Interesting Encounters!

I started off at 7am this morning for an easy 11km run. It was quite pleasant outside, the smell of smoke was gone and the air was cooler than usual. In fact by the time I returned it was still only 16.9deg. Later the temperature soared to 31deg and tomorrow we expect a high of 36deg so the heatwave has returned!

It was an interesting run this morning. On my way out I spotted lots and lots of burnt newspapers spread all over the local drain and ash everywhere. There was an old burnt trolley nearby so one assumes somebody had deliberately lit the trolley and the paper.

At the 5km mark I was joined by a friend who was cycling to work the long way and stopped for a chat. He's a triathlete but he's training for the Canberra Ultra with a view to completing the 100km Northface in May. I turned at the 5.5km point to run back the way I had come and soon after met up with a friend from the vets' athletics who ran a very short way with me before heading off towards his home. 

However, my most interesting encounter was with an amazing lady called Liz. She is about my age and I had waved to her on the way out as we had met on a run several months ago and had quite a chat that time. On my return trip I found her with a yellow recycling bin busy transferring all the burnt newspapers from the burnt out shopping trolley to the bin. She had apparently already filled two bins and taken them up to the shopping centre for recycling. That was where she had found the bins after realising she couldn't push the burnt out trolley up the hill. 

Liz had finished her run and returned to clear up the mess.She said that this is our local community and if she didn't clean it up who would? I couldn't believe anyone would have deliberately lit a fire in this sort of weather considering we have a total fire ban. Thank goodness the grass had recently been mowed. Liz told me that she could see the date on some of the newspapers and they were today's - probably from the local newsagent. Thank heavens for community minded local citizens like her!

Later I met CJ for lunch and once the weather cooled down a little I took Teddy out for a walk while the dinner was cooking. Tomorrow will be an early start for my long run as I will try to avoid the heat!

Watsons Bay Sydney