Brumal Melbourne weather

Well it is most definitely winter here in the southern hemisphere, as Melbourne had its first severe storm of the year come through this past week. And what a storm it was! An estimated 290,000 homes (including mine) lost power from 100 kph (60 mph) winds and the local Ringwood–Lilydale train line still isn't running due to “tree damage to infrastructure.” The power went out for me Wednesday night about 9:40 PM and was out for almost exactly 24 hours, but there are apparently people in Victoria projected not to get power back until Sunday (still in the future as I write this Saturday evening). I spent a highly unpleasant Thursday sans heat, the thermometer in my room hovering between 14 and 15 °C [57.2 to 59 °F], but the temperature outside dropped Thursday night down to 6 °C (42.8 °F) overnight, so I really feel for any poor people still without power. In a twist of irony, we do have a natural gas heater at my place…which requires electricity to light, so no heat for us on Thursday. Our internet's still out as I write for whatever reason. (Luckily I can use my phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot, or you wouldn't be getting this post!)

I can't wait to someday own a home with a battery back-up and solar panels and laugh in the face of power outages, but today is not yet that day. Though even cold and miserable as I was on Thursday, I still made use of the lack of electricity to run an experiment I never would have otherwise to see how much a hot shower would warm up the bathroom in the absence of any other heat. The answer, unfortunately for me, turned out to be an unnoticeable 0.5 °C (0.9 °F), up to 14.5 °C (58.1 °F). (Though I guess should be grateful our water heater must use a continuous gas pilot light or something—I didn't really think about it until after the shower and realized it might very easily have been electric!) Still, power's back now, I am once again warm, and I hope to have some paintings to show off before too much longer, including my banana slug which is definitely nearing completion. That's all for now, though. A hui hou!