Welcome to Cafe and Bookstore Author spotlight. I invited authors in the Cafe to share what they consider to be a defining moment in their lives that resulted in a major positive change. The current series ends on October 11th and is booked out with some wonderful authors and their stories.
Today’s author sharing their life changing moment is Toni Pike who shares her experiences during the devastation of the Great Fire of Canberra
Toni Pike is a multi-genre author who enjoys writing exciting thrillers for adults, non-fiction, and hilarious books for children. She also loves travelling and being with family and friends. She lives in Australia and firmly believes that coffee and long walks are an essential part of any day.
Do you like books that you can’t stop reading? Pike is the author of DESOLATION BLUFF, DEAD DRY HEART and The Jotham Fletcher Mystery Thriller Series: THE MAGUS COVENANT, THE ROCK OF MAGUS, THE MAGUS EPIPHANY and HOLY SPEAR OF MAGUS. Her latest release is for children aged 6-9: BRODY CODY AND THE STEPMOTHER FROM OUTER SPACE.
She’s also the author of two non-fiction books. THE ONE WAY DIET is a no-nonsense guide to losing weight and coping with the journey. HAPPY TRAVELS 101 is a short book of travel tips with great advice for anyone who wants to travel overseas
The Great Fire of Canberra by Toni Pike
Canberra is the capital city of Australia and is often referred to as the Bush Capital. That’s because this small landlocked city, of just 400,000 people, is surrounded by national park, pine plantations and farming land. It’s also very spread out so that many homes are close to that hinterland and wide swathes jut right into suburbia.
It was no wonder, then, that one day a great fire would come – and I was there right in the middle of it.
On 8 January 2003, lightning strikes started a small fire in nearby, but very rugged and remote, Namadgi National Park. That fire was allowed to get out of hand over the ensuing days. There were several fires by Saturday, 18th January 2003, when intense heat and strong winds struck. But it was only in the afternoon that people in Canberra were warned about the terrible danger they faced.
That morning, the fires merged and created a firestorm that bore down on the entire western edge of Canberra. Emergency warnings were only given an hour before the fire arrived. The firefront reached Canberra’s urban fringe at three o’clock in the afternoon – and that included my house.
The sky turned as black as midnight. The fire travelled at incredible speed and the bushland next to my street seemed to suddenly become a wall of flame. The garden next door suddenly caught fire and an intense ember storm bore down from above.
Neighbours raced next door and fought to douse the burning garden with garden hoses. By doing that, they saved the house and the rest of the street.
All that time, I wondered where the fire brigade was, and listened out for the sound of their sirens. But the front was so extensive there was no hope for them to be everywhere.
I had sent my two children, aged 16 and 18, to the school that was set up as an evacuation centre. My daughter, who had just got her driver’s licence, drove them there. When I set off to find them, it was a very surreal experience. It was still pitch black and the roads were in gridlock, as thousands were evacuating their homes. Along the route, I could see fire breaking out in surrounding parkland and hills.
At the high school, hundreds of families wandered around in silence as if they were shellshocked. Many had pets in tow and already knew they had lost their homes.
Thousands of people had fought with garden hoses to extinguish flames in their gardens and homes. With a mature pine forest right next to the suburb of Duffy, a wall of flame had destroyed many homes. The fire brigade had put up a valiant struggle where possible, but it was overwhelming.
We drove the two cars home in convoy. The electricity lines, which were along the urban fringe, had all burned, causing widespread blackouts. Because of that, the signal lights were out at all the intersections.
At home, the entire suburb was blacked out, and stayed that way for nearly a week. Inside the house there was a thick layer of black soot over everything – but I was so pleased that it was still standing. The water supply was also cut, because the roof of a nearby tower had been ripped off during the fire, and the nearby reservoir contaminated with ash. Gas supplies were also affected, and many homes blew up because the gas connections had not been turned off before the firefront hit.
Nearly five hundred homes in Canberra were destroyed and there was severe damage to surrounding farms and infrastructure – including historic Mount Stromlo Observatory. Farmlands, pine plantations and the nearby national park were destroyed. In some suburbs, nearly all the homes in some streets were wiped out. In some places, the wind had been like a tornado, creating its own havoc. The fire had penetrated further than anyone could have imagined – destroying homes that were streets back from the urban fringe.
After the fires
What I learned
It showed me that in a natural disaster, you can’t rely on the authorities to assist everyone, as that is an impossible task. Every individual has to rely on themselves, and it always takes longer than expected to get back to normal.
I also learned that a natural disaster like that is traumatising and creates a sort of collective trauma in the community. Talking about it to each really helps – and it seemed to be the favourite topic of conversation everywhere for quite a few months.
It also seems to bring out the best in people. Whenever I walked around in the ensuing days, strangers would stop to talk and we would ask each other how we fared in the fire.
Lifelong Friends and Being a Firefighter
Community Fire Unit
The fire brigade established a community fire unit in our street, which I was involved in for ten years until I moved to my apartment. All the neighbours would train every two weeks so that we could defend the street – and we had special uniforms and a trailer of equipment. We all became good friends and had one or two street parties every year – something that never occurred before the fire.
Me with my son and the storage unit
Pine plantations close to the urban fringe were subsequently replaced with parkland and the National Arboretum.
Now the authorities pay much closer attention to keeping fuel loads down close to the suburbs, and there are dozens of community fire units to help firefighting efforts. They also pay much greater attention to warning residents about impending dangers, and have set up systems such as SMS messaging.
So, I think the Canberra Fire qualifies as a life changing experience. There were positive changes for the community, and I gained good friends and became a firefighter (of sorts) – a terrifying disaster that taught me many things.
©Toni Pike 2020
I can only imagine how frightening this must have been for the thousands of people in the area and my thanks to Toni for sharing what is definitely a life changing moment.
Books by Toni Pike
One of the recent reviews for Brody Cody
I purchased this book for my grandson, and this is what he said about it:
I liked this book. It’s about this boy, Brody Cody, whose mom died. He and his dad live together and Brody doesn’t have very many rules. Then his dad goes away and comes back with a new mom. Brody doesn’t like her because she has rules, like eat vegetables and do chores. He thinks she’s an alien. The best part is when he thinks he sees the spaceship. I liked Brody, and he found out having a mom was pretty good. I read the whole book. There aren’t pictures, but it was good.
Toni Pike, Buy: Amazon US – And : Amazon UK – Follow Toni:Goodreads – Website: Toni Pike – Twitter: @piketoni1
Thank you for joining us today and I know that Toni would love your feedback.. thanks Sally.
Thank you so much, Sally, for inviting me to talk about an important moment in my life. I’m so pleased to be here. Have a fabulous week. Toni x
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My pleasure Toni and thank you for sharing…hugsxx
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Reblogged this on Toni Pike and commented:
I’m absolutely thrilled to be a guest on Smorgasbord Cafe and Bookstore, talking about a very important moment in my life – the great 2003 fire in Canberra.
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Delighted to have you feature this morning Toni… a terrific post and a great community response to the risk.. xxx♥
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Thank you so much for including me in this terrific series, Sally. Toni x
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More thanks, Sally. What a horrendous experience being in a huge fire must be…All power and good luck to Toni Pike. Hugs xx
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Thanks Joy.. great community spirit…♥
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Thank you so much for your lovely comments, Joy. It was a great shock at the time. Toni x
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A life-changing experience indeed, Toni. Unfortunately, fires are often in the news, and it is important to learn from previous experience. Thanks for sharing it, Toni, and thanks, Sally.
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Thanks Olga..hugsx
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Thank you so much, Olga – we learned a lot from the Canberra fires, but sadly there are always new fires to fight. Toni x
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It must have been terrifying at the time and a huge relief your house was still standing. Your community response was heart warming. Every year now we are hearing and seeing on the news huge fires breaking out, not only in Australia, but in other countries. It is really scary.
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Thank you so much, Mary. All the fires we’re seeing now are very disturbing – I hope some solutions are found soon. Toni x
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Thanks Mary…x
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Wow, what a horrific experience you and your family went through, Toni. I am so happy that you were able to save your home. Bravo. It sadly reminds me of the frightening images I’ve seen on the news recently coming out of California. How lucky you were! All the best to you.
Reblogged on Improvisation – “The Art of Living”
https://williampriceking.tumblr.com/
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Thanks William and for sharing to tumblr hugs
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Thank you so much for sharing that, William, and for your wonderful comments. The news from California has been terrible recently, and I was so lucky that we were able to save our house. Have a great week. Toni
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I’ve never experienced a fire; I can only imagine how terrifying it must be. It’s some comfort that your community was able to band together to defend your street in the event that the fires happen again.
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Thanks Liz..x
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You’re welcome, Sally.
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Thanks so much, Liz. There was certainly a close band with neighbours after the event – one good thing that came out of it. Toni x
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I hope you won’t have to put that closeness to the test with fighting another round of fires.
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No, we haven’t Liz – I’ve now moved on to a apartment in the city, and love it. x
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That’s good to hear!
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What a terrifying experience! Unfortunately, people in the western United States are dealing with devastating fires like that right now. So sad for all the loss!
It’s good to hear how you were able to build something positive in the aftermath.
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Thanks Sharon..xxx
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That was like reading a thriller! I can’t imagine the reality of it. This world is a frightening place. We think we are in control but instead we are at the mercy of nature. Thanks for telling us about it, Toni.
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Thanks, Melanie – it was quite surreal, and afterwards everyone in the city seemed to be in a state of shock for weeks. A very dramatic time. I hope you have a lovely week. Toni x
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Thanks Elizabeth..xxx
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Holy smokes! What a horrifying experience! Tiny miracle your house didn’t burn down Toni. What a fantastic collective for the citizens to form their own safety group. Brilliant! A riveting telling. ❤ xx
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Thank you for your lovely comments, Debby. It was a real shock at the time, and none of us knew anything about fighting fires. However, we certainly learnt afterwards. Toni x
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Yes you did, and your heroic efforts make you a bonafide Warrior Woman! ❤
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Aww, thanks Debby xx
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❤
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Thanks Debby.. certainly daunting ♥
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For sure! ❤
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I sometimes wonder if a trauma like that leaves you aprehensive when news of a more distant fire is broadcast. Here, we have floods. These aren’t usually life threatening but the damage to property is horrible and some people experience a repeat within weeks of an earlier inundation. It’s well nigh impossible to sell flood damaged property and these families are trapped in a cycle of anxiety.
Your situation must have resulted in a terrifying fear for life as well as home. I’m so glad that your house was saved and that you’ve found some permament positives from the experience. Your account raised goosebumps!
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Thanks Alex.. fire and water are both so devastating..a lot of flooding on the west coast of Ireland, thankfully where we are pretty good but devastating to live in areas that are at risk..xx
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Thank you so much for your lovely comments, Alex. I’m so sorry to hear about floods in your area. I’ve often thought they must be terrible, as it would be so awful to try to clean up afterwards. I’ve certainly never had to deal with that. At the time of the fires it was very traumatising, but as time went on everyone seemed to fully recover from that. Houses in the area now must be built with all sorts of fire resistance features, so that has also been good.
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This sounds really horrible. A big fire every year again, and so less prevention by authority. Thank you for mentioning this, Sally! Good luck to Toni! May it be the last big fire, for the recovery of the nature too. Best wishes, Michael
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Thanks Michael.. fire is very frightening.. xx
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Indeed, because no one know how it always happend again.
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Hi Michael, Thank you so much. Unfortunately, in Australia we will always have bushfires, but hopefully things are learnt after each one to increase prevention. Have a nice week. Toni
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Had heared about, Toni! But cant believe. Hope this will be better in future. Thank you, have a beautiful week too. Michael
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Oh my, what a frightening experience. I’m sure I would have been traumatized. Fires seem to be getting worse all the time. Like earlier this year in Australia and now in the western part of the USA. It’s amazing how one can deal with these horrific events at the time, isn’t it?
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Fires do seem to be on the increase, natural and some it appears with intent. Very dangerous.. xx
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Hi Darlene, The fires early this year and now in America have been deeply shocking. I’m afraid any natural disaster is traumatising, and also you can’t rely on authorities to be able to help everyone immediately because of the vast scale. But you’re right, humans are so resilient. Toni x
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Some profound lessons! Thank you for sharing a mind-numbing experience Toni. The trauma it leaves behind is indelible.
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Thanks Balroop..hugs
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Thank you very much, Balroop. It is something I’ll never forget. Toni x
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This post struck home as my state has been fighting terrible fires over the last month. It’s amazing how quickly they can get out of control, how difficult escape can be when streets are clogged with people trying to evacuate. Toni’s account had me gripping my seat. But what positive results, particularly in preventing future disasters by building community. And a great featured book too. My grandson loved it. 🙂
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Thanks Diana, and your grandson wrote a lovely review for Toni’s book…xx
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Thank you so much, Diana – and I loved your grandson’s wonderful review. It was priceless. I’m so sorry to hear that your state has been fighting those shocking fires. We’ve been seeing it in the news in Australia and they look devastating. I hope that something can be done to help prevent them in the future. Toni x
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Trump wants us to rake 3 million acres of forest. Hmmm.
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Not many of us could beat that life changing event! Though sadly many people around the world have had that experience. It’s amazing that the garden hose played a part in saving property and life.
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Thanks Janet.. We used to have fires up in the mountains in Spain at the end of the summer and would keep an eye on them but thankfully none came too close but they terrify me.. I think I can just about put up with the rain here in Ireland to live without that fear. x
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Thank you, Janet – I’m afraid you’re right, and so many people have to live with the possible threat of fires. We were all shocked at the time that so many people across the city had been forced to fight with garden hoses, and many far worse off than me as they lost their homes, a few were injured and four people died. Toni x
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This is definitely a life changing event, Toni. I’m glad your city and community have made the necessary changes to handle fires better going forward and also to prevent them. I have also been in a fire and it was very frightening for us all.
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Thanks Robbie..hugsx
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Hi Robbie, I’m sorry to hear that you’ve experienced a fire, too – but I’m sure your country would be a bit like Australia in that regards. I know you mentioned burning near you recently in the park. I’m so glad you were okay, though very difficult at the time. Toni x
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Fascinating story. I live in California and as you can imagine I can relate to horendous fires. Thankfully, I’ve not been personally affected by them but so many people around me have. And, yes, the heroism and devotion of the firefighters is just amazing. Thanks for sharing!
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We’ve all been reading about the fires there, Christa – it must be so dreadful to be living in that state and see it happening. I agree, the firefighters then and now are absolutely amazing. Toni x
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Thanks Christa.. I have seen some images and news reports of the firefighters and they are without a doubt heroes.. xx
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This is a timely post. Many in my family live in California and face the horrendous threat of fire. Thank you, Toni, for sharing so deeply.
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Thank you so much, Gwen. It was quite a few years ago now – but every year we hear shocking stories about more fires, and so often in California. Sending you loving hugs. Toni x
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I do hope that they are safe Gwen…♥
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I don’t know if you ever recover from such a terrifying experience. I’m sure talking about, and the lessons you’ve learned is not only helpful to you but others as well.
California has had three droughts in the last four years, and wildfires have become a regular part of life. This year more acres have burned than any year in history, and typically October and November are the worst months. We’re fortunate that we live right by the ocean as temperatures are far lower than most of the rest of the state.
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That is so tragic to hear, Pete. In my experience, you do recover from that but never forget. But those who are hurt or lost homes are far more deeply affected. After the Canberra fires, wherever you went people were talking about it – that helped a tremendous amount. Toni
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Thanks Pete and we are watching the news about the fires and it much be a greater concern that they are already prevalent before the more typical months. Glad you are in a safer region.. x
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This was such a traumatic time Toni and I remember we got much of the smoke over our way and it was scary enough for us! I like how you told of the positives and the friendliness of neighbours in that time. We found that earlier in the year with the fires here in Tumbarumba, it brought the community together.
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Thank you so much, Debbie – so much good did come out of it, but it was terrible at the time. Last year/early this year was unbelievable, though – I hope things are better this year. Toni x
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Bravo, Toni and thank you Sally, for hosting.
I’ve had this page open on my computer for a couple of days until I had a moment to read it.
Those Canberra fires in 2003 were the first that I recall whose imagery on the television actually frightened me in my chair at home. Scary, scary vision. Almost commonplace terror, now, but it was extraordinary at the time.
Well done for remembering it, and for writing it.
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Thanks Frank – it was terrible. I agree, we seen so many more scenes like that since then. Toni
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Thank you Frank, both of you have brought the threat of fire in Australia into focus with your writing and it is important for us who don’t live with that constant concern to understand the consequences. xx
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highly appreciated with another wonderful conversation…
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Thank you Mihran and have a good week.
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Thank you so much, Mihran. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Toni x
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Toni, how terrifying and what a life-changing moment for so many. Without the quick-thinking response and hoses on the end garden…it doesn’t bear thinking about. The community response was loving and must have been comforting. You’re a modern-day heroine. I remember the speed of the African bush fires and we were so rural that we relied on neighbours and hoses. My heart goes out to those on the West coast in America now, experiencing this. Thank you for writing your story and to Sally for sharing. ❤
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Thanks Jane..Fire is so quick to spread and is very frightening…and when there is not fire brigade at hand community is essential..♥
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Thank you so much for your loving comments, Jane. You’ve obviously experienced things like that yourself. It was really other people who were the heroes, not me. I agree with you – it is heartbreaking to hear about the fires in America. Loving hugs, Toni x
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❤ Toni, much love flowing to you. ❤
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What a scary experience Toni. So glad you managed to save your house. I suppose when something like that happens it puts everything else into perspective.
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I would agree Marje…xx
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It certainly does, Marje – thank you so much for your lovely comments. It was a massive relief to be able to do that. Have a fabulous week. Toni x
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And you too Toni. x
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