spring cleaning

As I sit here, surrounded by cinnamon-coloured surfaces, amidst the sounds of sneezing, coughing and still spotting the odd face mask, life in Sydney has vastly returned to normal.
Alongside a huge collection of both professional and amateur photographs, the papers are virtually dominated by the orange dust phenomenon that struck the Australian East coast just 24 hours ago. While tabloids are flowing over with proclamations of 'doomsday' and speculations of some sort of timely link tying yesterday's natural phenomenon to the climate talks in Bangkok, advertisers have been quick to embrace the freak occurrence and incorporate them into ad campaign. Telstra, whose slogan is usually "time to call your mum?" came up with "How do you get dust out of your white pants? Time to call your mum.", Westbank's "We see the world in Orange. We wanted you to see it that way too." (the bank has an orange logo), Omo's "A bit of dirt is not the end of the world." (alluding to the apocalyptic claims) and the prompt to "Get to dust before the dust gets to you." offered by Viva a window and mirror wipes manufacturer. Meanwhile, VISA has a full page spread featuring a dusty car, withthe word 'go' written underneath - presumably targeting drivers to pay for that carwash using their credit card. I hope I don't get in trouble for posting ads on here, but here are a few photos of my paper (unfortunately not featuring all of the ads I mentioned here):












Interstingly it seems that print has actually overtaken the web in speed of delivery here, with a plethora of ads popping up in the print media while the same cannot be said for the online world (where I have yet to come across one today).
Looking out the window today , the clear blue sky and bright sunshine make it hard to believe yesterday's events weren't just a figment of everybody's imagination. Until, that is, we look around at those cars that did not have the time to queue for a carwashe yesterday afternoon ~ and bear unmistakable witness to the pervailing dusty experience which will, no doubt leave a lasting legacy not only in our memories but also in our living rooms, most certainly in the nooks and crannies that even the most thorough spring clean is unlikely to reach.