Cheers to the folk who lit up this unassuming building in Melbourne city. A few lights, colours and shapes is all it takes to impress this gal! I was transfixed like a cave(wo)man first discovering fire. Not only did you beautify the streetscape, but you also made an 11 minute wait for my tram feel like 30 seconds. Win! You also broke through the barriers between commuters who often pretend to not see each other. United by a common cause, we actually interacted instead of staring at the pavement. Win and Win! I dont know why the building was suddenly a blue and red mass of shapes, but I love it.
The rainbow has gotta be one of mother nature's most impressive party tricks. I defy anyone to not feel a little sparkle of light inside at seeing one appear in the sky (if you don't - then you may in fact be any one of these fictional characters: The Grinch, Scrooge, Mr Burns or the chalkboard from Mr Squiggle).
The rainbow is the universe's way of saying "Sorry your favourite shoes are ruined, your hair is frizzy and you're probably going home to a muddy dog and a washing line of drenched clothes, but here's a fresh slice of technicolour-sky-pie I cooked up to keep you amused". For a rainbow has no purpose* - it's just there for radness. Bottom line - yay for rainbows!
* Unless you are Rainbow Brite and live in Rainbow Land... if you are - can I come stay awhile?
At heart, I am a simple person and have always known that simple things rock.
I (like most people) don’t enjoy unnecessarily complicated things e.g. deciphering an optus bill, applying for a government job (come to think of it - anything ‘government’) and U.S border crossings (still shuddering from the Seattle – Vancouver affair…I can not imagine what crossing the Mexican border is like).
It’s a shame that often we don’t recognise, enjoy and revel in the simple gifts right there for us. It sounds like a cliche but the fact is my life improved exponentially the moment I started enjoying the simple things.
This carries a warning though - it can get quite addictive. Luckily I live in Melbourne now - a city that "gets" (and gives) simple.
So what is a simple gift? The beauty of simple things is that they are usually free. I don’t mean free of charge (although often they are), but free from expectations… they are uncomplicated and pure...and usually a sweet surprise.
It’s the awesome acoustic gig at the local pub that resonates with you for days – in comparison to the overblown, hyped (and over priced) stadium concert. It’s the steaming bowl of pho from the markets and not the plate of structured, contrived food at the latest uber-cool restaurant that you had to wait weeks to get into. It’s gloriously messy wildflowers in bloom and not a structured, manicured hedge cut into the shape of an animal (I’ve never got why people do that?!!).
It’s these moments, these observations that I would love to share with you. I’ve been doing this for a while but as Chris McCandless learned (the hard way) “Happiness [is] only real when shared”.
So here’s one…and there will be many more....
Parks
Pretty obvious huh? But I would hate to imagine urban life without parks. Having moved to an area in Melbourne with an abundance of big, beautiful parks that I spend a ridiculous amount of time in, I have new-found appreciation of everything green. Before the NSW government got greedy(er) and corrupt(er), I am sure Sydney had more parks, more trees, more green.
So why are parks a simple gift? Parks are for everyone. Trees don't discriminate. They shelter all of us equally - children's frenetic birthday parties, a sneaky afternoon hangover-cure nap, a lazy day reading the newspapers, a casual game of frisbee with friends that turns pseudo-seriously-competitive...(you know who you are!)
Trees offer their gift to the world with no boundaries, no restrictions, no hesitation. They just "be" and are generous enough to let us all come and enjoy their gift...for free...whenever we like....and ask nothing in return. What's not to love about that?
