Super Late Monday Madness

Happy Monday! I have lots of goodies to share with you this week, but due to technical constraints (capped internet speeds! UGH!) and my sleepiness factor, I'm going to have to start the week a little less extravagant than I'd like. But I'll make up for it, I promise!

So today is a little Earth Hour debriefing. Did you take part? I did! I packed up a picnic blanket, candles and even a few board games and dragged a few semi-willing friends over the Harbour Bridge and into a park that has a view a little something like this...


We secured a great little spot, set ourselves up with a glass of wine (and when I say glass, I mean plastic picnic cups, very classy!) and enjoyed the gorgeous warm evening with a couple of hundred of our best park pals. I very quickly realised that my camera phone was not up to the task of documenting the night, but with about 50 or so tripods set up with enviously large cameras atop, I figured it wouldn't be difficult to find a few great photos from the night. Big thank you to Carlfish who took these fabulous (and un-doctored!) photos.

8.30pm ticked over, a lone ferry sounded its horn, and slowly but surely the lights started flicking off across the skyline...


The Opera House, the Harbour Bridge, even Luna Park! Every logo on every building, and we could even see some office buildings turning off their lights level by level! Though I do have to admit, I foolishly expected all the lights to flick off at once. I'm greedy like that.

Eventually even the massive cruise liner turned off its lights, which was met with a cheer and a round of applause from my excitable park pals. And better yet, no fireworks this year (bravo Sydney City Council!) So we sat around for an hour, drinking more wine and plotting our revenge against all the nearby apartment buildings whose blazing lights kept our park completely free from shadows. I tried to coerce my crew into a round of Jenga, but everyone was a little too content with wine and relaxation, and who could blame them?


Here's a little slideshow of Earth Hour celebrations from around the globe! So tell me all about your Earth Hour exploits! Did anyone trick or treat? Did anyone roam around their neighbourhoods and embrace their inner zombie with a little Michael Jackson-esque Thriller dance? (Michelle, Jacqueline, I'm looking at you two!) Shenanigans aside, I'd love to hear what everyone got up to, so go ahead, make my day!

P.S. I feel guilty for the Blandy McBlanderson post, so here's a little eye candy via the gorgeous Mrs. Bliss to tie you over until tomorrow (hopefully!) You can see more of her beautiful finds here, and her own stunning blossom photos right here.




P.P.S. I'm still catching up on emails and comments, so pretty please bear with me a little longer...but please keep them coming too! <3



12 comments:

ThrtnWmsFam said...

We participated too. We got in our jammies, turned out the lights and piled in our king size bed where the whole family talked and told stories. Not one argument, which is a major accomplishment for this family. It was great. Glad you blogged about it. Vikki at www.survival-cooking.com

Ice said...

You managed to get the before and after pictures of the Earth Hour! Great. I only took the before lights off pictures 'cos I got real hungry just before 8pm and went home :o)

philly5113 said...

Yeah I participated too and like you was a bit disappointed. I had hoped that all the lights would go out about the same time to make the point. At first, when it was announced, I thought it might be wierd or scary even especially since our last major blackout. But I figured this is planned and organized so no unknown factor or fear for the darkness. Unfortunately it didnt make an impact because we had more lights on than off. A great idea any way. We will get it right next time.
Wow, those photos really topped it off well.
Thanks

Chloe said...

Wow! The pictures of the harbor skyline are very neat. The cherry blossoms make me feel happy and spring, which is great because it's cold and snowy in my neck of the woods. Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

Morphologica said...

Did you know you've been featured on http://blogsofnote.blogspot.com ?

Congrats! xxx

Nic

Sandi K said...

I heard via radio yesterday morning that Al Gore had his floodlights blazing at 8:45 pm... what's up with that? Our house was dark, except for the light of the gas furnace.

*krystyn* said...

I participated in my itty bitty house in TN. Not nearly as fun or exciting as your set up. Neat pictures.

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Levi Agreste said...

It must have been a great night (at least the photos are great!).
It can seem cliche, but I realy do like your blog.
thanks

Anonymous Bloggette said...

The photos are awesome. I was a little confused until I kept reading and sounded like a wonderful cause and night. Congrats on your earth promoting thinking and acting!

K.Line said...

All of these pics are terrific but the ones of Sydney harbour really make me want to see it for myself. Aren't you lucky to live near such a landmark - and a beautiful city!

Ms Unreliable said...

NVG-WmsFam - That sounds so wonderful! What a great way to bring your family together, and what a feat to keep it argument-free too! :D

Ai Shiang - Haha fair enough, you can't not eat! I was strangely organised and packed up a little picnic for us, although there were lots of great little restaurants nearby that smelt really good too...it was tempting, but we stuck to our picnic :D

philly5113 - Yeah there were still an awful lot of lights on...I even know of someone being employed for the night specifically to turn off all their lights in their building...and they missed a level! So funny that only a few days later, the Sydney CBD had a massive blackout...just a few days earlier and there would have been a perfectly good reason :D

♥ Chloe - It was strangely tricky to find good photos of Earth Hour even a few days after the event, so I'm glad you like these ones! The Big Picture has some fantastic ones too! And still snowing?! Eek, surely spring must be on the way soon?

RocketGirl - I did, how crazy is that?! I must send some baked goods the way of the Google/Blogger team! :D

Sandi K - Haha I heard that too! You think he'd be a little more savvy!

remember moments - That sounds great too! Last year we had a candlelit dinner at home and it was sublime!

Levi - Aww thank you! It was indeed lots of fun, we might make at least a monthly event out of it, switching off for a few hours was a nice change!

Anonymous Bloggette - Hehe sorry about that, I'd been ranting on about Earth Hour for over a week so I tried to keep it to a minimum here :D

K.Line - I am indeed a lucky little cookie, you should definitely drop by this corner of the world!