The start of something

Centre left, a fire (or smoke at least), centre right, three fire engines/trucks/cars. Location, the tip. We see this occasionally. Tonight I was sitting with my book (The Sending - Isabelle Carmody), when I heard multiple sirens down in the valley. Looked out the window, and I could see smoke rising from the tip. So I went upstairs, grabbed the binoculars, and saw a fire truck heading up the road to the tip. "Hmm, interesting" I thought. "Have they worked out a better system yet?" Every now and then arsonists get into the tip and set things alight. The Tip Shop's gone up twice, and we can see the headlights of 4X4s careening around in the bush behind. The fire brigade roar up the road, sirens and lights letting everyone know that it will all be ok. They're ready for action. They've got hoses and water. Hard hats are firmly attached. Nothing's going to stop them from saving us all from a raging bushfire. Except perhaps a locked gate. No worries. We'll wait for the key. And wait. And wait. Then it turns up. And taadaa they're in and off and anxious to stop that fire. Oh, but there's another gate. Which key does that need? This one! And they're off again. Threading around the dirt roads, and off around the corner to make it all better.

Of course, the firies are pretty amazing, they do a brilliant and terrifying job, it's just that system that takes a good 20 minutes to get into the tip that seems a little strange...

Now there's more smoke, although that might be part steam? If I crane my neck I just spotted another couple of sets of flashing lights heading through it. Hopefully it'll all be sorted out without too much fuss - fires at this time of year are always a little scarier than at any other time.


Had a great day today - retreat for work. We all piled up to a colleagues house, heard a little about the future plans for the organisation, then were taken on a walking tour down the Hobart Rivulet. It was very interesting - I work for a community development and social welfare organisation under the research arm, and so it was a social history of Hobart, and how that's led to the Hobart of today. Great stuff. We then went to have lunch at another colleagues, and talk through some stuff as a team. It's lovely to get out of the office, and the day was splendiferous, so it couldn't have been better.