ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Good to hear you are safe, Heather. I hear rain is forecast for the weekend. Hopefully that will settle things down.

Thanks Marty and Stephen. Very quiet here today and only a slight breeze. It's a case of sit tight and keep off the roads and out of the way. The roads south of Kilmore were closed yesterday but I was able to get into Kilmore (for the greater part a ghost town) to do a little shopping and amused the policeman at one of the blockades by telling him I was going into town to get "provisions"!! Who reads too many history books do ya reckon?

Rain is just what we need Stephen - as long as it's real rain and not drizzle which will make things more dangerous for the fire fighters. I haven't seen the burnt area but have seen some photos and it's pretty horrific and incredibly wide spread. Who'd have thought we'd have two big ones in five years and both of them missed me by a whisker. The shire should be getting their emergency response systems and protocols down pat by now!

Good to know you're OK, Heather...judging by the news and the smoke haze, things have been pretty bad up your way. I can understand the frustration of some of those on TV complaining about evacuating, going back, evacuating again, and then being stopped by a roadblock. Especially with stock to feed.

The evacuation rule is fine in theory, but fraught with all sorts of difficulties in practice. In areas like the Dandenongs and down on the Great Ocean Road, where we have a place, the nature of the terrain (limited access on narrow, winding roads) creates problems no matter what you do. If Ash Wednesday had occurred at peak holiday time or on a weekend thousands of people would have been trapped in their cars on the GOR. As it was, my parents only just got out in time. There's simply nowhere to go...cliffs/bush on one side, cliffs/sea on the other. One fallen tree across the road would bring everything to a halt. And there are quite a few similarly problematic areas around the state. Horrific disasters waiting to happen. At this time of year all you can do is be prepared, stay alert...and hope like hell the worst doesn't happen.

David

It's a bad time Heather. Good to hear you are OK. How are your friends going ( the ladies in the photo you posted )

Yes, a few NSW folk helping out apparently Marty. I'm sure if you come my daughters will make you a sandwich! To be honest I've kept away from all the excitement - I have no need to go there except to visit a friend or my parents (both in Wallan) but wouldn't get through anyway.

Thanks Neville. I'd have to say we were all a bit edgy. One of my friends lost her home on Black Saturday and bought a lovely house on the outskirts of Wallan - she was evacuated and it came very close to her property. A lady I know who lost her home (& shortly afterwards her husband died) now lives at Willowmavin - their property was saved but they lost fences etc. The other ladies were very anxious. Funnily enough we had had dinner together the night before (8th) and since it was the fifth anniversary of Black Sat, we did discuss our feelings - mainly to do with how material possessions no longer have huge value in our lives - and voiced our dread of the conditions forecast the next day. One friend has been helping out by housing other people's horses at her property and giving people a bed for the night - the same people gave her refuge when she lost her house.

Road blocks are a very emotive topic - once again. Basically the CFA & police are damned if they do and damned if they don't. It is extremely dangerous after a fire like that - with trees that fall without notice and power lines down. I can understand people being anxious to see if their house is standing and their need to get to stock - but, if they were let through and came to grief - who would then get the blame? Would we all say "oh never mind, they knew the risk"? No, the person - probably some poor policeman would get the blame. I heard on the radio the other day that a policeman let someone through a roadblock on Black Saturday and they subsequently died. Plenty of people found the "back way" to their homes last time and avoided road blocks. The silly thing is that people within the road block area are free to move about and some even met others at the road block last time and exchanged goods and in one case children!

..... right now my biggest concern is the mouse in the pantry that has discovered the open box of vita brits - his days are numbered!

I have heard of Wheatbrit's kids, but A VITABRIt'S Mouse. Heather shame on you for thinking such a thing

A mouse has no business in my pantry Bill and I have made it my business to dispose of the naughty critter. I'll feed him to the crows! (Sorry Maureen!)

It's a rotten old world now Heather. We see on the news, five minutes or less with a few quick video grabs of fires at Kilmore , then it's move on to next item.
You described those little " human dramas " being played out.
I suspect most of the TV viewers would have no idea of how disaster affects regional people, and the TV presenters haven't got much time to deal with it, too busy looking for the next exciting scoop, like drug runners in Bali. I believe they pay big money for that.
I'm sure the fire victims would like half of that sort of money to help stay afloat.

It's all off the news now Neville - not nearly exciting enough now - not enough tears to record. There has been some very negative comments about the alleged money paid to Corby when people are giving their time to fight fires. (In fairness to channel 7, they didn't know there was going to be a fire) .

I gather there were some pretty negative comments about it within Channel 7, too. David Koch was definitely not happy.