The last thing a South Australian wants to see

Coming home from the supermarket tonight there is the horror of looking up to the hills and seeing a billowing cloud of smoke arising from behind the Mt Lofty Ranges.

No South Australian wants to see this. Though it pales into significance besides what's happening in Japan we are reminded that our life is very fragile.

I still have imprinted on my memory the awful bushfires of February 1983, as clear as if it was yesterday.

This is an actual picture of today's smoke

Petulant

It would be petulant to question why the air crash in Yogoyakarta yesterday has dominated the airwaves.
While it is serious, it is also a modest disaster in the scheme of things.
It gets excessive media attention because there were Australians on board, but mainly because there was video of the awful events.
Not so events with recent around the world...34 killed in a train crash in Harare, 8 killed in a helicopter crash in Austria.
I was also personbally bowled over by the PM's obvious intention to act with great haste to "bring them home". Not so others who don't take his fancy like David Hicks, who has become his politcial football