Stay Safe and hydrated everyone

[mbselections00]

Please everyone stay safe in this terrible heat - I'm sorry to say but I'm sure we will hear some very sad stories as a result of this heatwave.  Thoughts are with you guys in south aus without power and to anyone else who is in the same boat.

I'm in (too) sunny Qld south of Brisbane city and the thermometer outside has hit 60 in the sun - 41.5 in the shade on the back verandah with ceiling fans going flat out . . . . . .   feeling for those out west and everyone else who's worse off

[mbselections00]

So hope it brings relief in the form of rain - and lots of it - they started talking about the southerlies being notorious for creating the dead man zone (I think that's what they called it) I couldn't listen any longer, too sad and too many memories of lives lost, especially the fire fighters who put their lives on the line to save others   Those guys & gals are absolute heroes

[lyndal1838]

Well it is now raining here in Sydney....steady but not torrential.  I do hope it gets to the fire areas quickly.

I am keeping my eye on the fires in the Pappinbarra area....we have relatives scattered all around there and Wauchope.  All the adults are all in the Rural Fire Service or the SES.

[davidc4430]

i can still remember (very vaugly) when mum and dad bought their first airconditioner, second hand i'm pretty sure.

remember having to cut a hole in the wall, was brick inside and outside in those days.

suddenly there was a thing that made cold air at the press of a switch!

before that we did all sorts of things on hot days and nights. funniest i rekon was putting a bowl of water in front of a fan in the hallway! i'm sure it made no difference but it was the thought it might prolly.

we had one of those evaporative things that you also put in a hallway and were constantly adding water to, if you stood about 2 feet in front of it (yes in those days it was feet) you got a slightly cooler wind on you.

i worked in a lot of places without airconditioning and yes we survived but i'm glad society no longer thinks its ok to have workers in unairconditioned places. i hope the day comes when every worker has access to a cool work enviroment and if not can go to a place for reliefe. it does no one any good to have workers dropping dead (figuratively) at work.

[davidc4430]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-12/people-told-to-leave-properties-as-bushfire-emergency-grips-ns...

i hope people stay safe even if that means leaving homes to burn, get themselves and pets out early dont wait until its too late.

[lyndal1838]

David, when my children were babies (both in their mid 40s now) we used to beat the heat by hanging a wet sheet in front of a fan to cool the environment.  On a really hot day we used ice water and/or a bowl with ice cubes in it.

I also had an eveporative cooler but it was pretty useless as we live near the bay and the air was always humid.  It was more effective as a large fan than by putting the water in it.

[mbselections00]

Haha, I remember having one of those evaporative 'coolers', we used to put iced water in it to try and make it work better, lol

And yes, I used to be horrified that Bunnings staff were expected to work in those hot dusty tin premises and complained to management several times that it was totally unacceptable, one reason I favoured shopping at Masters 😞

But yes, thank goodness we no longer find such things acceptable and workplaces have changed a lot

[bushies.girl]

I remember when my ex husband worked at GMH in Pagewood, there was no ac in the offices, so on really hot days the blokes we allowed to remove their ties  ..... On really hot days, it must have been dreadful for the people working down on the factory floor with all that machinery going in the heat

[lyndal1838]

I grew up in Maroubra bushie so I remember the GMH factory well.

It was not all that unusual for places like that to have no AC back then.

[amalan11]

I hate any weather that promotes bushfires,dreadfull but what is infuriating me is we have 3 people already caught for arson. One a 13 year old boy started a fire at orange that caused a animal shelter to be evacuated yet the little **bleep** has been given bail...I cannot believe these people get bail in heatwaves ,they should be taken much more seriously. 

Personally id like to see them caught by some locals and strung up   but I could not believe he could just be given bail and put back out in the community 

[bushies.girl]

Lyndal, I  grew up at Malabar ( now called Chifley ), lived  in Sydney for 30 yrs   .... The GMH building was totally antiquated, it would prob be considered a safety hazard these days