I have never been through weather as turbulent as we are experiencing in Melbourne. While the rest of Australia is burning up with the hottest temperatures on record creating bush fires that rage for days, our city has been battered with constant torrential rain, storms and floods. The humidity is 96%.

This is unheard and unseen for Melbourne at this time of year. Just to put it into perspective, last week I had the heater on for a couple of days as the temperature dropped to 16. Within a couple of days it was up to 36. These extreme highs and lows are draining, mentally.

Everything seems to be damp. Our fence, pavements and tiles seem to now be covered with a film of green moss. My washing remains damp even though I’ve put it out on the line to dry. We are having tropical north weather so south of Australia that we aren’t used to it.

And I think it’s making us all barmy.

Our city is a construction zone. Our suburbs are construction zones. There are major road and building works happening everywhere you look. The Metro project means that roads and highways are being dug up to lay an underground infrastructure of intricate rail systems that connect the east to the west.

And yet, we STILL don’t have a rail link to the airport.

In the suburbs, one house blocks are being demolished to put up multi storey apartments, grey ugly buildings described as sleek and sophisticated living. They look like one gust of strong wind will bring them down.

Yesterday a trip to the shopping centre took me 45 minutes which usually takes me a lot less. Congestion on the road due to waiting for construction trucks to move their cargo in and out of building sites, made it impossible to move. The same happened over the weekend when an entire Citylink road was out of action plus inadequate signage, necessitating us to remain on the highway (no off ramps) and do a circular route to our destination. The journey took an hour when it usually is 30 minutes.

The weather has also claimed lives on our roads. Over two days, heavy fog due to the immense humidity means our highways are hidden. Add to that, people driving like maniacs resulting in a multi car pile on accident on the one road out of town causing gridlock chaos for many hours.

The weather, construction zones, congestion, traffic, chaos, stress and anxiety that comes with the rush of this time of year, is making people nuts. Every day I see people risk their lives in their cars. They are impatient. They run red lights, they don’t stop at Stop signs, they get out of cars to walk up to other cars and bang on car windows.

Lycra wearing male cyclists are the worst offenders banging on car bonnets, boots and windows.

People are tired, angry, impatient.

Part of me feels that we need some sunshine for a bit. To dry the land, to put people in better spirits even if it is just a little while. People are doing it tough now more so than ever and I feel that change.

In other years, at the time of the year, I was excited as to what the new year would bring to the world. However, we have seen such drastic extremes everywhere that now, there’s a quiet dread of “what else are we going to see?”

For now, I’ll do what everyone else is also doing. Living one day at a time. This too shall pass.

But I’d like some more days of sunshine. 🌞