Orange Sydney

I woke up this morning to the sound of the wind rattling my windows. Sounds about right, I thought. We're supposed to have some heavy wind today. Then I opened my eyes. And everything was orange. Deep, dark, saturated orange. Riiiiiiiggggghhhhht...

I opened the sliding door to my balcony. Felt warm and there wasn't a smell, so I figured it was just some heavy fog, with the rising sun behind it adding some drama to the colors.

I went for a run in Centennial Park. There was hardly anyone out there. Usually the park is teeming with people exercising in the morning. But with the orange color slowly graying, I stuck by my fog hypothesis and thought little of it.

Got back to the apartment and turned on the lights. Normally a yellowish color, my sight had been so distorted by the orange that they appeared to be blue.

It wasn't until I turned on the TV that I realized, no, it wasn't fog. It was a huge frickin' dust storm. A huge frickin' dust storm that was covering half the state! So during that run, I probably managed to inhale a few pounds of the stuff. Fun!

I had a morning meeting in the city. On the bus coming in, pedestrians were walking around with makeshift masks over their mouths. And when I made it to the meeting, on the 47th floor of a building that usually offers amazing views of the city and harbour, there was nothing to see.

Spending a day in that stuff, after starting it with a run, I'm feeling it now. Itchy throat. Slight trouble breathing. A bit of cottonmouth.

Of all the videos and photo montages that I've already seen, I think this is the best.

It was a strange day. A strange, orange day that I won't be forgetting anytime soon.