Day 89: Here comes the sun...almost

Day 89 (4 Mar) Awoke to the possibility that we might be able to see the International Space Station flying overhead this morning, but for the clouds...but wait, was there a break in the grey and drizzle?

Blue sky rarity, at 6.12am

Well, although the clouds hung around during the ISS flyover, I'm pleased to say that by 6.12am, we'd managed to see some blue sky at last albeit briefly. Yes, I was outside at that point, kettle on the boil, just to see the light as it were. 

The sun had just risen and was peeking over the trees. Never mind that just a couple of hours later I needed my umbrella to dash between the buildings at work. Oh well, a brief but nice reminder. 

Queenslanders are talking a lot about the weather at the moment. We've had a lot of rain of late, but there is more to come. 

Today though was the second Monday of my new semester at South Bank, in Brisbane and so I was looking forward to a 'typical' commuter experience, catching the bus to work, door-to-door in 30 minutes (yes, it all worked) and teaching a great group of students. What more could there be to like about the day, blue sky or rain. 

Compact paper on a compact beach.
A break around 11.12am

OK, the technology didn't quite fire as one might have hoped, but we got around that again, I think. Today was probably the most challenging lecture in the series of thirteen...make our Constitution live and breathe and have meaning...we read parts of the Constitution, we talk about how two words, 'external affairs', determined over century ago had ramifications 80 years later for Tasmanian wilderness. We talk about 1975, part of my history, but something  from the pages of history for the students. In the classroom, in full flight and away from bureaucratic strictures is, as I mentioned to a colleague this evening, when I feel most at home. It's a shame 'education' is losing that joy...still, that's the subject of another post. 

One advantage of working in Brisbane's centre is that a coffee break can be a walk across the road and into an entirely different vista. OK, my campus on the SunCoast has kangaroos, but I'm a water baby and even the glistening pool (yep, more sun!) even at South Bank can bring a sense of 'relax'. It even made the 'compact' edition of the Sydney Morning Herald more palatable. Big day of course, for the media. Much of the media was in fact about the decision of Fairfax to kill off the broadsheet and replace it with the tabloid size. SMH has been doing this for ages on the weekend anyway so really, no big deal. But, the media-tragic that I am, I had to have a copy in hand...

The busway, a regular commuter,
at 6.12pm

The change in the ABC homepage...well, that snuck under the radar and I'm still adjusting...but I noticed.

I enjoyed the class, we have the advantage of being a small group and that allows a lot of interaction and I sense we will develop a good sense of shared learning. I will look forward to the next three months. I do also like the fact that I'm just a regular commuter, so at 6.12pm at the bus stop on the busway on the way home, seemed quite right. It was like the sun shining again, almost.