The weather get very hot very quickly here in Australia and so it’s bush fire season. At the moment there’s a pretty intense set of blazes going on in the Blue Mountains, which rise up to the west of the plain on which metropolitan Sydney rests. Although it’s a good 100km (about 60 miles) from here you can see the grey smoke hanging in the air as you look west and there’s a certain smell in the air. Sydney has got used to this over the years but for me it’s still quite bizarre. The summer is going to be long and hot and dry and before it’s out there will be fires right in the middle of the metropolis. Sydneysiders, indeed most Australians, just take it on board as part of life.