The Light in Winter

In celebration of the winter solstice Federation square holds an annual series of events during the month of June.  The centrepiece this year is the Helix tree, a twister pillar of lights that respond directly to sound.  Every evening at around 5:30pm a local choir turn up and sing to the tree which starts to glow blue to the gentle sounds of their voices.  As the choir reaches a crescendo the lights change colour from blue to green through a pale pink to a vibrant yellow and red combination.  Once the choir has finished, the floor is opened up to the public to make as much noise as possible as to illicit a response from the tree.  Back in the northern hemisphere, midwinter is celebrated with Christmas and the streets come alive with lights and decorations, but here in the southern hemisphere we have nothing to break the monotony of the long dark nights.  The Light in Winter at least provides us with something to enjoy.

The Helix Tree

My Mother has started phoning me, regular as clockwork every Sunday night.  It started just after we got back from the UK in March and she hasn't missed a week.  I think it may be linked to the little dig we had at her about getting a computer so that we could skype.  Now my Mother is such a technophobe, there is no chance she will ever invest in a computer, so her regular phone calls act as an attempt to meet us halfway.  To be fair to her this is a big deal, as my Mother's technophobia is not limited to computers, she rarely calls anyone for fear of disturbing them and never answers the phone since she acquired an answering machine to screen all her calls.  I can understand the need for call screening, (we got a land line when we signed up to our Internet deal with Telstra and despite receiving a minimum of 3 calls a day on it, every single one of them is a salesman), but it makes it frustrating when trying to contact her.

It is really not long until we move now, and a letter from our lawyers confirming the settlement is booked and giving us our final invoice. In an attempt to explore the area more as well as work out the most practical commuter route, I did a timed walk from the house to Watsonia train station. It turns out google maps is correct and it took approximately 20 minutes. This means that the tram is still the better option, even though it is slower, it is much closer and cheaper (only need a zone 1 ticket, not a zone 1,2 ticket).  Watsonia itself is not a large suburb, but it has a certain charm, it's main shopping street, Watsonia road, runs opposite the train station with a library on the corner and views of the Yarra ranges in the distance. 

Tomorrow is the Queens official birthday and so once again we are getting a public holiday to celebrate that fact, no wonder no-one wanted to become a republic at the last referendum.  But rather than enjoying a nice relaxed three day weekend I have ended up working 2 extra weekend shifts (one in Epping and one at the Alfred) leaving me with a single day weekend instead.  Luckily work was not to busy, but still I had one frightening moment when answering the phone to another expat pharmacist whose response was...."wow, your really starting to sound Australian now..."