I’ve always loved summer, but it has an edge now. I know why that sunset is so orange. For the first time in my life, I think, I heard a forecast of a 35 degree day as being a “bad” day instead of a beautiful day, a stunning day, a fantastic day. I’ve been down by the beach – a somewhat unprepossessing bayside beach, really – and I’ve been aware of those Australians whose summer holiday dream has become a nightmare, and those whose retreat in the country has been blasted by flame. And it just keeps going on, day after day.
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 
It’s a far cry from the innocent days of our childhood…
In the southern hemisphere, the long summer holidays have always been a joy; schools, unis and businesses closing for the weeks that include Christmas, Boxing Day, New Year’s Day etc. Perfect memories and photos!
But now that Sydney and Canberra are hotter than ever in their written history, and Melbourne and Adelaide are even drier than ever before, climate change has arrived suddenly and not gradually 😦
I have always loved summer too Janine, but not because I love the beach. I don’t like the beach much at all, but I love warm days. We always go to the mountains this week, but haven’t gone since the national park is closed. However, we went to the Southern Highlands instead, just for a couple of nights – but they too are affected by the fires with evacuations (and house loss in Bundanoon) and more fires not far away down Kangaroo Valley and the coast. We met (and had pointed out to us more) bushfire refugees – mostly people roaming the streets there in their packed cars having been evacuated from their homes. A server at a restaurant had been evacuated at 2am a few nights previously, and a couple we met had been evacuated twice in the last week. We also saw for ourselves the severely reduced business happening in the little towns there. It wasn’t hard to get accommodation booking three days before we went, nor to extend it on the morning we were to leave, even though it was a Friday night. I can’t imagine what it’s like in the places right in the centre of the fire areas where things are more dire.