Daylight Savings

So this past Sunday Australia entered daylight savings and this caused some strife. The first part of it was: which way do the clocks actually go? In America I’d always gone by

Spring forward
Fall back

The question was did this system still work in the upside down world. Sure we were still going into summer, but if the seasons are backwards possibly daylight savings would go backwards too. It was a question that puzzled both my roommate and I, but come Sunday morning the clock on my computer had answered for me (it was the same).
The second part, and one that I didn’t realize for a good 24 hours, was that just because Australia had moved its time, America hadn’t. It 4 o’clock in the afternoon and yet I was still talking to people in America (given they were all uni students so it might not be that bizarre). I was then confused on exactly how far behind American now was, or how far ahead I was. Turns out its 15 hours now.
Now the last part of this, only just realized now is that when American clocks go off daylight savings the time difference will change again. This will make a 16 hour difference! How can two countries be 14 hours apart for half a year and 16 hours for the rest?!?

A Quick Note of the Olympics

I haven’t really ever seen the Olympics in the States, which is strange considering I’ve lived there for 9 years now. I don’t remember anything about the Sydney Olympics back in 2000, the 2004 Olympics in Athens were watched mainly from England during summer holidays, and the 2008 Olympics most recently in Beijing I’ve seen completely from the Australian view. It was interesting to say the least, the Australians having a completely separate set of stars for the Olympics than the States; names like Libby Trickett and Stephanie Rice dominated the first week (of which I saw ms tricketts gold-medal swim about 5 times in one day—I can only imagine how many times Phelps was seen in the states). One thing that has been good is that a number, if not most of the sport have been live. Australia being 2 hours ahead of Beijing meant that the Olympic day started at 11am and went live pretty much till 11/12 or even 1 at night. In the first week I heard the Australian national anthem more times that I ever cared to hear it seemed like (this is after never hearing it before in my life). Then the second week began with a number of jabs at the British for overtaking them in the gold medal count (as one commentator said, mainly on their bottoms including biking, sailing and rowing). And the second week concluded with one Australian doing a funny walk for 50 km and getting praised for it, and one overhyped BMX athlete (Kamikaze) failing completely. And now, as I watch the final clip montage from the past two weeks I’m looking back on an Olympics that was covered fairly well for just two channels (on freeview)—although they did break to make sure they covered the aussy footy.
Now bring on 2012--London!

Melbourne, Victoria: Part 3—Under Construction: the American England

One well known fact about Melbourne is that it’s still growing. And one of the most visible signs of this is the sheer number of cranes in the skyline. From any position on any night you can generally count about ten—and there are still more obscured by already constructed buildings. The city is changing, evolving into taller city, the buildings that are being built are easily exceeding 5 stories, some beating 10 and a few higher still. On every street there is evidence of construct of reinvention and of a more to the modern. The buildings, new and old, take on what I would describe as American English as a walk through the city can evoke feelings of both American and England. From what I can deduce it’s more of a modified English, but at the new buildings rise it is slowly becoming even more Americanized. The street signs for example, in the city they take on an American vibe, while the motorways and signs are named and created in the same fashion as England (motorways, a roads, b roads and c roads). Mailboxes are both English in shape (rectangular openings) and American in placement (at the end of driveways). The transport system (to be described later) is a complete mix between something European and something American. The overall result is a city that is very easy to settle into (especially for me), and to get to know. A partly unfortunate result is that it can feel too familiar at times, and I’ve gotten caught out a number of times saying I was in the States.