Here Comes the Sun

It's now March and officially the start of Autumn even if the leaves are still stubbornly green.

I'm kind of glad I stayed in Melbourne for the summer even if it meant missing Chinese New Year at home. The Melbourne I usually come back to is grey; dull grey skies, grey pavements and people huddled in big coats.

It was so nice seeing another side to the city and to the people. In summer, there is this explosion of colour and life that I never really expected. Living in sunshine all year round in Singapore has made me completely spoiled. Here, once the sun comes out, the people emerge all tanned and long limbed from their trench coats and spill out into the sidewalk cafes and beaches. They lie beneath trees in the park sunning themselves and indulge in the fantastic Italian gelati that one can buy from so many places here. There is an air of desperately trying to take advantage of the long sunny days whilst they last.

To be honest, the long, hot days here really alleviated my homesickness. It's hard to miss sunny Singapore when the sun sets at 8:30pm and you can take long walks around the gorgeous city parks.

There were so many activities I indulged in over the summer, eating ice cream on 40 degree days(you would not believe how good ice cream tastes on a day like that), roller blading on St Kilda Beach, watching the sun set at 9pm in the evening and watching many many great art house/indie films at the art house cinema on Lygon Street. Despite my friends' gloomy predictions that spending the summer here would be draggy and boring, it turned out to be such a thoroughly cool time (pardon the terrible pun)!

I wish summer didn't have to end and I really really wish for the winter chill never to set in. But at least I've stopped associating Melbourne with just the cold and the chill of autumn and winter.