Time stood still in the centre of Perth today.
For three minutes dozens of people froze in Perth’s Murray Street Mall. Three very wet minutes.
On a day when rain bucketed down, strong winds buffeted the metropolitan area and thousands of homes were left without power, a group of locals headed into the middle of the city to take part in a time freeze.
The idea was to meet for a briefing in Northbridge before heading into the Murray Street Mall for the freeze. Right on midday, with a quick blast on an air horn as a signal, the assembled masses suddenly froze positions.
After three minutes there was another blast of the air horn and everyone just moved off.
Emily, James and I took part while Pauline took photos. I was giving last minute instructions to the children when the horn went off, so that’s how we stayed for the next three minutes.
The video shows the whole episode. It’s not as clear as it would have been if Perth had put on one of it’s better weather days. You can see people moving around for the first 90 seconds of the video then you see those taking part suddenly freeze.
I scanned the crowd as much as I could but I didn’t spot anyone older than me. At 44 I reckon I was the oldest participant. There was another family involved with younger kids than ours.
My only disappointment, well OK, apart from the weather, is that I didn’t get to see the reactions of those passing by but I’m told that it was very effective with many people wondering what had just happened. I’m guessing my the sound of screaming in the video that at least one child found the whole thing a bit overwhelming.
i thought the screaming thingy is a part of Time Freeze – but then again maybe I’m wrong.. poor kid hey, hope she’s not traumatized or anything like that =__=
Thanks for dropping in, Crescentsaber. According to one of the other commenters on this post the screaming was very much a part of the event. So your guess was right.
I was freezing yesterday too Rodney, not the way you were but LITERALLY!
The rain was very wet but it was still quite warm in the city so it wasn’t too bad, Tim. I hope you’ve warmed up by now.
Oh bother! I wanted to go and do that!
Glad you remembered.
CB
Cellobella, it was unbelievably wet. Maybe you did the smart thing by forgetting.
Hopefully there’ll be more.
The screamer is visible in The Couch video of the event. She looks to be in her 20s, and was almost certainly a part of the event. I’ve heard the six screams in other freezes.
And you were not the oldest – there was a gentleman in his 60s, and a lady of similar age up around The Merchant, where I was frozen.
Great fun!
Rob, I guess I didn’t hear the screaming at the time because I was at the other end of the freeze and the rain was so loud.
Good to know I wasn’t the oldest there.
I hope someone decides to do another one and that we get better weather for it. Do you know of other places to find photos? There was a guy with a great camera wearing a beret who took our photo and I’d love to track down the picture.
The people of Perth are certainly getting creative these days. Was there a reason behind this, or did I just completely read passed it?
No David, no reason.
I think it was just another great excuse for a flash mob. The idea circulated a lot on Facebook and I got an email about it too.
The Couch has a decent gallery – although I miss out – that’s aright, though – I’m in one of the videos!
Photo gallery:
http://westco.smugmug.com/gallery/5061256_Higv4
Enjoy!
Great to see you were there, Rodney. I was the one responsible for the video you’ve linked above. I originally intended to walk around with camera and get everyone, but given the lesser numbers than they expected, decided to join the fray and also freeze. Hope the video still gives enough justice.
G’day Miles. I reckon you’re brave for bringing out a video camera in such abysmal weather.
I think your video does a very good job of representing the event considering the conditions. let’s hope we can do again on a sunnier day.
Is this what Australians do in their spare time?
That’s pretty much all we do down here, Matt. We just stop every now and then to watch the world go by.
I wish some of that rain would make its way up to the Wheatbelt. The farmers would be very happy
Rodney
I saw the youtube clip of the Union Station freeze – amazing – showed it to my church
hadn’t heard about the one in my own town til now!
would love being part of any subsequent ones!
jf
WOW! LOL! This is neat. I just can’t imagine anything like this happening in the U.S.; not in New York State, anyway!
And Rodney– you’re 44?! Gosh, you don’t look a day over 50! HAHAHAhah ha h a h… a….
My husband says that joke ALL the time. :-p
KIDDING
Actually, I first heard about this from a youtube video about a freeze done in New York’s Grand Central Station
What nasty weather! Great so many people joined in none the less!
Sarah, it was wonderful to get the rain here in the metro area but I was rather saddened to hear that it hadn’t reached farming areas. I’ll keep praying that God sends you some of the wet stuff.
John, I’ll have to keep you in mind if I hear of any more coming up. (Hopefully on a sunnier day.)
Matt, I think the reason we were so keen on taking part was that we’d seen the Grand Central Station video. It’s brilliant. Thanks for posting the link.
Iris, I was very surprised that so many people still turned up to get involved. There was localised flooding and rooves torn off houses in some areas of the city …. and there we were standing in it.
Time freeze has already happened everywhere long ago…
And the screamer is an emerging live artists ! doing her thing as a contemprary artist.
It was a shame it rained, and that a poor amount of people participated
Hi Amee. Thanks for dropping in. Yes, time freezes have happened in many places before. It wasn’t something new but it was new to Perth.