Fire & Ice

The heat is stifling.  The heat beats mercilessly against my body, my eyes squint in the brightness and my mouth already dry with thirst.  It is 38 degrees Celsius in Perth today and we retreat to the coolness of our recycle air conditioner to escape the fury of nature.  The ground swelters outside, the insects are quiet, there is no wind, no relief from the heat.  The flowers and bushes wilt before my eyes.  Watering hours are before 9am and after 6pm, they will have to toughen it out.  I am thankful for electricity, no matter the cost of it.  Tomorrow they promise a cool change, I'll worry about the bills then.
I think about the rest of the world with the coldest winters reported in the USA and the floods in England.  I say a little prayer and hope everyone is safe and keeping warm.  In Perth our winters seem cold but compared to many other places in the world they are mild and pleasant.  We do not have snow and our average winter day temperature is 18-19 degrees Celsius.  I shudder at the thought of anything colder.  We acclimatise to our environment.  We can change so many things in our lives, but we have no control over the weather.