what one packs: flood edition
When the floodwaters come in, one stares at all the shit one has accumulated, packs an emergency bag and then waits for the waters to come up to one’s driveway.
- 1 pr jeans
- 1 Mammut windstopper hoody (both items despite being the middle of summer)
- 5 pr underwear
- 2 plain black t-shirts
- 1 favoured Threadless t-shirt
- 1 aqua maxidress
- 1 blue shirtdress
- 1 pr Chacos sandals
- 1 pr Merrell sneakers
- black and white photo of parents while dating in the 1950s
- small photo of self and best friend in pre-school
- autographed Tori Amos Under the Pink LP
- 1950s edition of Anderson’s Fairy Tales
- Alice in Wonderland given by uncle as first birthday present
- current less literary novel one is reading to take mind off flood
- toiletries
- GHD hair straighteners
After the bag is packed, you can continue to pace uncontrollably and pick up everything off the floor and place onto the kitchen bench while your boyfriend has the calmest nap of his life. When the waters reach your driveway at night and the power is out, it feels almost congenial, with beers and campchairs with your upstairs neighbour, while watching stupid people in four wheel drives try to wade through the water. You shine your mega-wattage torches at them to teach them a lesson. Everyone else has evacuated the apartment block. Days later, it is all mud and rubble and possessions on the footpath and power still out and stench.
