oh Vicky! so sorry to hear about Laura's accident, i hope she heals well. As soon as you said "air rifle", i was thinking "don't let it be her eye", so i am glad of that.

i spent Sat, Sun and Mon in Melb, to visit my very ill MIL in ICU at Epworth East Hosp in box hill. it was amazing to see her looking so different, she hasn't eaten for so long, she cannot stand, just skin and bones and she drifts in and out of consciousness alot, and in adn out of reality. She was happy to see bilby (for the first time) and actually said positive things like "you must be so proud of her" etc. So it was really good from that perspective.

the number of elderly people that have died here, since the heatwave began, is just phenomenal, i think 60 was the last number i heard. frightening. so many days over 40, power blackouts for 24 hours, elderly people and animals dying as a result. (overheating). When i go out in my car, i put a freezer block in bilby's car seat and another one behind my back, just to be able to stand being in the hot car. and guzzle on iced water the whole drive.

at first you think, i won't go anywhere until it's over, then you realise, you just can't stay home indefinately - you run out of food, your kid gets cabin fever, you get cabin fever. but the freq power outages sure make me think about "end of the world" type movies, when people have to be self sufficient. Makes me realise, just how much "modern convenience" we take for granted, every day. And how quickly, life is different, without those things.

when it was 45 and we had black outs (only for few hours), i sat me and bilby in a bath tub of cold water - me, who normally has to ahve the water HOT HOT to bathe in!! i know it's heatwave, when i'm very happy to have 100% cold showers!

on monday morning, there was a brief thunderstorm in melbourne, and RAIN!!! we took bilby outside to experience the rain, she doesn't understand what rain is, there has been so little of it occurring in her life of two years. so dh and i were esctastic to see and feel RAIN.

back to reality now, alfoil over the windows, place like a cave, so dark, desperately trying to keep it as cool as we possibly can.

Then i see those poor people up in Ingham Qld, who are cut off from the world by floods, even planes have no where to safely land.