Human Doings is set at the start of 2020 when those terrifying fires were ravaging the east coast of Australia. As I edit and relive that time I realise that those events are happening every year. We live in a wooden house on the top of a hill outside the city limits of a regional town and I have a fatalistic acceptance that one day my house could burn down. I really, really don’t want it to happen, not ever. But I live where I live and I would be foolish not to think of it as a possibility. I look at all my beloved books, at the years of journals and letters and miscellaneous writing, and I accept that there is a chance it might one day be fuel. We pack a bushfire bag at the start of each summer ready to throw in the back of the car should we need to drive away and leave Ardley to her fate.
Ms G is currently adventuring the world and found herself in a country on the other side of the globe experiencing horrific wildfires before the welcome relief of heavy winter snow. She taught them to pack a ‘grab bag’ as the front grew closer to the mountain town they are living in and shared her surprise at the relatively laid back response to how close they came to disaster. I guess we’re used to it, sadly, bushfire is becoming more of an inevitability than a possibility as the climate changes so quickly.
My clumsy and ill-timed efforts to tidy up my yard and feed the plants and water the garden echo this wisdom (though could do with some serious revision and education in the light of the thousands of years of environmental understanding the Dja Dja Wurrung have!). Every year we clear the paddocks and clean up the yard, clean the gutters and get rid of garden rubbish. Ardley is relying on me to care for her in the same way she cares for us. Neither of us are likely to last hundreds of years but we’d both like to be happy and healthy in the time we do get to enjoy sharing this place here on the hill.
We lived in Canberra during the 2003 fires. We were lucky, we were out of town and safe from the terror of that terrifying day. But, for at least a week after that horrific Saturday, we were home in heavy smoke still battling ember attack. The car was on standby, boot packed with our essentials ready for a quick getaway if the situation deteriorated. With a newborn and a toddler I was worried we wouldn’t have everything we needed and spent ages thinking through what really mattered. What did we need if what was in the car was all we had in the world?
When I finally finished packing I was shocked. There was room to spare. A house full of ‘things’ and when it came down to it, hardly any of it mattered.
It was an awful time and Canberra is still recovering from that devastation. Many more cataclysmic fires have wrought havoc over our countryside since 2002 and most of us have been forced to take a moment to think about this. The process forced me to think about two things. What is my bushfire plan? And what is so irreplaceable that it needs to go in my bag?
I explored this panic of this decision making in a short story recently which made me reflect on just how little I needed back then and how it might have changed over the years. My bushfire bag these days has evolved from that first lesson in need vs want. I know which jewellery has importance based in meaning and not monetary value (haha, I don’t have anything much of financial value anyway!). Photos are on USB and don’t include every single picture ever taken, rather there’s a selection of family life over the years.
Here is how my list looks these days.
- people
- animals
- photos
- my fountain pens!
- a couple of sentimental items (ok, they’re mainly books, what did you expect?).
- That’s it…
In our bushfire plan we each have responsibility for rescuing an animal if it’s possible and collecting our own bushfire grab bag. We know how important it is to be aware of who is at home and we know that all that matters is being able to hug one another at the end of the day.
My journals will be sacrificed to the flames and so will my library of books, except for a chosen few that have assumed meaning beyond the obvious value of the stories they tell. Nan’s copy of Little Women gifted her by the Sunday school ladies in 1936. My beloved What Katy Did from Nan and Pop on my 8th birthday and my SB Libris bound dictionary with my name embossed on the side. That’s it. Perhaps I’ll pop in a change of clothes just to make life easier but I’d be right without it. Clothes can be replaced. People can’t. Memories will be mine for as long as my brain can recall them. Everything else? Decoration, pure and simple.
We are out and about exploring and having the bushfire bags packed and ready to be picked up have eased my mind more htan I expected. How about you. Have you sat down and packed your bushfire grab bag? Was it very full or is there still room for more in the boot of the car???
Be safe this summer, every one of you. There is much to love about this incredible country of ours and I urge you to get out and enjoy it. Just take care. Wear a hat and sunscreen, take a water bottle, and stay cool. You’ve got this. Happy New Year!