Wednesday, September 15, 2004
In the event of......
Living as I do in a tower block I am privy to views and the ability to indulge my voyeuristic tendencies. Now I *just* need to get the telescope then the viewing will be complete. Living as I do in the inner suburbs the sounds of the streets are thus: sirens, sirens, helicopters, loud bangs and more sirens. It's the helicopters that worry me the most and that pray on my susceptible mind. Sometimes they fly very low and I expect to stand up and find this peering in my window like a scene from an action film. Of course this secretly excites me as I put my hands up in the air and reveal my 'at home' wear - which fyi isn't any kind of tracksuit, in fact it's usually this. Sometimes when I'm lying in bed and the wind is howling around the building like a hurricane I lie and try to imagine the building is swaying. This isn't quite as exciting as the action film scenario. Lastly when the rain is relentless I imagine the subsequent flooding erodes the foundations and for the building to come down like a twin tower.
I hold my mother in part responsible for this - although I find I am not alone in these imaginings - Rick, Ali & I discussed disaster film scenarios yesterday (see here for a recap titled Crash Bang Wallop What a Picture). [EDIT]I have just recalled, however, that the favourite book of Marie & I aged about 12 was The Eighteenth Emergency... you can guess the theme. [/EDIT]
When growing up Mum raised my sister and I under the tutelage of 'What do to in a Disaster' handbook she must have collected after having seen Towering Inferno, Earthquake and The Poseidon Adventure amongst many others.
As a child, I knew exactly what to do in the event of an earthquake (1. If at home, hide in the bathroom or in a doorway; 2. If outdoors go to the park opposite and jump over fissures in the earth as they emerged). I knew what would happen in the event of nuclear holocaust (1. If the fallout was near us, we were to be driven to the countryside to my aunt and uncle's farm and ultimately shot - apparently to reduce our suffering). In the event of a ship sinking and being surrounded by sharks (swim like a dolphin or poke it's eyes - none of this would work for my sister - she was and is pathologically terrified of sharks after having seen Jaws at the age of about 8 - can't even look at one in a magazine - hours of fun for me as you can imagine).
Amusingly when searching for the picture on helicopters I found this site. Isn't the internet marvellous.
I hold my mother in part responsible for this - although I find I am not alone in these imaginings - Rick, Ali & I discussed disaster film scenarios yesterday (see here for a recap titled Crash Bang Wallop What a Picture). [EDIT]I have just recalled, however, that the favourite book of Marie & I aged about 12 was The Eighteenth Emergency... you can guess the theme. [/EDIT]
When growing up Mum raised my sister and I under the tutelage of 'What do to in a Disaster' handbook she must have collected after having seen Towering Inferno, Earthquake and The Poseidon Adventure amongst many others.
As a child, I knew exactly what to do in the event of an earthquake (1. If at home, hide in the bathroom or in a doorway; 2. If outdoors go to the park opposite and jump over fissures in the earth as they emerged). I knew what would happen in the event of nuclear holocaust (1. If the fallout was near us, we were to be driven to the countryside to my aunt and uncle's farm and ultimately shot - apparently to reduce our suffering). In the event of a ship sinking and being surrounded by sharks (swim like a dolphin or poke it's eyes - none of this would work for my sister - she was and is pathologically terrified of sharks after having seen Jaws at the age of about 8 - can't even look at one in a magazine - hours of fun for me as you can imagine).
Amusingly when searching for the picture on helicopters I found this site. Isn't the internet marvellous.
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