The First Fortnight

[izmeina]

So the first two weeks of the new year are over. So far so good. There was a pickly sizzling weekend from hell where the mercury hovered around 41-44 celsius. It simply meant melting and lurking around the Lair instead of the usual cafe crawls and culture vulture adventures
Other folks were not so lucky. A combination of hellish heat, winds and a few fallen wooden power poles meant a flaming inferno in the hills and 50 or so houses were burnt to cinders. The creepiest case of all was the picture in the paper of a real estate agent’s sign on the street outside a house in the hills. The sign proclaimed the virtues of this very desirable property along with a ‘sold’ sticker stuck on top. But after the week end the pictures of the house portrayed on the sign were all that remained. It was burned to a cinder while the sign itself was miraculously untouched


Not sure what the legal situation may be in such a case only that the buyers have already sold their own home so like the original owners now have no home to go to

So many people have lost everything they owned in the fires. It must be especially difficult for those who work up in the mines and see the stories about the bushfires on the news and can do nothing of course because they are thousands of miles away

The zombie jobs keep the Izzie out of mischief for two days a week. They are also a source of inspiration for stories.
But most importantly of all they provide a sense of meaning and structure and a new social network. It makes it that much easier for the goblin job to be relegated to the dustbin of ancient history
Even the grand project of reclaiming the Lair is making slow and steady progress.

So far so good. Another wicked stinking hot as hell weekend is on the way. So it’s a struggle keeping the weeds alive. But those bushfires have a way of putting a serpent’s petty problems in perspective

Comments

[ecosopher.livejournal.com]

Ach! What a terrible shame :(

Good to hear the zombie jobs are keeping you busy! And take it slowly on reclaiming the lair, in this heat. Yikes, you poor things.

[ozfille]

They will also have another problem. I saw I assume the head of your firefighters on TV the other day talking about the houses which burnt being mostly badly suited for a bush environment and so if they rebuild I'm sure there will be tougher building requirements which usually means it will cost more to rebuild. He also was talking about homeowners taking more responsibility to fireproof their homes. I assume that meant that lots of people haven't done the things they should have done like clearing an area around your home, cleaning out gutters and making sure there is nothing flammable stored close to the house. But I think there is only so much you can do on days like that when the wind gets behind the flames and turns it into an inferno. I'm not sure even if you were well prepared that your house would be safe in those conditions.

We have missed the heat, it stayed down south and the sea breeze effect ensured we only got up to 30 Deg C but the humidity is awful.