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For those who like subtle hints of portents, I've had an afternoon full of them. The phone rang about twice before it stopped ringing, the wind has been rattling at the windows and the awning, theres a hot stifling wind, there have been strange cracks and bangs and whining sort of shrieks occasaionlly softly penetrating the air around. At one point I thought there might be an intruder trying to get in, sirens on the horizon, the lights have been flicking on and off, the radio flicking on and off with the lights. Upon opening the blind to put the awning up before it breaks, I see a cloud on the horizon, I think it's a low lying storm cloud, I realise a little later it's not a rain cloud, but a huge plume of billowing smoke. There's a bushfire relatively nearby here, there are about 20 more around the state, and our huge billow of smoke cloud is not coming from one of the bigger ones either. I probably should have taken a digital photo when there was a good view of it when we drove down for icecreams, there won't be a change in conditions for another 36 hours...
Signs continue... Lots more large twigs or small branches clunking against things, falling and hitting things, our cactus got blown over in the hot winds, there's been a spate of sirens just exploding on the horizon, a helicopter went over ahead also heading towards the plume which is being tinged yellow, orange and pink, though not quite red yet, with the setting sun. Oh and I forgot to mention, today, or more precisely about to happen in 20 minutes or so there is going to be a total solar eclipse, best viewed in S.A.. We won't be able to see it though, as the sun's just set in our part of Aus, but anyway I don't have any sunnies suitable to try and look at it with. They talked a bit about it on the news, and showed the partial eclipse. I like the idea of it, where the sun becomes the crescent moon, a full moon cycle in the space of a short time. Apparently there is also something of a rushing shadow that will swoop over everyone in its path. Maybe in 10 years time when it returns to Aus I'll be able to go and see it...
Decided to stay up and watch the late night movie, it wasn't like I was going to sleep much in the heat. I enjoyed it thoroughly, The Captain's Daughter I think it was called, in any case it was set in Russia so it was nice thoughts of colder climes.
This is going to be the worst summer we've ever had. I've said it before too, and its shaping up to do just that, and last year was supposed to be a bad one, bad ones are only meant to happen every 6-9 years. But two in a row, it is quite worriesome, and this no doubt will be the worst. We had two small thunderstorms last week, but they haven't helped, not enough in them to help soften all this dry dead scrub everywhere. From some earlier bushfires we were driving past the spot where they had been, and there's a bit of green grass there, a little bit of green grass on the edge of the burnt out area, and beside the dead dry expanses, where the firefighters hoses had given it some water. All around it is so dry, so dry, so much fuel, so many fires, so many stupid people who throw cigarette butts out of their car windows and start a massive bushfire, so many even stupider bored people who like to light fires.
There's so much of an ill wind blowing that I'd shiver if it wasn't so hot...
