Waving not drowning

The current heat wave (see here)has everyone here in SA gathered around the TV weather every evening, only to feel a wave of deflation pass over them when the week long forecast is shown and gives a range of temperatures from 37-40.

This has now gone on for 8 days and we have a full week (at least) ahead of us. While I have blogged before about how this is not something out of the blue, but at least within the range of our South Australian experience (remember those long February-March school days back in the 60s, those hot old Uni orientation weeks in the un-airconditioned St Mark's College, and at least one very hot week at Goolwa when we used to go down to the beach at the dead of night because it was the only cool place) nevertheless it is a bit of a worry.

I feel as though the  struggle with the garden at Port Elliot is at least as significant as the advance of the Kalahari...will we simply have desert there in 5 years. I don't think so, maybe there was always going to be a stuggle to creat garden on a sand dune! I have realised in the last few weeks that the native bushland parts of that garden are actually looking quite good. And, oh, the smell of eucalyptus and native bushland when the temperature soars! What else might we expect?

It would be nice for this to end soon, we took a quarter off the front lawn by covering it with gravel on Saturday....should have done it a long time ago, Tilly takes it in her stride but it wears her down. And each day you meet at least two people who have not slept well.

It is a heat wave. But weare waving not drowning.