First the bad news. After a ridiculously warm night for late March, it reached 37C (99F) in Melbourne today with wind gusts to 100kn/hr. There's a total fire ban. And a horrific vehicle crash in the Burnley Tunnel had serious ramifications for traffic across town.

Now the good news (although there's a difference in scale). I stayed at home to examine a PhD thesis, so I've avoided the traffic chaos and most of the work stress. I took the thesis to a local café, ordered breakfast and asked them to keep the coffee coming. Such a pleasure to be away from the office and out of direct content with people who want stuff. All to a soundtrack of Van Morrison and early Stones.

And now it's raining.