Sorry for the silence on these pages. I could put it down to Sheds closed for two weeks. Partially true. The real reason is that I was struck down with Shedders’ Lurgy for a few days.
However, Happy New Year!
It looks set to be a busy year and I’ll share some of that in a second post shortly.
I want to focus on a concern half a world away in Australia and the raging bush fires. My Aussie family are “cautiously camping” not far from home at present, returning home shortly because winds are changing and they might need to evacuate. They train in it as a family (as recommended) because the rate of advance of a fire front is not dictated at ground level but at treetop level and with wind blown embers. Wind speed, if you like. The time to think is before you are threatened.
This is one family’s home, multiplied many times.
With volunteering in mind, I want to express my (probably our) appreciation of the largely volunteer manned fire teams on the front line. The weather is hot (40+ recently on average across Australia), the undergrowth tinder dry, no real rain to dampen anything down and wearing protective suits. Thankfully they train for this in order to protect their community. On this occasion things are so extreme that crews are spending days away from their regular, wage earning work.
I think of our own volunteers in RNLI (two or three Shedders with past and present) connections. Taking risks often for people they do not know. Putting their own lives on the line – albeit minimising the risks.
Give thanks for services of this nature – whether voluntary or paid (as essential full timers must be).