The Wrath of the Gods
So Melbourne has had an earthquake terrifying the locals?
This somewhat belies the concept of the “Crocodile Dundee” hard man? A few bricks fell off a building? Big deal, A similar thing happened in Skobieville a few weeks back, with no earthquake whatsoever. I presume the bricks just decided to call it a day and die. Anyway the locals just shrugged and just went back to swilling cans of lager, shooting up heroin and backing horses. They are real Hard Men.
The people I feel sorry for are those poor sods in La Palma.
I don’t think I can imagine anything more terrifying than watching a fifteen foot high wall of molten rock slowly oozing its way towards my home with the knowledge that there is nothing whatsoever that I can do about it. It is the ultimate epitome of helplessness.
Flooded homes can be dried out and a lot of belongings saved. Fires are worse but in a worse case scenario you still have the land to rebuild. Volcanic eruptions though are one of the few areas where there is fuck all anyone can do except stand back and watch the mayhem. A lot of people would say you shouldn’t build in an area that has had previous geological upheavals? I’ll let you debate that with the residents of California.
I really feel sorry for those poor bastards of La Palma. They have lost everything except whatever they managed to grab before running. I suppose technically they still own the land but seeing as it is now buried under fifteen feet of rock, boulders and ash they’d be lucky to even determine where their land was, let alone having any use for it. I don’t think I’d want to rebuild there?
The Manor is built on [and of] igneous rock [granite] but that goes back a million years or so and wasn’t even volcanic in origin. The worst fear is a very minor fault line off the coast of Wales which gives an insignificant burp every few decades. It once even rattled the radiators on the wall and woke me up. I just went back to sleep and discovered the next day that it had actually been an earthquake that had toppled one chimney in Wales.
Just look on this and tremble.
There’s a certain Faustian pact at play – those parts of the world with amazingly attractive climates tend to be the same parts of the world which suffer frequent and serious earthquakes and eruptions. Those of us who love to moan about the ‘moderate’ climate we endure in northern Europe tend to forget that, as part of our own Faustian pact of avoiding the worst of the planet’s excesses, we pay the price with our moistly miserable weather most of the time. You pays yer money and you takes yer choice.
That said, I sympathise greatly with those whose homes and livelihoods can be so instantly eradicated in that way, especially those who had little to start with – the motivation to start again and rebuild must take guts, especially when you know it can all happen again anytime.
I have always said that about Ireland [and the rest of western Europe]. We may have miserable and unpredictable weather but we have never had a real earthquake or volcanic eruption. Likewise I only remember two hurricanes and have never seen a tornado. And a “severe” winter is six inches of snow.
It amuses me that America declares itself “God’s Own Country” [and God Bless America] only for it to suffer just about all the extremes!
I’m in agreement with you here Mudplugger. I’m not sure there are any ‘safe’ places. Between weather events, wildfires, the occasional volcano, (and of course bricks falling from buildings for no apparent reason).
Enjoy today at the fullest, just in case.
Half way up a mountain in Wicklow? The worst we get here is a puddle in the front garden and a catastrophe is when I can’t get the car out of the gate because of some snow. I do indeed count my blessings on a daily basis.
Same here grandad. The roof is tight, the pantry is full, and we have plenty of fuel for heat.
Our Goldilocks weather gives lots of reason to winge. Or should that be whinge.
I always am amazed that immigrants from these mild isles went all over the world.
What must they have thought of their first winter in the Canadian West prairie?
Minus 40. f or c is the same.
I equally wonder why they’d want to settle in the UK or Ireland. It’s hardly for the sunshine or the cost of living? Of course I’m not allowed to say that it might be for the free handouts.
I was not suggesting bad language, by the way.
Where? Do you mean “f or c”? Surely fucking not?
Watching the volcano, it is not hard to imagine how ideas of Hell developed in earlier times.
There was an excellent television drama a few years ago about the eruption of the Yellowstone volcano and what would happen
Not just the idea of Hell but even ascribing special gods to volcanoes. They are certainly awe inspiring events.
If the Yellowstone Caldera collapses we are all fucked. That would truly be a Great Extinction Event.
I live on the slopes of a volcano… although it last erupted about 600 million years ago. I feel relatively safe.
But in other areas people live where there is land to farm and, as a consequence of previous eruptions, fertile soil for good crops. Tomorrow’s meal is always going to be more important than the risk of an eruption decades into the future.
Very true. Another great example is farmers settling on flood plains for the rich soil. They then wonder why they get flooded.