My People

I compete in agility. I compete in dog obedience occasionally but enjoy agility a great deal more. The last trial I competed at last year was held at the Obedience Dog Club of Brisbane's Oxley grounds. It was teeming with rain and the mud underfoot was like a soggy marsh. It was horrible but we enjoyed ourselves immensely!

The Oxley clubhouse sits at a bend in the Brisbane River so, when we recieved reports the river was rising there were concerns for the clubhouse. Some members went down and removed new electrical equipment and sandbagged the meeting room. And this was the image we were presented with when the flood came through...

Yes, that is water to the eaves. We were camping in that spot between those trees the night of the trial. When the floodwaters receded, the kids and I decided to head out to help with the cleanup.

It did our hearts glad to see Brisbanes Mud Army out on the streets in full force. Cars were passing us full of people with shovels, brooms and gumboots strapped to the roof racks. Utes went past with water guerneys on them. Milton Rd was blocked with traffic all trying to get in to help. To the left and right, down side streets, you could see hives of people coming in to clean up. There were people in shiny clean gumboots passing people with mud from nose to toes, greetings were shared, sleeves were rolled up and everyone got dirty! It took us an hour and a half to get from Banyo in the North to Oxley in the South down the Centenary Highway. Its normally about a forty minute run.

This was the sight that greeted us.

Under that grey looking cover is green grass. The grey coverage is mud. It is a good few inches deep in mud. Everything is covered in a coating of thick, smelly mud. Did I mention that its muddy?????

We donned our boots and hats and got to work in cleaning off the mountain of agility equpment that needed to be scrubbed down. All three of my kids dug in and helped.

Lunch time showed us the depth of human kindness that is welling through the flood zone. A gentleman came randomly in, asked if we needed feeding and gave us sandwiches, homemade biscuits and cupcakes. We also shared a feast of fish and chips bought by the club and offered our food to those passing by. After we had gone back to work we were met with the sight of an elderly lady picking her way through the mud and silt. She came up and asked us if we needed sandwiches. Even though we were right, I gave her a hug and said thankyou. It was the least I could do.

We scrubbed and cleaned and washed and swilled and cleaned and scrubbed some more and yet, there was still another surprise for us as we went to leave. Someone had left a bottle of juice, some choc chip biscuits and a packet of marshmallows on the tray of our ute.

On the way back home we saw more of Brisbane at its worst and best. A McDonalds flooded to the eaves. Playgrounds covered in flood silt. Piles and piles of household goods stacked on the sidewalk like so many broken lives. Shops closed, houses bared for all to see. And the people, out in force like an army of ants, smling, laughing. Those people who couldn't help were on the corners of streets with barbeques making sausages and food for the workers.

I am so proud of my city, so proud of my people...black, white, pink, purple and the strange greyish brown we all are at the moment, these are my people. Thankyou....

Cin