and dry days for the beach and park runs with the son? Isn't a lack of rain a good thing when living near the beach?

Yes, it has been pretty nice weather of late and we've been taking full advantage of it by being at the beach or local pool everyday. But the lack of rain has been a curse as well as we've been unable to run the pool at the house as a result.

That's because 'life on the land' (always wanted to say that) means being reliant on tank water. We have two tanks going here at the property, one for the house and one for the garden. Now the house one has plenty of water in it as it fills up first but the garden one is empty.

It was pretty much empty when we moved in so it didn't take long to start having some issues with the pool after that. This being the first time we've had to manage a pool, we bought in the experts who eventually put it down to a lack of water from the tank.

The owners to their credit felt bad about leaving us with an empty tank so they were happy to 'truck in' some water so that we could get the pool running. 10,000 litres duly arrived one morning and we had a few days of bliss of using the pool to our hearts content.

This story has to go further though, so the next relevant fact is that the 10,000 litres were gone after only nine days. Whattha? So yes, we were back to not being able to use the pool and contacted the property agent to say there must be a leak somewhere.

It's been a few weeks since then and we've had both the pool man and water tank guy out to try and solve the mystery. They had guesses at best and said to try this and that but each time we enacted something another issue or mystery would pop up. And of course we still have no authoritative answer as to where the 10,000 litres went.

The latest is that a pool leak specialist came out this morning to do a check. And you know what he said? "Oh, I need there to be water in the tank before I can see any leaks". That does make sense I admit, but it just adds to the vicious circle we are on. We have no water due to a leak but we can't find the leak because we have no water.

Anyway, he has informed the agent that some more water needs to be trucked in but I would love the 100mm forecast for the next few days as that will go along way to solving some of these issues.

I now understand just a little what it must be like for farmers and their constant vigil towards the skies. Mine's just for the luxury of running a pool though. Not for the growing of crops and one's livelihood like them.

But still, some rain, some rain. My kingdom for some rain. We're paying for the pool in our rent so we should be able to use it. Especially with a two-year old who loves the water. Which in turn would also make my job as Daddy Day Care Provider a whole lot easier.

On another note, who'd have thought after the wet season we had last year that we'd be worried about a lack of rain already. It was a pretty dry winter but our winters are meant to be dry here in south east Queensland. A dry November is out of the ordinary though as we would usually get a storm rolling through every second or third day and dropping 15-30mm in just a short time.

Alas, this November is looking like it will be the driest on record apparently despite the fact they are still saying it will be a wet summer so there must be plenty still to come. Here's just hoping that it doesn't all come at once in just a few weeks like it did last year and all the damage and turmoil that was caused.

Anyway, please excuse me while I check on the BOM website once again for some rain and think about my tactics for the next phone call with the agent. Having to worry about water supply and watching the skies like a farmer is something very different for this city slicker.

But hey, life up here in the hinterland sure beats my old office cubicle and the daily 'drone' run on the train. That my friends, I can guarantee.

Til next time,

EDM.