Joe Btfsplk lives

To know who Joe Btfsplk is, you would have to be a child of the Forties or Fifties.  He was a character in the comic strip  Li'l Abner who walked around with a dark cloud perpetually over his head.  Disaster followed him wherever he went and as a child I loved him.

  

I am now wondering if we should change our names by deed poll to Mr & Mrs Joe Btfsplk because I suspect we are closely following in his wake. 

Take yesterday for instance.  Late afternoon a helicopter flew over our apartment block and hovered for about 30 minutes.  Always quick on the uptake, we gathered that something was amiss.  We soon discovered that a poor old 95 year-old man had crashed nearby down an embankment onto the rail line.  Thankfully his injuries were not too serious, but with peak hour traffic about to start, life became chaotic for commuters, both of the rail and road variety.

Less than twelve months ago we were isolated for three days during the Brisbane floods - thank goodness for twilight market lighting!

About three years before that, a light plane crashed into a house a couple of hundred yards away from our home - again thankfully the pilot escaped serious injury and the house owners were out at the time.  My, what a surprise that was for them when they came home.


When our children were young, we ran from a bushfire which swept through the suburb where we had built our new home.  Yes, it did raise the heart rate and yes, we did later sell that house.  Our home came through unscathed, apart from the interior ending up full of ash, as the windows were left open in our haste to leave.  Silly us.


Can you see a pattern developing here?  Disaster magnets?  You bet. 


Addendum, Friday:  To hammer the point home, the whole of Pymble has lost its water service for the rest of the day.  Say no more.