12th of July 2020
Today is summer in my little land.
The summer is usually hot and dry and this one is no exception.
In my little land we have forests everywhere, beautiful ones and they protect us during the summer from the heat and during the winter from the roaring cold wind.
Although there is other side of the coin which we don´t talk too much about.
Every summer, for the last nine and a half year I have been experiencing the horror of the fires in our beautiful woods during the hottest summer months.
Every summer the firefighters, our heroes fight and try to keep us safe. Sometimes they are lucky and the fire is out but sadly and too often they loose and the monster spreads and sometimes we lose one of our heroes and others get injuries. The conditions in my little land are in many places difficult, mainly where the hills are steep and the trees far away down at the bottom.
Yesterday there was a fire in Serra da Lousã. In the afternoon the thunderstorms roared, during the night they continued and the lightning followed.
Yes, it reminded me of China and the situation there during the hottest time but the difference in my little land compared to my beloved China is the woods. In my little land we have woods everywhere, in China we don´t.
The news this morning broke my heart. One of our heroes lost his life yesterday and 3 others are injured, or perhaps more.
Just few days ago we lost a police man.
Today it looks like this according to the authorities:
13 districts in mainland Portugal and the island of Madeira are under yellow warning.
The districts of Braga, Vila Real, Bragança, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Leiria, Santarém, Portalegre, Lisbon, Setúbal, Évora and Beja will be under yellow warning until 17:00 on Monday due to the persistence of high values maximum temperature.
Here in my little village we are expecting very high temperature during the next 7 days. When it is hot it’s extremely hot in Penela and when it’s cold it is really cold.
I do complain about the cold during the winter but what I would give for some of it now is worth million words.
Yesterday the clouds were amazing; they usually are during the evening. We have to remember the beauty. We can not give in to despair.
We have to remind us that there is another day ahead and we need to survive. I must pray for the firefighters and everyone in the health care. They are not just fighting fires, they are fighting Covid and we, the public must act responsibly even though we would like to go to the beach and we would like to hug each other and do what we are used to at normal time.
We are not living normal times, we are in an extreme situation and we do have problems in our capital in my little land. People are partying, the tourists are arriving and somehow we seem to be going downhill.
We have sacrificed so much since March. It cannot be in wain. Normal times are around the corner, although the corner is huge and it takes a long time to walk to the other side.
I am optimistic and I believe that normal will be again. I am keeping that dream alive every minute of the day.
Hulda Björnsdóttir
My thoughts shared with you 