Guides to a fiery future – it was only a matter of time

It was only a matter of time. It seems such a long time ago that we moved from bushfires to pandemic and watched as a wave of disease and stupidity swept the world and the country. Now the bushfires are back – the stupidity as well. Did we ever think they wouldn’t be?

Fires and floods and wars (luckily the last haven’t reached Australia – yet) and other disasters inevitably make you think what should I keep, what should I take? Amongst such disaster I include the death of loved ones and the culling of loved things, like libraries. Sorting the belongings of those who have gone, the only criterion can be ‘does it mean something?’ With belongings, once you bravely discard an item of a certain level of significance, it’s open slather on all other items of that level – that way went many of my books.

Crowds at Coogee Beach indulging in one of the most popular Australian outdoor activities – contracting skin cancer.

‘It was only a matter of time. It seems such a long time ago that we moved from bushfires to pandemic and watched as a wave of disease and stupidity swept the world and the country. Now the bushfires are back – the stupidity as well.’

Sheep graziers warning replaced by heat wave alert – reading books, drinking tea and reading tea leaves

Yesterday I popped out to get coffee and to visit the library, which just reopened after the break. They are the only things that would tempt me out of the apartment in this weather. Instead of the normal sheep graziers alert we get in Canberra, this week we have a heat wave alert. Yesterday was 33 degrees, then today is 35 degrees, the next three days will each reach 38 degrees. Originally there were going to be three days in a row where the temperatures reached 39, so I’m thankful that’s changed. I feel as though I am living in Adelaide again, but it’s probably even hotter there.

It’s quite clear that our overlapping layers of weather protection – curtains, blinds, tinting, heavy duty insect screens and plants – have substantially reduced the heat that gets into our apartment. The other day, sliding the windows in my study along to fertilise the window boxes, I saw how dark the overlapping tinted glass is.

It’s a pleasure to have a terrace that is as expansive as a courtyard, our very own garden of Eden, like the fabled Islamic paradise gardens Monty Don talks about, or as I sometimes refer to it - the hanging gardens of babble on.

To date, while we have had a few scattered hot days, we’ve not really had either very hot days or a continuous stretch of them. While I’m not looking forward to a string of hot days finally appearing, I am looking forward to seeing how the apartment will respond. We will add the two remaining defensive components we have – fans and air-conditioning – and see how we fare.