43

Yesterday it was 43 degrees here in Melbourne. That's in Celsius by the way. In Fahrenheit, that little number becomes the great big number of 109.4 . I don't care where you are from, that's hot. An American friend asked me if that was common here this time of year. I wouldn't say 43 is a common occurrence in Melbourne, but it's not completely unheard of. We had a few days of 40+ degrees last summer--some of you might remember what happened then...the Black Saturday bush fires. When the mercury climbs this high and the winds start to blow, I get a sinking feeling now. I start to think about the possibility of another bushfire--and we live in the city, not even in the bush where the threat is very real. I can only imagine the terror in the hearts of the people actually living in the heart of the bush. Yesterday as my children and I sat nestled inside of our air conditioned home, I watched the laundry whipping in the wind on the line in the back garden and I hoped that there would be no stories of raging fires on the evening news. I hoped that our neighbours in the bush would be spared this year. The day came and went with little or no incidence--fire wise that is. Hundreds of trains were cancelled due to the heat and the Handsome Australian was forced to find another way home. We normally shut the air conditioner off overnight, but as we made our way to bed around midnight, the mercury was still sitting at 32 degrees (89.6 F) and when I awoke this morning it was 31 degrees (87.1 F)--so needless to say, we kept the air conditioner humming. Last night was apparently one of Melbourne's hottest nights on record. Today's forecast is for a high of 40 degrees (104 F) so we'll be staying close to home, trying to stay cool and hoping the best. I'll also be folding all of that laundry as I wait for the cool change to come through...