First San Francisco and then Bondi Beach? There must be an extremely pissed deity out there.

In the past 24 hours, two of the public’s worst nightmares have become reality.

The first is the San Francisco plane crash. While Australia slept, an Asiana Airlines flight from Seoul, South Korea, crash landed at San Francisco airport. Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that two are dead, while a further 140 are injured.

The second is the surfer who was rushed to hospital after being knocked unconscious by a 15-metre humpback whale this morning at Bondi Beach. It might not be a shark, but a whale is still a very real threat in the water. I imagine running head-first into an elephant would be a similar experience.

The thing that strikes me about both of these incidences is that they’re threats that cross our minds, but we wave away with the reasoning of “Oh, that never happens.” Crash landings from reputable airlines never happen. Being attacked by dangerous sea creatures never happen. If we couldn’t reason away these very real possibilities, we’d never board a flight or swim in the ocean again.

I’m not a nervous flyer, but the take-off and landing still freak me out. There’s always that weightless feeling as you take off, where you suddenly realise that you are in a giant tin bucket several hundred feet above the ground and there’s no possible way physics accounts for this shit. (I calm down and remember my physics lessons approximately 30 seconds later, or as soon as the stewards stalk walking around.) And when you land, there’s always that bump, when you think, “Hmm. Will the plane topple over? Will we crash into the terminal? Oh well done, they’ve landed safely again.”

I can’t say I’m as calm about the ocean. I mean, I love going for a swim and all but the entire time I’m having a mild panic attack, imagining all sorts of sharks/sting rays/jelly fish/blue bottles/crabs/seaweed that could brush against my foot. I live in Australia, so this is a very real possibility. (I did see a shark once. It was approximately three feet long and probably couldn’t have bitten my pinky toe off, let alone a leg. Doesn’t matter. I’ve never sprinted out of the water so fast in my life.)

As much as our imagination goes into overdrive when we’re flying, or swimming in the ocean, or looking for lost children or Googling vague medical symptoms, reasoning is what brings us back to reality. Landing planes is practically all done with technology, anyway. If there was a shark in the water, there would be a warning. The lost child has probably wandered over to the toy section. You probably have a mild cold, not cancer.

But today, we’ve had two nightmares come true. Granted, this is nothing compared to what’s happening in Egypt, or Turkey, or even Australia’s shambles of politics. But these are fears of a different type altogether. This is along the same lines of hearing a bump in the night, only to find out there actually is someone in your house.

Which leads me to believe there must be a very pissed deity somewhere. Or perhaps its collective bad karma. Or maybe it’s just a chronological hotspot of bad luck. That seems like the sort of thing that comes in threes, doesn’t it? The mystical and the magical and stand up jokes always come in threes. These incidences feel very much like they fit into the category of threes.

We’ve already had two. I wonder what’s coming next?

Photo Credits

Bondi Beach: Sydney Morning Herald

Plane Crash: News.com.au

Australia, what are we not talking about?

When applying for my internship, I was asked to write a 600 word article on something I thought would interest the readers. After much deliberation, I chose the tricky subject of euthanasia. While the issues discussed have not affected me or my family personally, it is an issue I feel strongly about. If this topic is likely to distress you, please don’t read on.

INTERVIEW // An Australian Musician with a ‘Heart of Gold’

I had the good fortune to meet Telen Rodwell, an Australian musician/film maker/general-all-round awesome person who is about to release his first album. We met at the Renaissance Hotel in King’s Cross, and I squealed like a little girl when I realised the lobby was used for a couple scenes in Harry Potter. This was also my first in-person interview, and after having a mild panic attack at the thought of, you know, actually conducting an interview in person, I downloaded three voice recorder apps. This article originally appeared in The Australian Times.

Australia Day 2013

 

Wow. It was only when I sat down and actually thought about this upcoming Australia Day, and where I was at the same time last year did I realise how much had changed.

Last Australia Day, I was barely two months into my London life. With an empty house (everyone had escaped winter for, well, Australia), I rounded up a couple Aussie mates and headed to Elk Bar in Fulham. As Australia Day’s go, it was brilliant: Bundy rum was on special, the place was decked in green and gold, and everyone was there to have a good time. It felt like finding a second family of long lost relatives, and a hundred drunk Aussies belting out John Farnham’s ‘Your the Voice’ was nothing short of epic. That night I ran into a couple mates from home, and when I grew tired of waiting for drinks and tried to sneak behind the bar, no one kicked me out – I just got served.