As I stopped for a moment to catch my breath (and take a picture) I thought about the loss the owner of this property (in Fairfield, Brisbane) was facing. She was cheery, and joking with the volunteer workers who were cleaning out her home. But she is getting on, and there won’t be the time and energy to rebuild – as she did the last time she was flooded in 1974. I don’t think that the work we were doing – pulling up carpets, removing ruined furniture, pressure cleaning the walls and floors – will ultimately be of much benefit. In one sense it was symbolic, since the house (full of asbestos) will probably be demolished anyway, but it lifted her spirits and showed that there were strangers that cared.