Since I came back from Adelaide the weather has been pretty hot – in the mid 40s, so the dogs have been inside much of the time. It has been an interesting few days – Thursday I drove back – Friday I was at a function at the Golf Club where we were presented with a cheque for $10,000 as a donation from Arrium Mining to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, Saturday we did a fundraising event and I was told that one of our parishioners had died. This was not unexpected but came much quicker than anticipated. On Sunday I was asked if I would prepare the Order of Service. I said yes, then I was told that the funeral would be on Tuesday (Today) – which gave me one day to get into town, select the paper for the cover from the stationers, design the Order of Service, Print the cover, print the inserts. fold collate and have it ready for the Service today = all 130 Orders of Service. So it’s been a kind of hectic few days and the joy of the concert has already receded into the distance. I have a Filofax and without it I would be lost. I need it to keep track of what I am doing, and if I called into work – where I am. For me, it’s not some kind of statement it is a necessary means of keeping track of what I am doing. I have, over years, tried other methods, like a PDA, but I gave that up and went back to pen and paper, I sort of toyed with the idea of a tablet, but decided I could not really justify it and I honestly do prefer my Filofax.
The hot weather over the last few days meant that the Bushfires in three states flared up again. The fires in Victoria came very close to the City of Melbourne. Here in South Australia we remembered 
the Ash Wednesday Fire of 1983 which tore through South Australia and Victoria and killed 75 people, including 17 firefighters. Two firefighters have been killed in Victoria in the last week by falling trees. Apparently, the fire just north of Melbourne is now under control and people are being allowed back into their homes. The Grampians Fire is still burning out of control and has joined up with another fire. There are about 400 firefighters and water bombers fighting that one. The interesting thing is that many of these men and women fighting the fires and standing into danger are unpaid volunteers. We have a dual system, one paid and one manned by volunteers. The Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) is based in the city and is staffed by paid personnel while the Country Fire Service (CFS) is staffed by volunteers. It’s compromise between the State Government and some 430 rural communities – the government supplies the engines and the equipment – the volunteers use it.
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