The media circus and others

recently criticised our Prime Minister for making a trip to Iraq - and not informing the media or inviting them along. There were claims he was trying to "avoid scrutiny".
Perhaps he was. It is equally likely that, as he said, there were "security issues".
Although journalists are happy to "protect their sources" they are not good at keeping their mouths shut. It isn't their job to keep their mouths shut.
We now have a constant flow of news available from a seemingly endless variety of sources. As part of my work I am provided with a "news feed". It, supposedly, keeps me up to date on what is going on around the world. What it really does is give me the understanding/viewpoint/opinion of one or more people who happen to be in a certain location or have technical information about what they believe to be happening there.
There was an earthquake in New Zealand - or there were a series of earthquakes. It measured 6.4 on the Richter scale or perhaps it measured 6.3. It depends on who is providing the information - and where they got it from and what they believe about earthquakes and aftershocks.
Journalists are under pressure to make much out of a story, to keep the news flow constant and exciting. Accuracy no longer really matters. You need to be able to "sell" the story in a way which keeps the reader/listener on your website, your radio or television channel and your "app". 
Journalists will, of course, say I am wrong about that. They report the news as it happens. They do it accurately. They do not allow their personal views to influence their reporting - perhaps.
They know that, for the ratings, national security is less important than getting a story out - especially any story they can twist to make anyone in authority look even slightly foolish.  Journalists can report news, they can report a story from their point of view, or they can create a story out of  (a misapplication of) "the facts". After all, it costs money to send a reporter to report from another location. There was a prime example this week. Our SBS news service reported that two people were missing in the fires. This announcement was made at the beginning of the bulletin, despite the fact that over six hours previously the police had announced that everyone was accounted for. It was not until half way through the bulletin, after calls from a number of people, that SBS announced "breaking news - everyone is accounted for". My guess? They knew beforehand but they were manipulating the news in order to keep the story about the fires alive and "interesting" for viewers. Accuracy didn't matter - a good story did. Too bad if you happen to have a relative in the fire zone and you had not been able to contact them.
It is no secret that the media has been particularly critical of the present Prime Minister. They don't like him. He doesn't like them. They know he knows how they work and he refuses to play the game. They will create stories where there are none - simply to "sell" no-news.
But, if they looked carefully, they would have discovered that even the staffer who was filming the Prime Minister's visit to Iraq was asked to leave at one point. Yes, there were almost certainly good security reasons for not allowing the press to tag along. They can make a story of that too.

I think i might need to talk about magic....

Somebody I don't know sent the above quote to someone I do (virtually) know and I suspect it is something she related to instantly. And, as a quote, it appealed to me too.
I wanted to find something more cheerful to write about today. There has been a bit too much tension and gloom and doom in my life in the past few days. Bushfires tend to do that to me - and to other people.
So, a little magic.
The Senior Cat likes playing with magic. (He's an OM if anyone is interested - Order of Merlin.) He does things with cards, coins, silk handkerchiefs, cups and balls and other things. He knows how to "saw a lady in half" and many other things. It is not my cup of tea as they say, not my sort of magic.
But he likes other magic too - the magic of gardening and carpentry and reading and talking with friends. Yes, it's all magic.
Creating good things, useful things, beautiful things is all magic.
There is the magic of reading the new book. There is the magic of finding yourself or someone you know in a book - and seeing them in a new way.
Cooking is magic too - even just putting all the ingredients in a bread machine and, hours later, opening the lid to discover that there is something completely different inside.
I can put my paw out and push the button at the pedestrian crossing and stop a fuel tanker, a lorry, a bus, a car. Magic.
An acquaintance of the Senior Cat once bemoaned the fact that magic (as in conjuring) was less popular because people were surrounded by things like lifts, escalators, doors that open as you walk towards them, television, the internet and so on. He was wrong. Magic is more popular than it ever was but people don't recognise it as such.
Some time ago I watched a small boy walking up to an automatic door. It opened. He stopped. It closed again. He walked back towards his father and it opened as he moved again. He stopped. This went on for some time and it must have seemed magical to him. Oh yes, he will grow out of it and will only notice an automatic door if it doesn't work. It's still magic. We just have to recognise it as such.

The main fire area is

still on a "watch and act" level. It is not yet under control. The fire fighters hope to have it under control today, indeed need to have it under control. The weather will be worse tomorrow and Wednesday and not much better Thursday. We are all hoping that, for once, the weather people are right about the cool change for Friday. Weather forecasting is such an inexact science that I will not be holding my breath.
My news feed is still full of CFS (Country Fire Service) alerts that say "grass fire" and "building fire". The CFS site is still a sea of red and black - the first "going" and the second "complete".
There are some huge trees down - sometimes across roads - and they will have to be watched for days because fire can flare up again even it appears to be out. Embers flying out on the wind are a constant problem.
My youngest sister has a friend who lives in the fire zone. She has not heard from her. Text messages are simply not getting through. We know she is safe because everyone is accounted for - but her home, her animals, her business? (She runs a holiday farm.)
We know a couple whose son is a volunteer fire fighter. They are on high alert all the time he is out - but they would not have it any other way. The teacher around the corner is an SES (State Emergency Service) volunteer. His daughter was out walking the dog a short time ago.
        "Dad's come home to get a bit of sleep," she told me.
We have not-quite neighbours who went to get their daughter and two small children while their son remained to help. I'll find out shortly whether all is well with them.
The local charity shop, run by a major church, will be open this morning. People will be sent to them for assistance. I know they will call me when people need help with paperwork. And I know that insurance companies will do their best to delay, to not pay out, to find all the excuses in the world not to help.  I know that the $700 the government is offering - that is the maximum they will pay per family - is going to go nowhere at all and that many people will not see a cent of that.
But I also know that people will help, are helping. They can do that here. It's not a catastrophic earthquake or tsunami. All that really matters is that everyone is alive and accounted for - and we want it to stay that way.  

This post is especially for Upoverites

who have been concerned about the safety of myself and the Senior Cat due to the bushfires here Downunder.
Let me say hastily that we are fine. We are safe. We live in suburbia and, so far, there have been no fires in the hills immediately behind us. That would pose a risk to us and many thousands of other people. We have been fortunate that there has not been a fire in the Brownhill Creek Conservation Park or in among the gullies leading up into the suburbs built in among the bush that covers the hills.
It is, of course, madness to build in these places.
The current fire is in a place started in a place called Sampson Flat. It is to the north of the city - about 26km from here. It is what Upoverites would probably consider to be a very remote area but it is, by Downunder standards, a moderately populated area. There are many small "towns" (villages) like Kersbrook, Lyndoch and Gumeracha and many individual houses on small vineyards, hobby farms, some market gardens, a lavender farm and other such activities. These individual houses can be some kilometres from their neighbours.
There is another conservation park in the area and that, along with other high fuel loads on individual properties, is what is burning. Natural Australian "bush" tends to be very fire prone. There are a number of reasons for this, one of them is the eucalypts.
Yesterday the authorities evacuated 21 towns. That sounds like a lot and it is but they are small villages by Upover standards. It was done because the fire was and, as I write this, still is out of control. People are not yet allowed to return home. At this time they do not know how many houses have been lost.
My job yesterday was, along with a team of other people, to see that people with disabilities who might need extra assistance were informed of the situation. Late in the day we knew that everyone on the list was accounted for and safe. It was good news.
We have a problem however. It is simply this. We build houses where houses should not be built. People have romantic ideas about living "in the bush". They have romantic but extremely dangerous ideas about "leaving the bush in its natural state". They don't understand - or perhaps want to understand - that this is not safe. Fires can be started by human error, human mischief or nature but they are made much worse by failing to clear the land around dwellings, by failing to clear the undergrowth which causes fires to travel so rapidly, by failing to have fire plans in place and means to fight fires. The means to fight a fire may not stop it but it can slow a fire sufficiently to bring it under control more quickly.
One man who had lost his home was interviewed. In true Downunder style he, while visibly upset, shrugged and said he would rebuild in the same location. He "liked the solitude". Yes, no doubt he does but his former home was surrounded by a frightening fuel load. The problem is that it is simply not safe to live like that.
We live in suburbia. The conservation park  begins about two kilometres away, so do the gullies leading up into the hills. I would like to think we are safe but I don't doubt other people believed they were too. 

We have our first major

bushfire of the season. There have been other fires - smaller fires which, while still bad, have not been as disastrous. As I write this though at least five homes have been destroyed and the Country Fire Service has been warning there may be more. I hope not but I know the reality is that there almost certainly will be others. Certainly the smell of "wet smoke" (smoke from a water-bombed fire) is strong even here.
We are about 20kms from the fire area - and more than that from the actual fire. There is a vast swathe of suburbia between us and the fire area. To be on the other side of the city now would mean not going outside at all. To be closer to the fire area than that would be frightening.
I keep an orange "emergency" bag packed. It contains very little - nothing more than a change of underwear, socks, my passport (for purposes of official identification), something made by the Senior Cat, and a copy of "The Four Quartets" by TS Eliot. I could, I think, replace almost any other book or object I own but I could not replace this one. It was written by hand. There is one illustration for each section. It was made by a friend, now long deceased. The love and care which went into that book is something that still astounds me.
Some people laugh at the idea of my "emergency bag" and what it contains and tell me "If you're going to do that Cat, pack a proper bag."
But I know what is important to me. I hope there would be time to grab the little black box which is the back up for my computer. I hope there would be time to grab a few more things. If there isn't then - too bad. But I want my passport and something the Senior Cat made me and the book. I want to be able to be me - and have those gestures of love.

"We're going to adopt him,"

an acquaintance told me. She was pushing a small boy along the street. He was sitting on the seat of one of those odd little wheeled toys that let you push the pedals and, presumably, pretend you are riding a bike.
I was startled because I had always assumed that he was their child. I first saw him being pushed around the streets when he was very young. He looks very much like his father in colouring and facial structure - so much so that people have often remarked on it. Seeing my obvious confusion the woman told me, "He's my husband's sister's child. Remember? She died in September 2013. His father can't care for him - since the accident. We want him - want him to be able to stay in his family."
I remember hearing something about it. I did not inquire about the details. All I know is that there was an appalling accident. The child's mother died of her injuries some weeks later. The child's father is unable to care for himself and certainly could not care for the child. So relatives have stepped in to take on the responsibilities.
It sounded as if it should have been simple but apparently it has not been at all simple. His father was willing, indeed more than willing. He was anxious it should happen. He will have to live in care for the rest of his life. They were willing and anxious for it to happen. The authorities apparently had other ideas. They were "too old" to adopt. (They have other children in their late teens.) They had to be considered "suitable" and so it went on. That they had been caring for the child since the day of the accident apparently had nothing to do with the decision making. It has taken the past fifteen months - from the time it became clear it was going to be necessary - to ensure that this child's future was going to be secure.
I know that there are good reasons, very good reasons, to ensure that a child who is gong to be adopted is going to a good home but why did it take this long? His new mother told me that the constant uncertainty has been hard on all of them. They feel much more relaxed now but there were several times when the authorities questioned whether people now in their late forties could care for such a small child. The fact that they were doing it was apparently irrelevant. If they had not been willing and his father had died then he could have ended up in a series of foster homes. This way he has a home - and he can stay in his family.
Our brief conversation ended when he looked up and demanded, "Mummy - push!"

I had to rush out and

water some drooping plants this morning. They had been watered last night but the day promises to be rather too warm for comfort. The next few days will, apparently, be more of the same.  We will endeavour to keep the garden alive but I know that we will lose some things and that it will all be something of a battle.
The weather will also mean staying inside and drinking a lot of water and trying to stay as cool as possible. Air conditioning has its limits and there is every likelihood of power cuts.
The Senior Cat gets frustrated in such weather. In daylight hours he is out in the garden or in the shed. He wants to "get things done". He is not someone who can happily sit and watch sport on television. He doesn't watch sport at all. He watches almost no television.
So, why did we give him his personal DVD player for Christmas and birthday? The reason is simple. He loves British comedy. With earphones he can still hear it well enough to enjoy it. After the heat of last summer we decided that he needed to be able to just relax. If the player is fully charged it will give him about ninety minutes of good entertainment - a change from reading, working out magic puzzles and lessons, wooden puzzles (not the jigsaw sort), origami puzzles and so on. Yes, he keeps himself entertained but the DVD player will add to that.
We have ordered "The Good Life" and "Keeping Up Appearances" for him. He only ever saw some episodes. Someone I know has given him "The Vicar of Dibley" - again he missed most of those at the time and someone else has promised me the loan of their copy of "To the Manor Born".  All of them are, according to the Senior Cat, "marvellous British comedy". He might even get around to watching the not funny but rather pleasant, "Hetty Wainthropp" series someone else dropped in for him yesterday. He also has a set of old films given to him by a friend of mine who returned to the US. It includes such things as "The Lady Vanishes". It will be interesting to see what he now makes of them and whether he can be bothered to watch them to their conclusion.
"I mustn't watch too much," he told me. How much is too much if you are laughing?