Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Mind The Gap

The Gap, Brisbane's north-west. 0713 hours. The military rolls in, with cameramen keen to get shots:


Intrepid reporter Girl Clumsy has been on scene since 0600 hours, after receiving an unexpected-but-should-really-have-been-expected-considering-the-scale-of-this-thing phone call directing her to Weemala Street, where Kevin Rudd (Prime Minister) would be touring badly damaged properties and offering to wash the feet of those affected. Or perhaps just shake their hands.

Either way, it's a good photo opportunity. Sadly, intrepid reporter Girl Clumsy fails to be intrepid enough, leaving her camera in the car, and only retrieving it after the PM left for Canberra. Still, much damage is noted after the media scrum lets loose its grip on the nation's top elected official:

 

Girl Clumsy captures these images after said Prime Minister packs up to head back to Canberra. She also managed to snap Anna Bligh (Premier) welcoming young army dudes, and directing them towards houses still covered in trees, branches and fallen powerlines:


Girl Clumsy eventually gets out of Storm Zone Alpha at 0745 hours. She returns to her studio base; happy to find her digital recorder has not, in fact, packed up due to water damage. She manages to download photos of her adventures - many of which she forwards on to Brisbane Times, where they feature prominently - with a credit!

Downside to intrepid reporting: calls from members of the public living in Keperra, which while also damaged by the storms, hasn't featured as prominently as The Gap in media coverage. Sorry Keperra people, and those from other suburbs badly hit by storms. Girl Clumsy knows you've suffered too. But she's only one person, and has to go where the politicians go...
Posted by at 3:04 PM
Clumsy Categories: , ,

7 comments:

  1. OK!!!
    How is it that the vast majority of the pictures showed men in uniform...
    Where were the huddled masses, the 78 yo wheelchair bound old dear we have heard some much about??? Even Anna appeared to be in unniform (was the hard hat in the shot). The Brisbane Times also used the close uniformed close up
    Was it the tight butts, the flexed pecs (not Anna's, of course, although...)
    Come clean GC the truth must out
    Do you have thing for men in uniform ? Hmmmmmmmmmmm ?????
    ReplyDelete
  2. I just happened to see a bunch of dudes in cammo and thought 'Military on the streets! Get the camera!'

    There were "normal" people there, but I kinda didn't want to shove a camera in their face or get them to pose by the water-logged wreckage of their home.

    Thought that might not help the reputation of the Fourth Estate. ;)
    ReplyDelete
  3. There's nothing abnormal about appreciating the opposite sex dressed up in camo print.
    ReplyDelete
  4. You know you may have made an error is judgment when you are sitting out in a park watching the storm go by and counting the time difference between lightning flash and thunder.

    flash.. 10 seconds.. boom
    flash.. 8 seconds.. boom
    flash.. 8 seconds.. boom
    flash.. 2 seconds.. boom

    *wait.. 2 seconds? what happened to 7,6,5,4 and 3?*

    flash.. BOOM
    flash.. BOOM

    *um.. time to go, i think*

    The weirdest part was when the storm was directly overhead and I could hear the lightning crackling above my head but hidden in the clouds. It sounded like it was looking for something...
    ReplyDelete
  5. Talking about pollies in uniform... managed to witness Tunnels Newman striding purposefully down George Street in the rain the other night. Dressed in a full-length trench-coat style raincoat, the sort worn by serious rescue professionals.

    As he quickstepped down the soggy streets, mobile phone glued to ear and barking instructions, I was impressed by how purposeful and serious he looked. Until it dawned on me in that Hollowmen way, that this was exactly what he was going for. Reality was he was probably ordering pizza from the nearest greasy spoon and was actually just walking really fast cos the lady mayoress just upped him for being late...
    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh come on GC that's exactly what the 4th estate is about. Have we all forgotten ACA.the cameras hidden in the briefcase and the subsequent suicide.
    Youv'e got to harden up find those poor benighted ones and accuse them of ripping off the system "Yes, I saw you at midnight eating a can of baked beans"
    "Did you share them?"
    "No...I thought not"

    And you Wah, you are definitely becoming the John Cleese of Spring Hill
    "Thank you GOD"
    "Thank you very bloody much"
    ReplyDelete
  7. "This is Girl Clumsy"
    "Embedded with the Enoggers battalion( Oooooh those pecs)"
    "Reporting from the disaster area"
    ReplyDelete

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