Monday
Dear Elsie
Today was the day it rained and rained and rained. In fact last night there was quite a storm. It was helpful in that the rain put out any possible chance of more fire.
This morning, as it was still raining, Mike picked up Courage and Ruth and they got stuck into cleaning. Courage got the power hose out and starting at the top cleaned the outside of the house and got rid of all the ash on the balconies and patios.
While he had the high pressure hose going, he cleaned the ceiling of our balcony and it came out gleaming…
Despite the rain, we did take an afternoon walk towards the end of the road. Earlier in the day a few photos had been posted of one of the houses burnt in yesterday’s fire. Magda posted these…
This is a photo we took from the road looking down…I think this is a different house.
It’s so devastating and as the stories came out this morning, the speed at which it happened was nothing less than astounding. This photo was on News 24. You can see the size of the waves – the wind was so strong. You can also see the trajectory of the smoke which was heading right towards us.
The top arrow points to the first house to start burning. It was very badly damaged. Today the owner wrote on the Whatsapp group…
We often see this couple as they regularly walk their Labrador dogs. We’ll continue to see them as they have moved in 4 houses up the road for the next several months while their house is repaired.
Life can change so quickly, it’s frightening. What also shocked me by the light of day was the sight of a burnt bush at the house across the road. The wind was carrying flaming papers and blowing them right towards us. It was a harrowing few hours for sure. On a lighter note, naturally, everyone is talking about it and when David went to Olympia this morning, the waitresses were talking about the fire. One of them said, “I’m so glad it didn’t happen on my street.” David couldn’t help himself, “It happened on mine.” That got their attention and within a minute, he had an audience wanting to know the details. When the fire started David was out yesterday and came home to find the road closed. He parked down the road. Later, when the fire was more or less under control, Mike went to get the car and did some shopping. While out, he went to the chemist and got a prescription filled. As the pharmacist was looking up his details, she said in surprise, “Echo Rd? Are you okay?” That was the other thing that became very apparent. The power of social media had carried news of the fire on Echo Rd far and wide. Even last night I had a guest from the UK contact me to find out if we were okay.
It was quite surreal being in the midst of it all.
Luke 12:48
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
It’s not about now – we are only passing through.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Gran xx 🙂