Here's a story- Rain, Hail, Lightning, Thunder, Snake
G'day all,
Yesterday afternoon we got a shocking storm here....very hot & humid all day and it was building and building like a typical Sydney afternoon in Summer.
Anyway, the rain starts, light at first, heavier & heavier and after about 10mins it starts to really belt down, lightning, thunder, the whole bit...then the Hail starts.
A few specs at first but it follows the lead of the rain and it just keeps ramping it up...the rain & the hail are now so heavy the gutters can't handle it...geeze, the car's a shot at getting whacked too so I run out the front & throw a rug over it...then I walk around the back and see side lane is getting flooded so I hit the piece of timber out that's holding all the gravel path in place. Presto, the side lane's fine but the backyard is now flooded...the drain is chocker blocked with all hail & the water can't get away. Got about a foot of water out the back now so I race over to the grate, got smashed with hail all the way, pulled the grate with a claw hammer & out of the pipe like a shot comes a freaking Python. Audible expletive...jump off to the side, Python is on the boil swimming across the yard but in a not so welcome decision he's heading for the open back door of the house, daughters 9 & 6 are inside watching in horror. Not good. No option left but to grab Python by tail, Python duly takes exception & it swings around trying to bite me so down on Python's mid section comes the trusty Hard Yakka boot with the anti-slip tread & acid resistant sole. Old mate protests by latching onto said boot...and I'm still getting smashed to buggery by the Hail. Glasses fall off into water, can't find them. Now I can't see so well. While it's trying to eat my boot I decide to grab the bastard by the head, so it wraps around my arm and tries to squeeze it to death. Surprisingly strong. With snake in hand & on arm I fidget around in the water until I find my glasses. With newly restored vision I look up to see one of my neighbours who's been out the back on her verandah watching the storm and heard the noise...she's up on the side fence..."Oh Jaimie, great, my brother will be thrilled that you've found his snake" "He lost it about 6 months ago" "Geeze it's big, it has has grown a lot"....WTF? How long's this thing been on the lurk in my yard? Lucky Mrs. Triple didn't make it's aquaintence while she was out the back in the garden or having a glass of Vino. Nevertheless, really good neighbours so serpent & I go for a stroll and it is returned to its rightful owner. It was an interesting day to say the least. :p
