Schools back...
It's cooled down a little bit and I'm settling into Uni life a bit more. I've been puzzling over something to write about for the last week or so because there aren't any major events happening except, well, St Patrick's Day and Easter coming up.
I guess the main thing that happens in early March is the change from summer holidays with students running around town to the school/uni year.
School starts back at the end of January although depending on which grade your in you'll get between 6-8 weeks holidays starting in Nov-Dec. Year 12 finishes in November and is followed, usually, by Schoolies down at the Gold Coast. Uni starts back at the last week of February with O-week and classes in the first week of March (of course all of this is approx and changes year to year).
The patterns in the city change, though, with public transport and the amount of people running around the city changing. Once school starts back the public transport gets a bit more populated between 7:30-8 although it's a bit spread out. In the afternoons, however, there are spots where you can't even get to the bus or train - Mater Hill bus stop is just filled with private school students (I never did know the name of the school just up on the hill - but boys private) and State High. The platform at Coorparoo Station (where I went to school many years ago) was always filled with the amalgam of Coorparoo, Cav Rd, Churchie and Villanova and there were fights all the time. Coorparoo has gotten more classy since then so I'm not sure it still happens. So there's a lot of energy and movement around 3-4 and then it's all quite again waiting for the coming home crowd.
Interestingly I've noticed that bus drivers seem to hate high school students, particularly boys. They get harrassed about their tickets being exactly right, to give seats up for adults and all the other social codes and it's usually the drivers that seem to have something to say. Even though I'm paying a half fare, with a ticket that I just flash at the driver (and sometimes I have used the wrong one from my purse), I'm never harrassed about my fare or about getting out of my seat... socialisation and dominant power plays at work.
During the summer there are young people wandering around the inner city all over the place. The energy at Christmas is kinda odd with lots of shoppers and the like. When people return to school/uni it's mostly just the workers and the odd students so the whole purpose of the city seems to shift. It was all fun and pleasure and shopping but during the day, during the academic year, most of the purpose is work or passing through. Mind you the weekend is a different playground all together with people out drinking and socialising till all hours all year round.
I'm kinda interested to know if anyone else notices these kinds of shifts - are there any other times of the year? or changes in the use/population patterns because of different purposes?
I think that the way that people use a space actually contributes to the energy of the place and that these are as cyclic as the seasons. When I've got some time I'm going to try and do some research on space and place and link to some of the ideas and articles about the way people live in a city.
I guess the main thing that happens in early March is the change from summer holidays with students running around town to the school/uni year.
School starts back at the end of January although depending on which grade your in you'll get between 6-8 weeks holidays starting in Nov-Dec. Year 12 finishes in November and is followed, usually, by Schoolies down at the Gold Coast. Uni starts back at the last week of February with O-week and classes in the first week of March (of course all of this is approx and changes year to year).
The patterns in the city change, though, with public transport and the amount of people running around the city changing. Once school starts back the public transport gets a bit more populated between 7:30-8 although it's a bit spread out. In the afternoons, however, there are spots where you can't even get to the bus or train - Mater Hill bus stop is just filled with private school students (I never did know the name of the school just up on the hill - but boys private) and State High. The platform at Coorparoo Station (where I went to school many years ago) was always filled with the amalgam of Coorparoo, Cav Rd, Churchie and Villanova and there were fights all the time. Coorparoo has gotten more classy since then so I'm not sure it still happens. So there's a lot of energy and movement around 3-4 and then it's all quite again waiting for the coming home crowd.
Interestingly I've noticed that bus drivers seem to hate high school students, particularly boys. They get harrassed about their tickets being exactly right, to give seats up for adults and all the other social codes and it's usually the drivers that seem to have something to say. Even though I'm paying a half fare, with a ticket that I just flash at the driver (and sometimes I have used the wrong one from my purse), I'm never harrassed about my fare or about getting out of my seat... socialisation and dominant power plays at work.
During the summer there are young people wandering around the inner city all over the place. The energy at Christmas is kinda odd with lots of shoppers and the like. When people return to school/uni it's mostly just the workers and the odd students so the whole purpose of the city seems to shift. It was all fun and pleasure and shopping but during the day, during the academic year, most of the purpose is work or passing through. Mind you the weekend is a different playground all together with people out drinking and socialising till all hours all year round.
I'm kinda interested to know if anyone else notices these kinds of shifts - are there any other times of the year? or changes in the use/population patterns because of different purposes?
I think that the way that people use a space actually contributes to the energy of the place and that these are as cyclic as the seasons. When I've got some time I'm going to try and do some research on space and place and link to some of the ideas and articles about the way people live in a city.
posted by Chani Asha at 10:16 pm
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