Flushing the loo in a power cut

... is not funny.

Neither is my neglect of this blog for the entire month of August, for which I apologise - to it, and its reader (hello mum!). My excuses are:

(1) I was in Blighty for 3 weeks so couldn't really write about being in oz because I wasn't there.

(2) Since being back in oz I've been snowed under with coursework for the final semester of my masters and have barely set foot out of the house, so subsequently...

(3)...I've had nothing to write about.

But something exciting did happen to us this morning out here in the sticks and it manifested itself when Diver Dave went to have his morning shower. After over a month without rain, with Dave worrying himself alternately about the state of our water tanks (got no mains water) and his new seedlings in the veggie patch (apparently we're growing watermelons now), his prayers have been answered. And once again we are almost cut off from the outside world by rising flood waters triggered by the incessant torrential rain we have had all night.

...Which led to some power lines falling down somewhere, which led to us running out of electricity. Normally this is an incovenience, but in our house, and in most other houses around here, it's a total nightmare. Everything - and I mean EVERYTHING - in the house needs electricity. It's not just the lights, the 'keddle', the toaster, the cooker and all the other appliances. It's the internet modem (which I need for my coursework), the shower (which I need to keep Dave clean) and the water pump (which we need for getting water out of the tap). Consequently, the bog doesn't work either (which I need for ..etc, etc...).

Still, Dave's happy. It means he can dust off his camping stove and get back to nature, etc..grrr, and other manly stuff. Although watching him drinking cafetiere coffee and eating Mcvities chocolate biscuits (got em from Coles!), he didn't look terribly Ray Mears. It also means he can stop worrying about his precious seedlings now we've got the deluge he's been asking for.

Cheers Dave.