Picture this ...

My 12-year-old is somewhere between boyhood and adolescence … innocence and knowledge, non-smelliness and serious smelliness.

I know this because I’ve observed the same transition in my older son who, at 15, is well entrenched in his hairy, skateboard riding, graffiti loving, mumbling teenage world.

The land between is funny and lovely to behold.

This morning, Mr 12 interrupted my morning make up routine by turning up at the bathroom sink, still bleary eyed and sullen, his thick brown hair tousled and messy. He looked at me, and burped loudly in my face. He then proceeded to rummage frantically in the bathroom drawer searching for something that was obviously very important. He then reached down and triumphantly displayed what he’d been seeking – Lynx hair gel, super hold. He used this liberally and followed up with a spray of Lynx deodorant (Chocolate). Morning routine done, he slouched out the door to find his phone.

Priceless.

Transition and a sense of being in-between are familiar themes to Docklands where ideas, inspiration and development are constantly at play in a bid to continuously improve and enhance the experience of living, commuting through and visiting here.

This month we had the image of surf waves breaking in the shadow of Melbourne’s skyscrapers floated (forgive the pun) with the idea of having a floating beach in Docklands. The CBD wave pool would they say, produce 1 – 1.5 metre barrels, be filled with filtered seawater (what? No jellyfish?) and would be heated all year round.  

The idea is to attract people looking for an after-work surfing session and kids looking for some wave pool/surfing action. I’ve gotta say, my kids would be here with bells on, and so would I. Whilst the image of swimming with jellyfish is appealing from a visual point of view (there is something graceful and ephemeral about them), it is a little bit icky and creepy.  Surfing with them even more so.  Here’s to filtration I say.

I wonder also, whether there would be space in the pool for people who wanted to swim laps, hang about in the water having a chin wag, or simply cool off on a hot day. That would be grand.

A hobbitesque twist is the idea of having a 50-metre strip of retail space for businesses like surf shops, hidden underneath a grass mound. Would the doors be round? I wonder.

Segue needed so, here goes … Speaking of hobbits, Christmas is, I am reliably informed only four short weeks away.

Whilst Woolies have had their Chrissie decorations up for some time and have been piping soothing carols through the store for some time now, this only serves to increase the sense of rising panic I feel on a number of fronts:

Christmas shopping I have not done;

House unpacking I have not done (I have just moved and still have boxes of stuff everywhere);

Family relationships I have not maintained (seeing people once a year at Christmas always does feel a bit wrong); and

Feelings I have had to put to one side because there is just so much to do (surely the whole point of Christmas is goodwill and not consumption?).

Hope this hasn’t made you feel too bad.

‘Til next year.

Oh, and season’s greetings one and all.

X Maria