Australia doesn’t rain?

I was never warned. But what I like about Brisbane is that the majority of streets in the shopping/food districts have these roofs that overhang the pavement, making it possible to wander the city centre and stay relatively dry despite the rain.

And when it rains here, it pours. I’ve realised that living in warmer climates, drizzle isn’t as much of a thing here. It’s either lovely and sunny or it really lashes down.

The last week or so has been like this, nothing but grey skies. I mentioned yesterday that I love it when I’m hungover, a few days of rain is lovely. And due to the number of sunny days this country sees I make the most of the rain when it hits.

Apart from the itchy feet. I hate itchy feet.

But don’t worry rain, there are a few Brits out there that appreciate you. There’s not many, but we’re out there.

 

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This scaffolding almost collapsed today!

I was on route to work today when I realised I couldn’t get there. Well I could, just not down the usual street.

After speaking to one of the countless people gazing upward I was pointed to the building that was causing the road closure. Behind the black cloth was scaffolding that had collapsed outwards, only held up by the black material protecting pedestrians. You can see it in both shots, to the top right of the image above and top centre below.

Some would say the material wrapped around the building was health and safety gone mad. Personally, I’m rather thankful.

A fabricated perspective?

Do you sometimes feel that the world comes to you instead of you walking towards it? Like a video game, the character is constantly occupying the centre of the screen and it is the environment that slowly moves closer. The player movements create an illusion that the opposite is happening. I got that feeling on this very walk.

This was taken around the circular walk that is Narrabeen Lagoon. I was introduced to this lovely walk by my family when I first arrived in Sydney. It is a little further north near the Northern Beaches and is great for everyone. Runners, cyclists, walkers, joggers, families, dog owners… you name it, they love this flat circular walk around the 8.4km circuit track.

As I was sitting in one of the few cafes on route, I stopped and thought of my constantly changing perspective. I though of the world as a whole, and how no matter where we are standing on Earth, we always appear to be the ones on top looking upwards to the skies. The lake is big, but small enough to locate where I was standing thirty minutes ago across the water. It was fascinating to see the trees that towered over me as tiny dots on the horizon, what was full scale now barely visible. What I could barely see directly over the water was the place I was now sitting with people previously too small to pick out.

Do you sometimes feel that the world comes to you, instead of you walking towards it? I guess that it a part of the simulation theory, that everything is being simulated on a supercomputer and we are the players unaware.

If we are, thank you Player One for making my simulation bearable. Don’t pull the plug just yet, I am having fun.

I’m so pleased I have family here!

If you have family long distance, visit them. Even if you don’t know them too well, make conversation, state you fancy a trip and if they offer a place to stay, you have one big reason to book that flight.

This is my current location. Seaforth is a suburb a little north of Sydney, in fact if you look to the horizon the city centre skyline is viewable. I feel very lucky to be able to land and have a place to stay so soon, it makes me want to visit everyone and anyone I am in contact with around the world and make the most of it. I will be here for a couple more days before finding my own accommodation.

If you have even the slightest urge to venture, do it. The slightest urge can result in the biggest regret over time if not acted upon and it is better to do it and not enjoy it than not go ahead and wonder what if.

Have a great day, I hope it involves making great plans!

This is life

What is desired more than quality? Trends. The need to be like everyone else instead of what’s suits us best. After all if trends change, they couldn’t have been that special anyway.

The easiest thing to do is fit in. Simply look at what is popular and buy it. Listen to what we are told is cool by apparant experts and give them our hard earned money.

Customers queuing for food on Grainger St, Newcastle, UK

I have just walked by this burger van near the Greys Monument in the city centre. It may in fact be the best burger I will ever have. But what I have learned is that for a queue to be this long, quality isn’t always in the recipe. It could be average, the thrill of being in the cool crowd overcompensating for mediocrity. 

It is astounding how much money goes towards ‘keeping up to date’, another term for blending in with society. Why spend so much money on wanting to be unrecognisable? Another brick in the wall, another drop in the ocean living life with an aim to be accepted instead of glorifying personal strengths and interests.

Life is too short for that. The effort put into adhering to societal norms could be spent changing them for the better. 

Once again, this burger van may not be a culprit, it was just the inspiration for my post. If the queue goes down, I may give it a try.

The people in our pictures

People we have never met still contribute to our memories. The strangers in our photo albums, frozen timelessly into each picture. These people will never age. They will always be wearing that dress, those sunglasses. They will always be holding hands with that partner, laughing with that friend. Where are they now?

I wonder how many people making up this crowd are still in South America today, maybe in Rio itself. Living a life that I only managed a glimpse of whilst travelling around Brazil for four weeks. I love this about travelling, that first time experience whether it be eating a forkful of new food or sipping a local traditional drink. What is new to us is all that some people may have ever known. Knowing this is true for tourists to my region has made me want to venture out as much as I can. Life is far too short to only sample our own neighbourhood, especially considering our location is purely down to chance.

What lives did the other attendees travel back to? The 78,000+ capacity stadium is three times larger than my hometown, and my hometown had plenty of stories. Many would have married and possibly had children since I snapped this crowd shot. How many people have not made it to see the day this post has went online. Even if they did not make it, their footprints did and this presence has contributed to my memories. I thank them for that.

It is wonderful to consider the thousands of people we have preserved in time through photographs. All the emotions and behaviours present that very second… I bet there are some incredible stories hidden behind the anonymity. It is hard to see these individuals as anything but extras, obviously this couldn’t be less true. We simply don’t have the time or opportunity to hear them all. Maybe one of these people are following my blog, I could well be following them.

Even though we did not realise they brushed shoulders with us somewhere in the world, they did. Some of these people may walk right by us again someday, somewhere. How would we know? How would they know? It may take 50 years before we look at that photo again, too late to ever knowingly brush shoulders once more.

Their boat may sail before we can watch it depart, this doesn’t mean we cannot read the story they left behind for us.