Dear All-Who-Have-Inquired

We are fine. The fires were not in our state and even though they are still raging in Victoria, the next state to us, the smoke has not affected us.

It is true that in late January/early February we lived through the worst two-week heat wave since 1908 and our hottest day ever at 46.7ºC (116F) which I still can’t believe we survived. Our state of South Australia is also a very bad bush fire state and everyone is saying how miraculous it was that we escaped it this time.

For 17 years we Foxes lived in a very bush-fire prone part of Adelaide, among beautiful trees in bush-land in the hills above the city and I suffered from nightmares and paranoia about bushfires every summer. I kept woollen blankets in the car to put over us in case we were caught in the flames; I kept all our photographs at my workplace from November to March; I had a change of clothing for each of us in the boot (trunk) of the car; and I had a list inside a kitchen cupboard of things to take, in order of importance, namely credit cards, birth certificates and passports; the little toy rabbit that Chloe slept with, without which she would have been even more traumatised; and the dogs. All this is just to say that I can truly empathise and my heart and my horror go out to the victims of this once-in-a million-years bushfire in Victoria which is almost too apocalyptic even to begin to comprehend.

And I’d also like to acknowledge and praise Australians’ incredible generosity at this time. I mean, $100 million raised in two weeks from a population of 21 million people is astonishing, let alone the household items donated. So although the thoughts-and-prayers sides of things happened also, the actual opening wide of wallets and purses (in spite of the global financial crisis) will mean that those thoughts and prayers can quickly come into effect. I don’t know a soul in the bushfire tragedy but on their behalf, thank you. And that includes thanks for the many donations from those in other countries who have been similarly kind.

Regards,

Mem Fox