The day the sky turned red

(Click the photo or here to see a slide show of the red storm)

This morning when I woke up, rather than seeing sunlight stream through my blinds, there was a warm red glow. Looking out of my window I couldn't work out what was going on, I didn't think bush fires would be in the city. All I could think of was the old expression Red sky at night Shepherd's delight, red sky in the morning Shepherd's warning. I guessed we were in for a storm.

About an hour later the red glow was beginning to fade, red dust was settling on cars and pavements and the cloudy sky was slowly turning white again. The walk to work tickled the throat. By lunchtime it was nearly all over and tonight there are strong winds blustering around Sydney sweeping the dust away.

It even made front page news on the BBC website and a couple of friends from the UK have been in touch with surprising speed.