A busy couple of weeks, working long hours has meant that I have had little time for updating here, and as I have been so busy, not much time to think about anything else but what needed to be done.
News from a couple of weeks ago: a new baby boy to G and A in Brisbane, a little brother for William.
Another arrival is imminent in Melbourne to P and A...
A 90th birthday party a couple of weeks ago, too, and an 83rd on Saturday.
Time to celebrate.
This morning it was 12 degrees when I was driving to work, hard to believe just under four weeks ago it almost made 48 degrees in Melbourne. Snow flurries in the Alps today, but good news continues, in that only two bush fires remain to be contained.
Cooler weather means that cats like knees even more than usual. The two little ones find room on one pair of knees, and Coco takes over the other set. Whether or not one wants a warm knee is not at question, it is what must happen.
Mille has now been with us for nearly four weeks, and she and Mischa spend a lot of time chasing each other around the house. That, and sleeping. I would say that Coco tolerates the two babies, but would prefer on the whole to be left to solitude. She has realised that first in is best dressed, though. We've had some enquiries about Millie but noone has yet been keen enough to come and have a look. In the meantime, she is happy, which is a good thing.
Meanwhile, at work, many of the people in our team have enrolled in a 10,000 step a day walking program. The idea is that one determines a base level of activity, which is what we are doing this week, then work on increasing our steps until we are doing at least the target number a day, using pedometers to measure the steps we are taking. I may need to do some shopping trips, because I don't seem to notice the extra steps when out and about thinking about other things. The program lasts for 10 weeks, so we should all notice a big level of improvement in fitness over coming weeks.
In the meantime, it is a source of wonder that some can sit, unmoving for hours and only tally up 200 steps by lunch time, and for others doing 17,000 can be done with relative ease. There have been arguments about what should be done when the pedometer does not mention steps accurately when running, and whether running uses the same number of kilojoules per kilometre travelled. It doesn't really matter, I guess, because if we are doing more then we will be improving fitness.
Rain, gently falling, eases the burden, and while the watch over fires continues, the major danger may now be past.
60,000 tickets to a concert at the MCG in aid of bushfire funds, sold in a matter of a few hours- capacity is just over 100,000, it will be interesting to see how many more are sold.
Prayers for rain were answered, and the relief effort goes on, and will do so for many months.
The news is much better than we feared, although it seems there were many incidents yesterday, fire fighters have managed to hold things.
Some rain and a few days of cooler weather will ensure that more control lines can be built, but still some time until these fires are out.
It was a day that started with rain this morning, enough to need to use the windscreen wipers on the way to work, but not enough to do anything but temporarily cool things down a bit. The morning stayed cool, longer than expected, but the wind has come up this afternoon and evening, with spot fires in many places around the already burning forest, and new ones springing up in all sorts of places. So far, we just don't have enough information to know the extent of it, but a check of cfa.vic.gov.au- incidents page shows that the fire fighters have had a battle in many places, and in some, the danger is so great, that it is too dangerous to directly attack the fire.
I am told that there is not much worse than having to sit all day in a tanker, waiting until one is needed, knowing that the fires keep on burning, but it's too dangerous to do anything else. Even in the areas that are mostly burnt out, it's too unsafe to go in there because of the danger of falling trees in the high winds.
First the dust and high winds, then rain which turns dust into muddy streaks on cars and exposed walls of houses. Little inconvenience when one thinks of those who haven't had a good night's sleep for weeks, as they wait, and wait, and wait.
One caller to the ABC this morning just wanted it to be all over, whatever happened, whatever he lost.
This ongoing disaster gives us a brief taste of what living in war torn Britain during the blitz, never quite knowing when the next wave of destruction was going to come.
The rain this evening has been very light, so no respite tonight.
Whether the extremes of fire weather experienced this season are a symptom of global climate change or not, it is somewhat disconcerting for the average person, who reads an SMS message from their national telephone provider this afternoon, from Victoria Police:
Msg from Vic Police:Extreme weather in Vic expected Mon night & Tues. High wind & fire risk. Listen to local ABC Radio for emergeny updates. Do not reply to this.
On my way to work this morning: a sign on the Freeway cautioned with a similar message.
There are spot fires even in today's milder conditions which are breaking out ahead of the fire fronts, and it is expected that with the winds tonight and tomorrow, burning cinders may float up to a hundred kilometres or more, before coming to earth without warning to start yet another fire front.
It will be a matter of protection only under these circumstances- the only thing that can stop the currently slumbering menace is substantial rain.
Tonight we are at the closing of the 23rd day of the worst bushfires in Australian history, which burn on, relentlessly in the mountains and hills to the North and East of Melbourne, despite cooler conditions for most of the time since Black Saturday, 7th February. Inaccessible, and still burning is a dangerous mix.
The weather forecast for Tuesday is ominous, with 150kph Northerly winds predicted, and temperatures of 35 degrees before a strong south westerly change. Hearts quicken, imagining who knows what might happen in conditions such as these, when it becomes clear that our hold on this precious land is transitory.
Equipment is now up to date, with many more equipped to fight the deadly battle, and even more prepared to walk away from hitherto precious assets, in the knowledge that they can be replaced but the lives of loved ones cannot.
In the voice of poet Ida Lee, written in 1896, let us be reminded that fire defines the Australian landscape, though many years might pass, where the threat slumbered, and we grew complacent about the risks of living in this wide brown land.
WAKE up, boy ! the grass is burning ;
See the glare across the hill !
Flames are nearing the " Flat Paddock,"
And the sheep are in there still.
Dark you say ! Yes, so I think it,
Tho' I see the field of corn ;
But the lights which flicker thro' it
Are not those we see at dawn.
Mount the Arab ! Take wet sacking !
Wet it must be, mind, not dry ;
We must save the master's cattle,
If we perish while we try.
Ride on faster, you are younger,
Tie your horse to yonder tree,
Break some overhanging branches
One for you and one for me.
Face the fire and do not shirk it,
Never mind the smoke and heat ;
Do not heed the dead wood cracking,
Or the sparks beneath your feet.
Beat and blind them, crush and kill them,
Till their blackened embers lie
Stark in ashes, and around you,
One by one in darkness die.
See the blaze is growing greater,
Now it runs with many a leap
To where stand the tall white gum trees,
In whose limbs the parrots sleep,
Throws its fiery arms around them ;
Every bird in terror flies
From its home in grief forsaken,
Shrieking harsh unearthly cries.
Will the wind not turn to Westward,
Or those great black clouds drop rain ?
There was thunder ! no, I doubt it,
But do listen once again.
Now I hear the poor sheep bleating,
How they gaze from out the gloom,Like the stake-bound men we read of
Who have died the martyr's doom.
Just this moment they were rushing
Thro' the scrub down to the plain,
Parch'd and weary. Now returning,
They seek refuge here again.
It was thunder ! It is raining,
For the cinders, hot and red,
Hiss, as cool drops fall upon them
Through the branches overhead.
Sweetly blows the yellow wattle
'Cross the road and up the lane,
But to me the scent is sweetest
Of the damp and moist'ning rain.
How it plays upon the firewood,
With a pattering ceaseless sound,
Like some grand and glorious music
Sent to soothe the saddened ground.
Take my arm, boy ! I feel blinded !
'Tis with joy from such a sight.
Lead me home. I will thank God there
For His love to me to-night.
" The Bush Fire" appeared in " The Sydney Mail" (Christmas
Number), December, 1896. I found this poem on line in the archives of the University of California, Bushfire and other verses by Ida Lee.
Let us pray for rain, and soon.
