Thanks to all those who have called or emailed in the past few days to check on our family's welfare amid the recent southern Californian fires.
For those who didn't know (or care), we are all fine. There is no real imminent
threat to our home but we stay informed, just in case. However, my work was closed on Monday and Tuesday (22nd and 23rd Oct). It took me two hours on Monday to get there and then 45 minutes later they said we should go home! Only an hour to get home, riding into the fierce Santa Ana wind. By Tuesday afternoon the fire closest to work had made it to the car park of the building across the street. Fortunately, it was contained there with our car park now somewhat ash covered.
It is extremely dry around here so bush(brush/wild)fires are always a constant concern -- well, except immediately after the fire I guess. Being Australian, fires are nothing new to us. You learn to respect them and how to take precautions. On the other, we have little experience with earthquakes ...
