Today we went further along than yesterday and made it up to the Brisbane Corso. This is a decidedly higher class area than the surrounding blocks. We gave out some food and drink to some people working in one of the riverside joints, and the woman apologized because she "didn't have any money to pay us." She then corrected herself, explaining that they had money, just that they didn't have any on them. Some people aren't used to accepting charity. To paraphrase Matthew 5:45, this flood has fucked pretty much everyone, rich and poor alike.
There has been some pretty superhuman efforts down there in the cleanup. On one little street we saw about 100 people lining the sides of a road hucking trash and muck into big dump trucks. The trucks were huge, but they got filled in minutes, before another would take its place. A few houses are scrubbed down pretty well, at least from the outside. Everyone's lawns are just ruined, but it is impressive how far things have come in just a day or two.
Towards the end of our run a couple older women asked us to help move some stuff around for them inside the house. They had been cleaning all day and so they didn't want us to track our filthy boots around the house, so they asked us to take them off. Both Brett and I complied without any fuss. I didn't think there was a force on this earth that could convince me to lose my footwear in the middle of a 30 block sewer. Grandmothers have strange powers.
A typical street.
Army reserve guy guarding shit mountain. We met the girl who lived at 73 Victoria Street. Her place was totally trashed, but somehow the toilet survived intact, so she opened it up to anyone who needed it.
Terrible. This wasn't the only ruined piano we saw.
pictures ARE worth a thousand words, but your commentary is pretty compelling as well.
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