Madeira Fire: A View from Above
As I write this I am on holiday in Madeira, which sadly has made international news in the last few days because of the serious forest fires which have destroyed not only countryside areas but part of the largest town, Funchal. Now that the fires are subsiding, tourists are being encouraged to resume their gawping so today we went to Funchal and rode the cable car to visit the tropical gardens. The fifteen minute ride up the hill was a shocking experience for as we looked down we could see the blackened ruins of homes recently destroyed. The path of the fire, like so many negative experiences of life, defied logic - at one point we hovered over a house that seemed perfectly intact and could see a family sweeping the yard even though the entire neighbourhood around them was gone. It is an image that will stay with me for a long time and which, of course, can be read in many ways. Perhaps we might even see ourselves in this - the world around us seems a crazy, mad place but in our hom