Hark, the Hail Angel Screams

I can't remember the last time I witnessed a hail storm. I can recount plenty of hail storms that have happened in my area over the past 10 years that I have somehow managed to completely miss... I can even tell you about the last time I saw hail after a hail storm. But I can't recall actually witnessing a hail storm myself in the past, oh, 20 years.

On Saturday Melbourne was hit with a 'once-in-a-Century' hail storm. I found out about it on Monday, when I got a call from my uni campus saying that the ceiling in my office had collapsed, something which is especially impressive considering I'm on the 1st floor.

So how did I manage to miss the hail storm of the Century? Well, I had arranged to look at a house on Saturday morning (as I am currently in the process of looking for new accomodation). The weather forecast advised that storms were expected in Melbourne, but I had planned to spend the day wandering about the city and wasn't going to be put off by a bit of rain!

Melbourne is renouned for having 4 seasons in 1 day, which was definitely the case on Saturday. Somehow, I managed to dress appropriately. Armed with a singlet, a jumper, my raincoat and an umbrella, I headed out. The day started off sunny and cool. I spent the later part of the morning browsing books in my favourite bookstore. By the time I headed into the city to do something about lunch, the temperature had risen, the sun was out in full force, and there was hardly a cloud in the sky.

I spent another few hours wandering the city, doing some shopping, and enjoying the sunshine. After I had had my fill of Fitzroy, I walked up to Carlton to catch a movie at Nova - my favourite cinema. I got their just in time to see A Single Man, and just in time to miss being caught out in the storm. As the film started up, we could hear the rain/hail beating down on the roof. I'm sure we were all glad to be nestled into our seats, enjoying a spectacular movie, instead of out in the street.

When the movie finished, it was obvious that it had been raining pretty hard. But by that point, it was just raining. I had some time to kill before my tram came, so I had a wander in Boarders and then crossed the street to check out Readings. I even went and checked the wall of rooms for rent they had posted outside of Readings, though I haven't contacted any of them.

As I made my way home, which took a fair bit of time because I didn't get off the tram at the right stop and then missed my bus, I still hadn't put on my raincoat. Thus far, my umbrella had proved sufficient protection from the rain. It wasn't until I got to Sydney Rd and was waiting for the next bus that the rain started to pick up in pace and I decided that I might need my raincoat afterall. I noticed that a section of Sydney Rd had been closed off, but this happens with heavy rains from time to time. Melbourne is a city used to draught and we have gotten quite a lot of rain through Spring and Summer.

By the time I got home, I had gotten a bit wet, but nothing out of the norm for a rainy day. In fact, I was rather surprised at how dry I had managed to stay considering how heavy the rain had been. I knew there had been some hail, and I'd heard there had been claims of 'hail the size of golf balls', but I had no idea how bad it had been.

My office at uni is going to be out of commission for awhile. I haven't been up to the 2nd floor to see what the damage is like up there that lead to a partial ceiling collapse in my office, but apparently it is pretty extensive. Our building was meant to undergo renovations in April, starting with the ground floor, then moving to the 2nd floor, then to the 1st floor. Perhaps this storm will require them to change tactics and do the renovations on the student rooms first.

A panel over my desk collapsed, though that wasn't the worst of the damage to our office. Fortunately, it looks like everything that was on my desk has survived. I went in yesterday and the office was in a bit of a state. A lot had been moved around, and our computers have been moved to different offices for the interm. I probably need to go in and do some cleaning up of my stuff around my desk, but I thought I'd let them clear away the debris first. So I've decided to work from home this week. I'll be going in on Monday, and hopefully our office won't be in quite a desolate state, though I will be surprised if we are already moved back in by then.