Wild weather and expoding gas heaters!

I don't know if any of my readers are in New Zealand, but if so, my thoughts are with you after such a tragic day on Saturday. We saw on the news last night footage of the earthquake that has nearly flattened Christchurch, and also the plane crash on the glacier, killing nine people. There are tragedies and catastrophes playing out all over the world most of the time, but New Zealand and Australia have very close ties, and I'm sure most Aussies will be concerned for our Kiwi mates.

Here in Australia, several states have been swept by violent storms and winds over the last day or so, and as I type this, the rain and wind is lashing our house. Ken and I always worry about our birds in their aviaries, at the top of our back yard. There are several trees close by, and if one of them is blown over....well, I won't dwell on that.

For years I've been nagging Ken to install a retractable clothesline on our patio, for days like this when I can't hang the washing on our clothesline outside the back door. Well, I could, but what's the point - it would just get wetter! Several of our friends have these retractable clothes line under their patio roof, and it is so handy to be able to hang your washing out regardless of the weather, knowing it will get dry in spite of the rain. But Ken always said it couldn't be done. So when I saw a cute portable clothesline advertised in the Innovations mail order catalogue, I ordered it immediately. It arrived last week, just in time for me to put it to good use yesterday!

You can see by the wet bricks at the foot of the photo, that there is just enough shelter for my little clothesline. Obviously it isn't sturdy enough to hold sheets and towels, but I only want it for the lighter stuff anyway, which it handles perfectly. I was able to bring it all in before teatime, nearly dry.

Thinking we would settle in for a nice quiet night in front of our gas logfire, Ken was snoozing on the couch, and I was leafing through some cookery magazines, (REALLY exciting Saturday night) when all of a sudden, there was an awful roaring noise. We nearly jumped out of our skins, and Topsy shot off her chair and into the kitchen! For a few seconds, we couldn't figure out what it was - maybe the storm outside had turned into a tornado? But no, it was the gas fire. The fire itself was still burning okay, but the fan was making all the noise, so we turned it off immediately. Being a weekend, we won't be able to get a tradesman until Monday. Ken wanted to pull it apart and have a look, but I put my foot down and said NO - you're not an electrician or a plumber so just LEAVE it! He's looking up gas log fires on the internet at the moment, so I guess we'll be heading out very soon to choose a new one. We've had this one for 11 years, so it's had a good run. So much for a quiet night!