Armageddon Day

The view from our apartment on the morning of September 23rd, 2009.

We haven't felt the need to purchase an alarm clock since Alan consistently gets up in the six o'clock hour. On Wednesday morning when he first woke up, Brad and I thought it was a mistake because there was a red glow in the bedroom and surely he must be up too early. We didn't think the glow strange at first. We thought it must be a pretty sunrise but not pretty enough to get us out of bed! After a few minutes passed, Alan was back to sleep but suddenly mother nature was calling. As I passed a clock I realized that it was 6:45 AM. I hurried to tell Brad because I wasn't sure what time he was planning to go to work. He hopped out of bed saying that he should get in the shower. We came out in the family/dining room and opened the blinds to discover what was causing the eerie glow. We had never seen anything like it before and both thought it must be fog lit up by sunshine. It seemed pretty special so we hurried to get the camera and snap a photo. There was a nice breeze so we decided to leave the door open. I turned on the news while Brad rushed off to get ready. Of course it was the top story and as I tuned in they were saying that people should avoid going outside, keep your windows closed, etc. Yikes! I ran over to close the window and then to tell Brad that it's actually a dust storm. 

For the most part, the dust settled within a few hours. It was the country's worst dust storm in seventy years. An article said "The haze was visible from space, appearing as a huge brown smudge in satellite photographs of Australia." Conservative projections said that 1000 tons of dust would fall in Sydney alone (crazy liberals were guesstimating 4000 tons but we'd rather take a conservatives word for it). The ferries were cancelled and international flights had to be diverted. Alan and I stayed indoors as much as possible yet I still felt a burning in my chest and eyes from it (our windows leave a lot to be desired). Brad called to say that people walking around outside were wearing face masks and covering their mouth and nose with handkerchiefs. It was a day unlike any other that I've ever experienced and definitely worth sharing.