Glow in the Sky

Some grass fires in the evening in the hills to the west of Canberra. Possibly deliberately lit, but spectacular in any case. We drove to the top of Red Hill to have a gawk, along with numerous others. Took some photographs, but you can't see much. Drove back to the Carillon, hoping to get a decent shot of the floodlit tower against a lurid red sky, but again no luck - the glow was lost in the blackness. Perhaps I could have tweaked the camera to capture it, but I haven't read that bit of the manual yet.

Went off to the Vietnamese embassy in O'Malley to apply for a visa for my daughter. $70 for a month. Judging by the busy lady on the counter, Vietnam is kept afloat on visa fees. Have to go back on Friday to collect the visa. Hadn't realised that O'Malley was so full of embassies - there are huge multicoloured flags waving atop rotten great mansions up and down the streets. Vietnam is in between Chile and Pakistan - all the first rate embassies and High Commissions are in Yarralumla, usually in charming buildings in exquisite taste. That of the UK is four square colonial, the US has a red brick mansion, Papua New Guinea has a replica tribal meeting house, China has a pagoda...

Winter returned for a day. Not more than a few drops of rain, but there was a chill in the air that had us putting on jackets for our evening walk. I think daylight saving starts weekend after next. Not before time, neither.