Bruce Druery runs an environmentally aware business in Surry Hills, having formerly turned away from the oil industry. In his interview he talks about the positives and negatives of bike-riding to business meetings and other aspects of a ‘green’ approach to personal and professional life. In the excerpt below Bruce describes the effects of Sydney’s frequent heavy downpours and a famous hailstorm that hit Sydney in 1999, causing extensive damage.
From a rain point of view, when it rains, if it continues to rain, it will find its way into a house. There will always be a weakness somewhere and water’s an amazing thing. Capillary action: it will travel along beams, it will find its way into cracks, the mould will rise; that’s part of what happens. We suffered with a hailstorm in Paddington which was quite famous, about ten or twelve years ago, and that had a big impact on our house. We had windows and atriums smashed, we had water pour through it. We spent the next nine months living in one room while all the repairs were done, which were extensive, and that was a big weather event and hailstorms are hard to predict. We lost two cars as well as a result of that, one of which was never replaced. It actually created a lot of community spirit because people were in the same boat and a lot of people had been damaged and so they were very cooperative. They kind of stood out in the street and didn’t hug one another but they were supportive of what had just happened. So, yes, those events, crises, fires, I think, brings communities together more than takes them apart.
