Around me, the signs of spring gently creep in. The trees that I call “early-budders” – often fruit trees whose leaves start as budding flowers in August. When I lived in my hometown, there were a few of these in the back garden, and my spring-and-sunshine heart would eagerly await their coming after the long dreary weather of winter.
In Melbourne, the First Australians consider this time of year to be “pre-Spring” (see my calendar post). I love this time of year and its heralding of new growth and sunshine after dark dreary days – it’s no wonder I’ve posted about it a few times before.
There are other signs of spring beyond the early-budders near my current home. The wattle trees are in full bloom, all yellows and golds with green leaves. The wattle took pride of place in a local event that happens annually a few suburbs over from me – the Wattle Festival occurred on Sunday. It was fun, with steam trains, live music, market stalls, plenty of food, and glorious sunshine. Here’s a picture of some wattle close to home!
That’s not to say we aren’t still getting cold days. The temperature in my area wobbled below zero, then above, then to zero, then above again between 06:00 and 08:00 this morning. At 09:00, it was still only 4*C!
Another sign of spring are the lengthening days. We’re very close to being able to say that daylight lasts beyond 18:00 – and you can tell. It feels brighter of an evening, and of a morning too, where the sun rises before 07:00. It’s lovely! I’m going to enjoy travelling to and from placement in a couple of weeks because of that, despite the early hour I’ll have to wake up.
As you might have gathered from my absence last week, it was a busy week. I am so close to finishing the project. Huzzah! Once that’s finished, I have a few little side quests that I will do between now and the start of my final subject. As usual, the year speeds along. I will enjoy the chance to slow down next week, when I’m off on a holiday for a few days (more on that in another post!).
Tbh, the project work was useful in other ways last week, as it meant I was too busy to be wrapped up in watching the farce that took place in Canberra. They can swap PMs all they like, the fruit is still rotten at the core. Same policies, similar slogans, different salesman. Boo. As for our new PM, well – a “moderate” conservative wanker is still a conservative wanker, and a hypocrite to boot (worships the Prosperity Gospel, bleurgh). I wish that we could just have a Federal election already, to toss them out! (Dare we hope that the by-election Turnbull indicated will happen in his seat in the near future will speed that up?)
There’s better news in state politics. The RentFair bill has passed the lower house (yay!). This morning there was an announcement that the Victorian government will create a suburban Metro rail link. I’ve been saying there should be one for five years! (There used to be one, that Sr John Monash built, but lack of patronage closed it in the 50s.) It’s a massive long-term project, not a quick fix – starting in 2022, completed by 2050! Wow. Read more here. It’s a great idea – but the timing of the announcement is no coincidence, with a state election just under three months away. (Might be a good time to check if you need to update your details, Victorians.)
Let’s see, what else have I been up to?
On Thursday, I went to an event at uni. It was very swish! Yummy food, a few drinks, dancing… I love a good night out.
On Sunday, after the festival, my partner and I went to the cinema and watched MEG. It was a good movie, scary with some silliness to lighten things up as needed. It had a good cast, with competent women who took no bull from the men, and heroes with personal quests and failings, as well as a Rich White Dude as the human antagonist. They made the megalodon of the title appropriately scary, as well – not overblown, as I feared they would.
Oh yeah, and on Saturday I went to an AFL match for the first time in ages. That was a bit more tense than I’d expected, but as I was with people going for both teams, it was still fun. Quite the game, too!
What have you been up to?
Btw, as I mentioned in an earlier post, on August 1, Facebook stopped allowing automatic syncing and sharing of posts. I’m sharing this one on my personal profile, as I’m not sure if I want to get a public page. If you’ve come from Facebook, please sign up via email or WordPress in order to keep in the loop!
myzania 