Twenty three minutes of walking, mostly along Auburn St in Kingston, was rewarding for the profusion of native and exotic vegetation, the family of pardalote birds, the friendly locals, the lone sulphur crested cockatoo, the occasional glimpse down to Kingston Beach between houses, and the still silvery almost disappearing Derwent River.

At the end of my walk was the Channel Court shopping centre (http://channelcourt.com.au/directory/) at Kingston with new and old parts ( I am yet to walk to the Kingston Shopping Centre). Perhaps years have passed since I was here and the building extensions and diversity of dozens and dozens of shops surprised me.

I found what I needed, made my few purchases and was eager to leave. So many people, so many trolleys, so many bags, so many cars, so many travellators where people forget they are meant to continue walking, so much tinsel, so much ‘festive’ music,  and so much to consume if you want to keep spending. Overlaying all that experience was the deadening sound of air conditioning noise which all shopping centres have.

I am not an enthusiastic shopper and very quickly I looked forward to the return walk home.  In particular, I was hoping to get a good photo of this side of Mount Wellington. However, since the rain has stopped, the rising steam is clouding the base of the mountain. Unfortunately, except when I am close up with glowing colourful flowers, the silvery air washes out the landscape.  So I will return another day and hope to click a definitive shot of that spectacular natural edifice.