by Matt J. Pike
7.30pm: I’ve been sneaking a look through a few cookbooks whenever Fi’s been pottering away from the kitchen and I’m having ingredients issues. I have no idea where I’ll find cream or eggs for the sticky date pudding. As for the Mexican dish, well, I’m not even close to anything there, I’ll hit Mark and Jemma’s stocks tomorrow to see if that inspires something.
Our little hint of sun didn’t materialise again today. Hopefully we see him back again soon.
****
Monday, June 2, 2014
11am: Hit the motherlode at Mark and Jemma’s today – a container of condiments! I’m talking sauces, mayo, dressings, dips and mustards and everything in between. Not only did I thank their memories, I admired their forethought. It is survival genius, pure and simple. One of the most depressing things about living off long-life food is the lack of flavour and variety. Depressing is not quiet the word for eating similar foods day after day, but it’s in the ballpark. It’s just a constant reminder you are eating to live and not to enjoy. But a healthy and diverse array of condiments, spices and sauces changes everything, and what Mark and Jemma had was top-shelf. To think I gave the newbs this address – thank god they didn’t find this stuff.
I literally stared drooling as I looked at all the new flavours I’d soon be eating. Best of all, there were a few shakers of parmesan cheese (a personal favourite), some guacamole dip and salsa sauce. In another box I found a stack of biscuits and chips, including corn chips. So I reckon I can whip up some nachos for Fi on her birthday. If only I could find some sour cream it’d be perfect. I have the feeling my dreams of cream, sour cream and eggs will be unfulfilled, and I might have to think of what I’m going to do in their absence but, assuming I don’t totally stuff things up, this birthday dinner is going to be seriously not bad (ish).
3pm: Mr Sun returned today – there’s no doubt I could make him out over the hills to the east this morning. When I say ‘make him out’ it was just a blur through the haze, but it was a lot lighter than the rest of the haze. Twice in three days makes me very excited. When you’re cocooned in the middle it’s hard to know how much dust is in the atmosphere, what it’s made of or how high it goes. I know I couldn’t walk a toffee apple down the street without it turning brown from the ash that would cling to it (I would never do this as I hate toffee apples), and when you multiply that by every part of the Earth’s surface and then by the fact it must go right into the upper atmosphere, well it must be unthinkable tons. All of which still has to make its way to the surface. There’s no way of knowing how deep the ash will get or how long the process will take but, seeing evidence of change is huge. It means this ‘new normal’ existence might just be a phase after all. It means one day the sun will return. It means hope.
6pm: The HC is getting super interesting now. I’m building everything up from the base, and around the seats, which are already in place. The seats are at the back of a ‘cockpit’ section, separated in the middle by a bench. Under which is storage for core stuff like tent and torches. We’ll be able to sit back there and control steering and thrust or move forward to the bench to gain access to the generator or leaf blower. Along each side I’ve built a toolbox and a smaller storage container in each wall, for all the bits and pieces we may need along the way. Each side also has two hidden storage spots for food and water. I have the generator sitting on deck level and I have built up around it – I’ve allowed about 15cm each side as I don’t want it to overheat. I’m going to use a couple of the sturdy looking black plastic containers to shape covers for both the generator and leaf blower as I don’t want them exposed to too much dust.
I’m still in the process of shaping the front of the HC. I initially wanted to angle everything together smoothly, like the front of a boat, but I think that’s beyond my skill level. Instead, I may just make a couple of sharp angular lines so it’s easier to finish. The back is raised slightly higher than the rest of the deck so the fans are sitting above the top of the back of the seats. There are many spaces both front and back to secretly store food and other vital supplies. I mean, if this baby could take the weight, we could seriously carry 2-3 months worth of food. That would be enough to get to Canberra and back if this thing has any speed at all.
7.15pm: My mum was a freak; her cookbook collection is truly world class on the obsession scale. I knew the cupboard above the microwave had some cookbooks, and there were some in the bottom of the pantry but what I didn’t realise was she’d also hoarded two boxes of older cookbooks on the top shelf of her walk-in robe. I was snooping around because I remember having a particular recipe book with a heap of Mexican dishes in it. I couldn’t find it anywhere in the obvious spots and I knew she wouldn’t throw something like that out. It took about 20 minutes of searching to find her stash!
Side note: I hope it used to take my family members longer than 20 minutes to find any stash of publications I may or may not have had.
This is where it gets a little ironic, she used to be into a bit of self-sufficient cooking and food production – ya know, like, growing and making your own stuff. I remember those days all too clearly, with the amount of home-made jam and chutney I had to eat. Especially in the old house, I had to suffer through an endless supply of apricot jam each spring – enough was produced to last three years and mum couldn’t give the stuff away as fast as she could make it. Meanwhile, every week shopping I’d ask for a different flavour when we’d pass the jam aisle – strawberry, blackberry, fig, anything – but would be told there was no need to buy jam when we had so much at home! All those beautiful flavours staring at me, teasing me, and I was stuck with apricot. Again.
When will adults ever learn that kids are allergic to homemade products? Toys, clothes, food – everything? It’s like Dad’s homemade pizza – why can’t you make it so it tastes like the ones from the delivery place? It if wasn’t mass-produced or in a nice new packet, smothered in MSG or preservatives, or it didn’t have a loud TV commercial with a super-cool jingle, then it wasn’t gonna taste good, look good or make you feel good. Everyone knows that’s Kids Principle#1 of Elements of Kids Logic 101.
Funny how that view has changed now. I admire self-sufficiency – in fact, my moments of greatest pride since rock night have been when I thought up a solution, or made something from scratch that helped me in some way. That’s true success and achievement these days. So I retrospectively dip my hat to my folks – it’s a little too late to tell them, but I have a new appreciation for what they were trying to do.
Which takes me back to the cream. One of Mum’s crazy self-sufficiency books had a recipe to make cream from processed milk! Now, first things first, the picture of the final product looked less like soft floating clouds of whipped yumminess and more like paper glue or a sample you’d freeze on an IVF program; but supposedly it tasted pretty good. And for my needs, it’s going to be used in the caramel sauce, and never seen in its natural state.
The same book also says you can mix cream and lemon juice to make sour cream AND that in cooking you can use apple puree as an egg substitute! That’s all a bit exciting – I’ve got a good vibe about the sticky date pudding now, the sour cream for the nachos maybe not so much. But they’ll be better than nothing (hopefully)!
****
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
2.30pm: Productive day again on the HC. I positioned the generator and finished the decking at the bow and stern where I positioned the fans on top. There are now seven hidden storage spots within the HC – two in the cabin part on each side, another one each side at the front and the huge one at the rear of the craft, under the fans. The only sign any of the spots hide something is the odd hinge, which I’ll obscure from visibility before she’s ready. ‘Bow’, ‘stern’, referring to the HC as a ‘she’ – all of a sudden I think I’m Captain Jack Sparrow!
Everything is set for the launch test tomorrow. I just need to secure the fans, connect them to the generator, cross my fingers and turn everything on.
Hopefully all goes according to plan and I have myself a working hovercraft. If that’s the case I just need to do a bit of fine tuning and finishing. I still need to add a couple of the storage containers as ash covers for the generator and leaf blower. Plus, I need to find a windshield of some sort (it could get pretty intense if we built up any speed on an ashy day without one). Come to think of it, we might need helmets and maybe some riding leathers.
I also want to paint the HC black – Jack Sparrow would’ve wanted it that way. For a start it will look super cool in black, and it will also hide some of my shoddier marksmanship, besides which, it makes practical sense. There’s no point making a song and dance to other people about it. The harder it is to see the better. That may not make a difference when it’s running (as it’ll make quite a bit of noise) but when it’s sitting idle, then the harder to see the better.
I also need to find the best headlights I can as visibility will definitely be a factor in the driver’s seat.
Fi’s run another test on the water purifying. She used one of the water containers to let the ash sediment settle to the bottom then I helped siphon out the water layer before she went through the old boiling process. The result was so much better than last time. In fact, you could almost drink it! Well, you could if you were desperate, but there’s still a metallic taste in there.
She also found some of the water purification documents I printed out pre-rock. She’s gonna try another method where she fills one of the empty water containers with layers of rock, sand, leaves and pebbles. As the water runs through the layers most of the random nasties will be removed – then we can use the boiling process and we’re done. We’ll see which gives us a better result, but this new option is sounds far less fiddly.
Fi is also busy putting together a list of what we need to take. She knows how much storage we have and is working backwards from there. Not only food but cooking equipment, weapons, survival equipment, camping gear, clothes – everything we think we’ll need. It’s all getting put in a pile in the back family room and, even without food, it’s looking dauntingly large. It’s a bit hard to know exactly what we can pack until we start loading up the HC… oh, and testing to see if it can actually handle that much weight.
While Fi was working on her jobs I managed to collect a bunch of ingredients to make the cream. I can’t believe Mum had gelatin – I didn’t even know what it was, yet she had some. Score! I’m going to disappear next door and give it a try.
5.15pm: …well that was harder than expected. I was supposed to heat the milk but I got a little carried away and burnt it. Take two worked out much better, I had a sample and it’s not too bad. I’ve got to let it cool for a couple of hours before I whip it into cream shape, so I might do a bit of house-to-house action to see if I can find any riding leathers.
Cream whipped and bike leather procured. The leathers look sweet, admittedly both sets are slightly big but they’re black and leather and that’s the main thing. Honestly, when the HC is a black mean machine we are going to look like something from another world as we zip across the ash.
7.30pm: I saw five people out on the streets this evening. Not in a group, but individuals like me, doing some house-to-house shopping. I think it’s a sign things are getting desperate out there. Just out of habit I try to use the torch at a minimum on the streets, I’m so familiar with walking in the conditions I see no point in drawing more attention to myself than I have to. I see these people long before they see me so they’re easy to avoid. But it’s a gentle reminder I’ve relaxed after the Norwood hubbers left –maybe too much. They are not the only threat in this world and even though I have a secure property and move far more stealthily through the streets when I’m out, it doesn’t mean I’m safe. It just takes a run in with the wrong person at the wrong time and it’s game over. I think tonight and the little visit a few days ago are a gentle reminder to not get too cocky.
When I did have my close encounters I laid low and just watched for a while. There’s a look they all shared in the way the carried themselves. It was aimless, hopeless even, as they stumbled through the ash looking for food. I couldn’t escape the thought they reminded me of zombies.
…and today’s ‘reminder’ wasn’t all gentle. At one point I saw two of them fighting each other over something, not sure what it was. One of them clubbed the other guy and laid him out cold. That was a scary moment, glad I kept my distance. Fight zombies – that’s something new, wow!
****
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
6.30am: I could hardly sleep last night – I was obsessing about the hovercraft and this morning’s test. I haven’t looked at myself in the mirror this morning but I think it’s safe to assume I’m looking more zombie-like than any of the street walkers I saw last night. Anyways, slamming down breakfast now so I can get on with it.
11.30am: Repeat 500 times: I am awesome. It worked. I can’t believe it. Well, I can believe it, but I can’t believe it! It took me about three hours to rig everything up, then I asked Fi to witness the glorious event. I fired up the leaf blower and the HC rose into the air – it’s a nice feeling being on board as it floats on the cushion of air. Then I cranked up the generator and turned on the left fan. I turned it to speed 1 – nothing, speed 2 – nothing (but I could feel it was getting ready) then speed 3 –we had movement. It eased across the yard in a few seconds, on one fan at very low power. Fi leapt into the cabin and gave me the biggest kiss. That was the moment we both realised this was no mad teenager’s pipe dream, this was our ticket to anywhere! We kissed some more… and more… and then we did more (which would’ve been more comfortable with the car seat covers on).
3.30pm: We’ve just toasted the successful test of the HC with a mid-afternoon wine. I was tempted to get Fi to smash some champagne across the bow but there was a fair chance the bottle would’ve taken half the bow with it #shoddyworkmanship! I’m not sure what to do next. Part of me is tempted just to push the HC out on the streets, fire-up both fans and see what she’s got, but the boring half of me knows I still have so many things to do to finish it off. Stupid boring jobs! But the test run can’t wait too long. I’m going to sort the steering out this afternoon so I can take it for a spin ASAP.
7pm: Steering mechanism connected. I used a lever positioned between the two seats. It’s a pretty simple set-up that moves the rudder left and right accordingly. There are three rudders for each fan. I piloted another test and it worked a treat. God, I really want to take this thing for a spin but I’m trying to resist the urge until I’ve finished her off. I might aim for Saturday morning and take her out to the school oval – it’ll be a good way to start Fi’s birthday.
****
Thursday, June 5, 2014
10.15am: We had another little visitor this morning. They knocked a few times before attempting to make their way into the house. I quickly shut the guy down by telling him where to go and how to get there – he moved on quick enough. I’m getting shorter on patience and far less pleasant with each encounter!
Street walkers are definitely a growing concern though. I’m not sure it’s a coincidence that they are showing up in greater numbers now the Norwood hubbers threat seems to have died down. It’s either that or we’re reaching critical food mass time. Even the most loaded pantry and fridge pre-rock will be starting to run very low; it’s just inevitable people will get more brazen as they get more desperate. In a crazy way I preferred the Norwood hubbers situation better – a large, organised threat, acting as a group is far easier to predict than a bunch of free-roaming radicals. Sure, we have more freedom and we can use power if we’re careful, but there’s an unpredictability at the moment that makes me very uneasy.
1.45pm: I painted the HC black. It looks so kickass – the paint totally hides all of my dodgy work. I sat in her for a while after the paint dried and imagined myself cruising the ash across country. But something didn’t feel right. I’ve had this sense I’ve been missing something and I’ve decided it�
�s the comfort factor. We’re going to be spending a lot of time in this thing, so I’ll have to consider what impact that’d have. I guess all the boat references I’ve been making recently led me to think of what boat design brings. They’re very similar in a way, far less designed than a car, just a floating device with a couple of engine on the back. But when I’ve been fishing before the one thing I’ve noticed is the strength of the wind as you cruise to your destination – you don’t even have to be at high speed to get annoyed as it buffets your face. The best spots are under the canopy. That’s what I’ve decided this design needs a canopy as well as a windshield. My best bet to get one from someone’s boat. There are a couple of houses in the neighbourhood that I know have them. That’ll be my task for tomorrow.
6pm: I couldn’t help myself – I just ripped the interior carpet from Dad’s car and lined the base of the cabin. I can’t believe I did it either, Dad was so protective of that thing. I can’t imagine what he’d be thinking if he was looking down on me. I justified the move as keeping a little bit of Dad’s car alive. Surely he would approve of that? Maybe? A little bit?
Whatever the case, the floor of the cabin looks a whole lot cooler than it did at lunchtime. Not just cooler, but more inviting.
6.45pm: Revenge is sweet. I just told Fi the generator had crapped itself and the HC would be out of action until I could find a new one, which could take months. I was awesome with the acting skills – not bad for someone who struggles to keep a straight face when lying. She totally bought it too. She was on the verge of tears as I told her it would be next to impossible to find another one. I felt somewhat bad when I saw her hopes fade. I kept it up for about five minutes until I felt I’d toyed with her long enough. She punched me when I told her it was a joke – on the borderline between playful and violent. It hurt, but it was worth it for the sweet taste of revenge!