Jason

In recent weeks I have written a lot about how much the city has to offer and how much fun it has been to be a resident here. The city is young and vibrant.

I was walking past the centre of town. A man selling the Big Issue beamed a smile at me and said a cheery “Good morning”. I greeted him back and walked on. How many of us walk on, walk straight past these people who are often in familiar spots around the city day in day out, selling this Magazine. I used to see them in the UK – I see them here but most of us, truth be told, don’t really see them. We walk past.

The next time I was in the city, I saw him again. He is hard to miss and you will see why. This time though I did not walk past.  I went over and introduced myself and sat next to him as I heard his own story.

His name in Jason and he is Samoan, though he was raised in NZ. He is a graduate in Social Sciences and came to Australia because there are more opportunities here. He found work quickly and carried on for a while until he decided that this was not the field he wanted to be in but to be able to use his qualifications here is difficult and he needs to re qualify and pay the fees to enable him to be registered in Australia. He ran out of money and because he is a foreigner he is not entitled to Centre link support or housing. He knew he had to do something as he was left with two dollars in his pocket so when a friend introduced him to the Big Issue he decided to take this up and sell them on the street. Jason is big, islanders often are, in fact his weight impacts on his life and his health and I can imagine that if I carried all that weight it would be a struggle to walk, let alone stand for hours at a time and with a smile on my face. There is no bitterness or rancor in his story.  I take it at face value. He is matter of fact about the prospects.

He buys the magazine for $3 and he sells it for $6 and he can keep the $3. For $3 I can buy a bag of salad. A loaf of white bread. A burger. He is saving to put the money towards paying for his registrations and his licenses so he can work again. “Saving” he said, but I can’t begin to see how he manages. He is temporarily housed in a facility for three months. It is anyone’s guess what will happen to him after these three months. I walked away full of his story. Humbled by the effort he made to earn these small amounts. The city is welcoming but it is not easy for everyone. There are people who struggle on a daily basis and those who have much uncertainty in their lives.

On my way home, there he was again and I rushed over. With his story in my head I forgot to buy the Magazine. I brought it home and in all honesty I didn’t think it was going to have much to engage me. How wrong I was. I read it from cover to cover and one or two of the articles were outstanding.

It made me rethink the Magazine but more importantly it made me aware of how much I need to pay attention not just to the fun side of this lovely city but also to the side, which we tend to walk by. Stop and make time. Pick up a Magazine, hear their story if you are curious. If you are not, show you care and make a difference to the hours they have to put in to earn their evening meal. 

Parading Brisbane

1st of November 2014, sunny and warm and everyone is out enjoying themselves. The swimming area on South bank is packed full of families cooling off, having a picnic and chatting. At 400pm we all gather on Southbank to see the parade. We have all watched parades in our lives, school, army, harvest festivals, carnival so there is some expectation from this one. What I wasn't expecting was that it was going to make me giggle - Brisbane at its quirkiest and most fun loving. 

The Parade was displaying Brisbane's diversity and cultural richness. It did that amply and beautifully with all kinds of groups participating. In between the cultural groups were the unexpected delights, the bucket full of prawns, the Plasterers of Brisbane followed by the Plasterers of Paris ! The cockatoos and the Magpies. The Qld Man Cave, The Qld Belly dancers Association and so much more. A real feast for the eyes and one which delighted everyone who had the pleasure to see it. 

The Cockatoos - arent they perfect !

 The Lamington Cakes - Brisbane's favourite sweet thing

 The men wielding their weapons - saws, hammers and an assortment of other implements.

 The Magpies

The Plasterers of Brisbane 

 The Plasterers of Paris

 And finally, with lots more in between, but by no means least - A bucket of Prawns - a Brissie favourite 

Dear Lord Mayor ...

Dear Lord Mayor of Brisbane and Team Brisbane,

We have walked our socks off, marveled at the colours of the city, enjoyed the circus acts, the Latin parties, girls walking on water, swayed with the rhythms of the Zumba classes and Disco Balls and watched everyone having so much fun and we are only half way through it –

The big question is will we stand the course, is there more and how will it all end ? Cant wait for next week and all that is on offer as we watch the world coming to Brisbane.

We love what you have done and wondered how some ideas came to fruition. We applauded the diversity and the quirkiness – Brisbane at its heart.

We know that the city will welcome the summit and the leaders.

Do you think we can keep the lights ? We love them and they light up the city. Why just for the G20, and why not for the Brisbane Festival as well perhaps. 

Just one small request Lord Mayor, can you slow down – we can’t keep up.

An exhausted but happy resident. 

More on the Parade tomorrow - too tired to write anymore ! 

G20 and all that Jazz

The count down to the G20 coming to Brisbane got off to a great start last night with the opening ceremony at the Piazza on South Bank. A culturally rich programme with Aboriginal groups, Torres Islander dance groups, circus groups, Robert Forster from the Go Between Band and the amazing William Barton Playing Didgeridoo and guitar at the same time. There was a diversity and an informality which I love about the way Brisbane does things - but also a determination and a spirit to showcase Brisbane in every possible way to the leaders of the world.

When the Cultural programme was finished we all got up and walked with the Premier leading the way down to South bank, clapping our  clap sticks as we went along, to the Cultural forecourt where he gave a crisp and clear talk about what this was all about - Brisbane at its best. 

Then buildings along the water front but also further in, came alive with the Colour me Brisbane lights. 

Spectacular and sparkly, impressive and innovative. 

My Queensland

There is an awful lot of it and I am keen to see more - but I am also tapping in to what is being made available to me from the local government.

So from my newsletter, delivered to my door,  I know I can :

Choose one of three workout videos with exact exercise techniques to keep me healthy and fit.

Have free navigation maps for Queensland most popular boating spots.

Celebrate Grandparents day on 26th October to show gratitude to grandparents for their contribution.

Enjoy free transport on the river all times of the day and night.

Be amazed at the city lighting up in a series of fantastic light shows.

Watch the Parade on Nov 1st to celebrate the city's diverse cultures and join in a latin party at the end.

Go to a Jazz concert with celebrated musicians.

Watch a world class Ballet on the river stage.

And every single one of these events is free to me. Yes the G20 visiting has something to do with it. I do ask myself if this is sustainable and perhaps it is not but at the moment I am happily living in a city which offers so much to its citizens.

Diary chocker full of fab days ahead. 

Know your Storm

I received one of those " Living in Brisbane" leaflets through my door and I always find them useful to read right the way through whether it is to find out about community activities or tell you how to recycle and where. 

This edition is brimming with great opportunities and activities but it also has an item called- be prepared for storm season. This got me thinking about cyclones and typhoons and hurricanes and I realized that I knew nothing about them.

Now seriously do you know your cyclone from your hurricane? I thought not. 

Do you know why some of them have male names and others female names ?

So I decided to do a little research to find out more about this. 

There is really no significant difference between these three named weather systems. They are actually named mainly from where they occur as this map shows taken from the web:

So basically in North America the weather systems are called Hurricanes. In the western Pacific and in Asia they are called Typhoons and in the Southern hemisphere and the Indian Ocean they are mainly referred to as Tropical Cyclones. 

They are accumulations of air that centre around an area of low pressure, bringing high speed winds, heavy rain and thunder storms.The circulation of warm moist air takes on a circular motion due to the Earth's rotation, rotating clockwise in the Southern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the northern hemisphere.

How they were named has a little to do with Queensland so I am happy to report on this aspect as well. Clement Wragge, who was Director of the Queensland Met office at the end of the 19th Century was the first person who named the storms after real people. While this idea did not last, another one, which was similar, did catch on. 

The American Weather Bureau started naming hurricanes as it was easy to identify them that way. For many years, for some peculiar reason, storms were given female names. Some people found this practice unacceptable so from the 1970s storms were named after male and female names on an arbitrary basis. So the first storm will be Alex, the second, Bonnie, the third Charlie and so on. 

Nowadays a list is maintained by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva, and the list has female as well as male names and they are allocated to the storms but apparently when some become associated with severe weather events like Hurricane Katrina in the US, they are retired off the list. The Philippines, has its own naming system. Sadly perhaps it gets more than its fair share. This in a nutshell is what storms are all about. 

So now you can safely go out there knowing that there is no difference between the three but are you prepared for the one that might come your way, whatever it may be called ? 

Brisbane Open House

I am a relative new comer to this City and perhaps a little starry eyed after four years in New Delhi but this City impresses the hell out of me. This weekend has been Brisbane Open House – a weekend dedicated to the opening of over 100 buildings to make them accessible to its citizens, and it is not just about Heritage and History, its about cutting edge technology and innovation, environmentally friendly buildings and rooftop creations. It is a chance to see behind closed doors and into how businesses, organizations such as ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and the Judiciary function. It is about openness and accessibility to citizens and engendering a spirit of curiosity about the city but also of pride and ownership in its many and varied achievements.

I had only a taster of what was on offer but in that short time I had an informative tour of the ABC, I saw where all the news programmes aired on our TVs were recorded and marveled at the fact that there was not a single cameraman there to hold the camera. The cameras are all pre programmed, almost as if my magic. I had my picture taken with the local celebrity Weather lady Jen, by a volunteer who thought I would like nothing better. I could barely refuse.

I went on a tour of the law courts – a building which has so many solar, water saving and energy saving devices built into its structure where huge windows provide maximum natural light and where e- trials are conducted in a push of buttons to start cameras, present documents on screens and to video link witness statements when needed. My thoughts went to my early years as a barrister when everything was done on paper. How things have changed. 

I visited MacArthur Chambers from where General MacArthur conducted his wartime effort in WWII and again a volunteer insisted I had a picture of me sitting in General MacArthur's chair which is normally out of bounds so double delight of me for all you which is highly unusual ! 

I spent the morning in Bogo Jail going on a tour of one of Australia’s most notorious prisons. Its leaflet, all in red with imposing letters, is entitled “Escape the 21^st Century”. On offer History Tours, Ex In -mate and Ex- Officer Tours and Ghost Tours. What a hoot ! Our tour guide, a burly Ozzie with a booming voice related stories of the harsh lives of the criminals and those of the most notorious ones like Slim Halliday who apparently managed to escape and be caught on several occasions.

Perhaps most romantically of all I visited Brisbane’s oldest surviving residence, Newstead House, and  walked through immaculate period rooms dating from the late 1800. The house was built in 1846 but had a number of celebrated owners. There is an original wind up music instrument, a self -pouring tea pot, a swivelling kettle, beautiful silver and ornate crystals and bibelots to name but a few of the remarkable objects found in the house.  The covered verandas look out over a flowering Jacaranda and a sausage tree and down below the Brisbane River glides by.

This whole weekend is ably put together by Brisbane City and it is ably manned all over by volunteers who are happy to share some of the heritage, history, innovation or wonder about the bricks and mortar which they bring alive.