Dear all,

A very happy New Year from Sydney, the unofficial bushfire capital of the
world.

Thanks for all your private messages with your concerns about the fires. We
haven't had to worry, but if the fire brigade don't manage to put out a new
large fire in an inner-city national park overnight, we will start worrying
tomorrow.

For once, I am starting to think snow and ice and even tropical cyclones
weren't such a bad deal, and if you are having any right now, enjoy them,
they're better than bushfires.

As for the shell cabinets (have to say something about shells here), they
will stay firmly shut until soot, ashes and blackened leaves have stopped
raining from the sky (can anyone remind me what colour sunlight is supposed
to be?)

Hope your New Year's Day is better than ours!

Patty Jansen

(in Sydney, Australia)