TheBanyanTree: That Side

[PJMoney]

Peter wrote:
> 
> Not the whole world, alas!  Here in Sydney, an Australian mock-autumn is
> falling.  

And here in Darwin it's still raining.  Back in early February a weather
fellow was saying that it looked as though we'd be having a dry Wet Season.
But then we had the wettest March on record and by the end of the first week
of April we'd beaten that month's rainfall record as well.

I've been very thankful for the hovering clouds and the continuing rain.
Together they've kept the temperature down while our aircon was, by fits and
starts, giving up the ghost.  Nuisance of a thing!

The new aircon was installed today so, barring the possibility that Monica
will travel across the gulf and cause us problems, I don't care what the
weather does now.  In any case dragon flies have started appearing - a sure
sign that the Dry is nearly on us.  The humidity is starting to drop below
95% and it's cool enough of a very early morning now that I'm starting to
think about thinking about putting the cotton blanket back on our bed,
folded at its foot, for just in case.

The cane toads in Palmerston (about 15 minutes down the road) have filled up
the lake on the golf course with hundreds of toadlets and some adults have
arrived in Darwin's outer suburbs.  Theoretically you're supposed to pick
them up and stick them in the freezer so they die a 'humane' death.  But the
lady at Karama who found one at her back door just whacked it to kingdom
come with some sort of whacking tool.  I think she used a baseball bat.  But
she definitely whacked it.  That's what was reported in the local rag.  

I haven't heard of her being arrested for animal cruelty so I'm thinking
that Darwin authorities haven't yet crumbled into the complete sentimental
wussiness typical of southerners.  This despite the fact that our government
overlords have required us to slow down to 40kph in front of high schools in
case some youthful person, who once upon a time would have been considered
old and responsible enough to be out in the workforce earning a living,
suffers a sudden attack of infantile impulsiveness and charges across the
road without looking both ways first.

I'm not putting any cane toads in my freezer.  What a revoltingly unhygienic
thing to ask people to do!  No.  We've bought Dettol and a sprayer thing.
According to Queenslanders a couple of sprays of Dettol will cause the toad
to keel over and die very quickly.  Then they can be compost.  Good.
Because I think I'm going to miss all our ta-ta lizards and green tree frogs
once the toads get here and eat them all.

Janice