I woke up this morning at my usual time of 04:45. I looked out the window and was satisified the cars were still there and also noted a pretty thick mist. No matter, I've run in worse. I got myself dressed in my running gear and was very shortly out the door.
The first thing that struck me as strange was the mist - it was very dry and not cold at all. In fact the weather was still somewhat balmy. I'd worn a long sleeve shirt and realised very quickly I would get quite warm.
Within a minute or two I also noticed by throat was very dry and my eyes were itchy. My hands felt a bit dirty. Bugger me!!! It's not mist - but some sort of sand/dirt thing in the air.
Suffice to say I kept moving and ended up staying outside for about an hour. By the time I got back home my clothes had changed colour to brown and I had little rivulets of mud running down my legs from the sweat and dirt combining. I smelt like dirt!!!
I spend the next 3-4 hours coughing. As I type I am still occasionally coughing but will probably clear out all the dirt in my lungs just in time to go outside again :-)
There was some interesting commentary about all this on the radio. A young girl (about 8 years old) suggested the colourings made Sydney look like an old fashioned photo - everything becoming sepia toned. A cheeky lad suggested today was National Ranga Day.
My favourite was a bloke who called in claiming to be God. Apparently the folks in heaven had decided to test if they could make the sky run red with the blood of sinners and they were quite impressed with the results :-)