Terra firmis in Perth

The girls and I are now in Perth, Australia, staying with Steve's parents. It's scorching, and though we've made a point of getting to the beach yesterday and today, an hour is about all we can bear. We are like bears just emerging from hibernation and blinking in the bright sun. What a contrast with Tokyo and Japan,   it all seems unreal. The images of destruction are still on the TV screens everyday, and I'm finding it no easier to watch them from a distance - almost more upsetting.

Tomorrow we visit friends in the morning, celebrate a family birthday in the afternoon, and Monday fly Melbourne (not Brisbane -amended!) to continue elder daughter's tour of Australian arts and design schools and stay with Jeanie,  a dear friend from college days, who married a Kiwi and ended up down under... I wasn't originally going to come with Amira, despite Jeanie's entreaties, so it's a special added bonus.

The aftershocks continue in Tokyo, and I know how nerve-racking they are, especially for people working in high-rises. I do not miss that drunken, sea-sick feeling at all.

The girls' school (St Maur) has wisely decided to cancel or curtail most after school activities in the week following the end of the break, to take some pressure off the kids (like daughter #2, who has basketball, choir, drama, and flute lessons keeping her at school until 5.30 every day of the week).  Getting back into a school routine will help, but the constant aftershocks cannot but have a disruptive effect. You can't help stopping whatever you're doing to listen and wonder how long it will last this time...

One of Steve's uncles, now in his 80s, who was a young 18 year old soldier in Tobruk during WWII, has apparently been very upset by the images of destruction in Japan, which bring back some terrible memories of the war, probably in part because Tobruk is also in the news in reports of war in Lybia. The rapprochement in some way makes total sense.

I won't be updating this blog much in the next few days - our schedule will be pretty busy and access to internet episodic.