End of the holiday

Bushfires are still burning in Victoria but, up in Queensland and north-east New South Wales, the other extreme of the summer season in Australia, cyclonic winds and torrential rains, are devastating the land. Lives have already been lost as rivers burst their banks and floods sweep across farmland and through towns and houses. The aged mother of a friend is one of hundreds of people in Bundaberg who have been ordered to evacuate to safe havens. Down our way, the rain has been light today, although we have been warned to expect the tail end of the storm activity. The only "disaster" here is a damp and forbidding last day of the holidays for visitors to our town, as the picture of the beach at the end of our street shows.