life cycle

Whether or not you noticed, I’ve been absent for a while.

Although some things on the move up here to Brisbane went well, some other things went very un-well. And the result was that, for a little while, I fell off the edge of the great flat plate being held up on the back of a turtle. Though I managed to get up, put clothes on and go to work (thankfully in that order), asking strangers about their helmets seemed a little bit more than I could handle.

Looking back now on the feeling of before, I’m not sure who this person in the nice photos* below is. Why are they wearing so many clothes? Isn’t it hot there? Isn’t it always hot everywhere now? Isn’t the rain kind of warm and gentle, or bath-tepid slugging and stormy, but never really cold?

Presumably they have just left the building for a while, and eventually they’ll get back to normal programming. Either that, or they’ve died and gone to helmet heaven.

Speaking of abnormal programming, the Melbourne Bike Fest is a coming up and I’ve been watching the program emerge slowly with a sense of muted pride and slight prickings of jealousy. I’ve loved seeing Mik’s beautiful bamboo bike make it to the finals of the Bettter by Bike competition. What an excellent fellow and what an excellent project. I wish I could come down to see the Cultural Shift forum (please note the sweet sugar spokey dokeys in the photo) and the lovely Ms Kate Rhodes on the panel re women and bikes and bikes and women and womanly biking. Whatever that might be.

Nevertheless, although I’m not likely to be there in person, I am participating in absentia, with all my heart and all my soul and all my longing and all my loving. Apparently, they’re even going to play it on the radio, the National Radio, on their Night Air program, who are taking the waves and making them spin round and round in a bike type formation this coming Sunday evening.

Oh, and Brisbane?

Yeah, there’s a lot to say about Brisbane. Let me just have a little more time. All in all, I’d have to say, it’s different. But I don’t mean that in a bad way, not at all. But it’s different all the same.

*do check out his other works, big and pretty here.