Something in the Air

There is definitely, something in the air. I can feel it, I can see what it does, but what is it? I know not. I think it is something astrological.

Back to that in a minute. The song 'Something in the Air' by Thunderclapp Newman was a No 1 hit in 1969. To hear it now, or even think of it, stirs emotions in me that come from deep in my psych from my 17yo adolescent trauma. It was a song about change, revolution and inspiration. I think of trips to Lorne  and district with RR, sleeping in the car, drinking beer by a fire in cold weather, hiking, climbing waterfalls, and enjoying the new found freedoms we had reached. Yes it was a revolution for us.

I think of driving on a Saturday out to Preston early in 1972. It was early in the football season. My team Ormond Church of Christ was playing Preston Methodists in the Sth East Suburban Churches Football League. Preston had been allowed into the comp that year, I know not why, Preston is a northern suburb. They and a couple of other clubs had been kicked out of the league they were in the previous year because of brawling. This day we and Preston were undefeated and we tripped out to their homeground not quite knowing how we'd go. I gave a lift to a bloke named Mick Hughes, a new player for us, a rangy half back flanker with long legs and hair, a good footballer, he'd played a couple of seasons at Mordialloc in the VFA. Mick was a uni student and 'Something in the Air' was played on the radio. After it he talked all the way about the coming revolution. I wonder what became of Mick, he was a hell of a nice bloke. That particular day we were in great form and and we blitzed them. Their coach afterwards came in to the visitors rooms and said what a wake up call they'd had, they thought they should have entered our comp in a higher grade and thought D grade would be a pushover for them. We played them again later that year on our home ground, and in the second semi and Grand Final. Unfortunately they beat us in all.

Today I picked ten bunches of snowball viburnum flowers and ten bunches of white dogwood blossom at our house and some lilac. The size, fullness and beauty of the blossom was amazing, even to me who is used to such pleasures. I picked also some bay foliage (it's starting to shoot it's new growth so after about 9 months picking bay I'll be stopping now till January when it's finished the growth spurt and has firmed up) and some green beech (which shot a couple of weeks ago and is still too soft yet but I picked some in hope it stands up as the bloody rosellas always eat that particular tree for some reason before it's firm enough for me).

As I unloaded at the farm, looking around at all the lovely blossom and foliage I said to Meredith just how good everything is this year. She said yes, it's weird, but blossom is full and lovely, and leaves are lush and large, when really we haven't had enough rain for this to be so. September was dry, and last March set records for heat and dry. And the months in between weren't great, drier than usual in aggregate.

She said, "You may think this is crazy, but I think it has something to do with that huge moon we had earlier in the year. It's something that won't happen again for so many years."

My response was, "Could it be? I tell you what, I've never seen Mars and Venus so bright in all my life, and I watched them and two other planets (Pluto and Jupiter?) all in line across the sky many times, shining strong and bright. Driving home in winter Mars seemed huge in the east, and alighting at home I looked to the west an Venus shone lke a beaut, the other two making a line. The night sky has been exhilerating."

I have never known the sweet pittosporum to flower so profusely and the scent to be so strong. It has been intoxicating for weeks when I go out the back door. And the hills to the east are dotted with white blossom on the silvertop trees and when I checked the bees Monday they had shaken off last season's malaise and were gathering honey.

So I don't know what but there's something in the air. There's so much we don't know and I have a feeling that life on earth is intricately connected with everything else and the cosmos, far moreso than we will ever understand. Plants, fish, birds, elepants, buffaloes, beavers, cats, dogs, primates, insects, fungi, reptiles..everything..rivers, mountains, oceans...all connected to the earth and sun and moon and stars. Every leaf is a little solar energy receptor absorbing carbon and pumping out oxygen. It's hard to get your head around. And if you were to dig straight down a couple of kilometres you'd get very hot and soon thereafter hit molten rock. Bizarre!

There's something in the air now, on our level. I feel it. A revolution in how we live, produce energy. "Call out the instigators, because there's something in the air, and you know that it's right, because the revolution's here."