Strange realisation
Jan. 13th, 2011 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
highlyeccentricI don't think ANYONE expected a flood disaster like this one (just like no one expected bushfires like the ones Victoria got in 09... perhaps we should start expecting super-sized disasters).
But for the last couple of years, one of the stories I tell people about my Uncle R, as proof that he is the only person in my family who's as dorky as me, goes like this:
Uncle R and I, sitting around at some family gathering or other, talking about conferences (this must've been in 08, I think?), and how we were both looking forward to attending them. He listened to me blather about Archbishop Wulfstan II of York, and I listened to him blather about civil engineering concerns for small shire councils.
He had just finished working on a traffic management project, and his next big thing was When Is It Time To Revise Your Flood Management Plan? Apparently, Flood Management Plans were very exciting in the mid-to-late 90s. Everyone made Flood Management Plans, just in case! And then, he said, they became old hat; there was a drought on, you already *had* your Flood Management Plan, no one wanted to work on Flood Management Plans anymore. But, says Uncle R, people should really reconsider this! A lot can change in ten years. Droughts eventually end. You never know when Flood Management Plans might become really important! You should revise your Flood Management Plan in advance.
I've been remembering this story as evidence that I'm not the ONLY person in my family who has really obscure interests.
Doesn't seem so obscure anymore, though. Ten points to Uncle R and his concern for the revision of Flood Management Plans by small shire councils. I should ask him, next time I see him, if he thinks his presentations on the topic had any impact on the disaster response patterns in small shires affected by the current crisis.
But for the last couple of years, one of the stories I tell people about my Uncle R, as proof that he is the only person in my family who's as dorky as me, goes like this:
Uncle R and I, sitting around at some family gathering or other, talking about conferences (this must've been in 08, I think?), and how we were both looking forward to attending them. He listened to me blather about Archbishop Wulfstan II of York, and I listened to him blather about civil engineering concerns for small shire councils.
He had just finished working on a traffic management project, and his next big thing was When Is It Time To Revise Your Flood Management Plan? Apparently, Flood Management Plans were very exciting in the mid-to-late 90s. Everyone made Flood Management Plans, just in case! And then, he said, they became old hat; there was a drought on, you already *had* your Flood Management Plan, no one wanted to work on Flood Management Plans anymore. But, says Uncle R, people should really reconsider this! A lot can change in ten years. Droughts eventually end. You never know when Flood Management Plans might become really important! You should revise your Flood Management Plan in advance.
I've been remembering this story as evidence that I'm not the ONLY person in my family who has really obscure interests.
Doesn't seem so obscure anymore, though. Ten points to Uncle R and his concern for the revision of Flood Management Plans by small shire councils. I should ask him, next time I see him, if he thinks his presentations on the topic had any impact on the disaster response patterns in small shires affected by the current crisis.