Benefits to be had

Does environment affect the music of a country? Peter Sculthorpe once equated the drone of the didjeridu to the flatness of the Australian landscape, an observation that possibly overlooks the complex patterning created by didjeridu drones against the melody of a singer and the beat of clapsticks.

And a couple of observers have pointed to an eschewal of actual drama in a great many Australian films. They come across as stretched out single acts, lacking the turning points of full-scale conflict. Are these environmental influences? There is far more climatic punctuation perhaps in other countries. I noticed this in Washington last year as summer turned to fall, squirrels started gathering up nuts and the leaves began to fall.

Not complaining though. There are lifestyle pleasures to be had from a benign and fairly even climate, where winter means you just put on a jumper. Even on a cold (or somewhat cold) July day the flowering of a wattle on our escarpment is a cheering sight.

And it is possible for a few brave souls still to swim in the sea, as they were at Clovelly today (There is a fellow duck-diving somewhere beyond the shallows in this photograph.)