How different it is in the Northern Hemisphere

While the news out of the disastrous bushfires in Victoria continues to shock and numb us , with the death toll going up by the hour, I receive photos of the extreme weather conditions our family and friends are enduring in parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Frank's brother (Peter)sent these from England a couple of days ago - extreme weather in reverse.

We have friends with farms in the areas where the bushfires are, I spoke to one of them this morning and the fire had burned up to their back paddock behind the house on Saturday, temperatures were 48 degrees (C) with winds up to 90 klms per hour. Janet said she had never experienced anything like it in the whole time she has lived out here (originally from England).

The mood here is very sombre - disbelief at how fast these fires have destroyed whole towns, leaving so many people dead and badly burned in its wake. We are a country which endures bushfires every summer, but never has there been such a devastating loss of life.