A Long Walk

Today I walked along Gap Road to the top of the hill. I had no particular intention when I set out, only that it was a glorious day and the blue sky beckoned. It is the first day of Melbourne coming out of lockdown and I feel emotional. It has been such a long hard few months. I have not been in the city but through my friends and students I have gauged the scars of the long hibernating months. Walking felt like the practice I needed today. In walking you see many things that you miss driving past. I am noticing more this year due to the constraints we have all been living with. The rain has also delivered a year of abundant fungi and now wildflowers. The yam daisy is out and the orchids are emerging. The introduced and now wild species are in flower. One I have not noted before is the hawthorn. Along the road I see surprising and beautiful compositions of the flowering hawthorn intermingled with kangaroo apple. Near a neighbour’s there are white and pink hawthorn overlapping and they look glorious. I haven’t noticed them before, but I have not spent an entire year here either – with the seasons flowing one into the next and revealing their delicate secrets. The birds are also abundant as I walk – the grey shriek is particularly noted – a medium sized bird with a song that wakes the heart and the ear. I have walked to the top of the hill where I can see the plains leading to the city of Melbourne in the distance. I realize I wanted to acknowledge and feel part of this first day of Melbourne’s release from lockdown. Along the way I have had conversations … smelt the earth … heard birdsong … seen the black angus cows flicking their tails … despaired at the ugly house recently built at the top of the hill … seen the dump of household rubbish that people think no one will notice …  and considered the months that friends, colleagues and students have endured under lockdown during this pandemic. I feel keenly we are living in historic times.