Well, it’s been an interesting start to the new year and one I’m sure many people would really have liked to not happen. There are currently bushfires in Tasmania, some people escaped to the beach and were brought off to safety in boats but there are around 100 people still missing. My heart goes out to these people, their family and friends as well as to those who have escaped and will have to build their houses from scratch. We’ve had extraordinary heatwaves, Melbourne had its typical couple of days while Adelaide sweltered for several more days, Tasmania’s bushfires were started (or aggravated, I’m not sure which) by unusually high temperatures. Kudos to all firies for their dedication in going to fight fires in their hot equipment in such temperatures! I’m not forgetting other bushfires, there have been some in Victoria with one fairly close to home…when I say fairly close I don’t mean I’m in its path as I’m in the middle of suburbia and if a bushfire came this far in then we’d be in very dire straits as there are many suburbs and thousands of people in between me and any possible bushfire.

I left you last year intending to go away for a week and do a lot of planning. I definitely went away for a week and I did make a list of some possibilities for Mondayitis and I also read three and a half books but that’s all I did. Technology wasn’t my friend and things either didn’t work or were much harder than expected so I gave up and concentrated on reading, playing games and walking. I’ll write more about it on Wednesday but we stayed in Barwon Heads for a week with a trip to the Bellarine Peninsula touring around the towns there.

I took two books, bought another at an op shop and took my iPad. If I hadn’t borrowed from my OH I would have not had enough reading material. The moral of the story is if you can fit more books into your suitcase then you should, always take more books than you expect to be able to read. I still find reading books in print more preferable over books on the iPad.

I hope everyone had a relaxing time over the new year, drank enough but not too much and has survived the heat (or cold if you’re in the northern hemisphere).