Canberra in spring is delightful, especially the street gardens in Kingston. Hobbling around the Kingston streets on the weekend with a bruised heel amidst the blooming flowers and their rich colour --the camellias have given away to Irises and roses-- it was impossible not to be seduced by the vibrant colour.

I felt that daily existence in this safe, secure middle class world in the leafy suburb was a long way from the financial crisis in the headlines about "casino capitalism" that I was reading and writing about for public opinion. Even though an election was being held on Saturday there was little sense of the looming economic crisis. I felt oddly disconnected somehow.

I could not shake off the feeling that I was living in a fools paradise. And yet the suburb, its apartments and street gardens felt solid and real. So were the families in the parkland and retired couples gardening. What was I doing taking photos of flowers in suburban street gardens when I was living through financial capitalism undergoing a "systemic meltdown"?

The meltdown was also felt real despite the flux and it resembling one of those bad films concocted by the Hollywood factory for the production of pre-packaged blockbusters. The film is Nightmare on Wall Street and in it everything is collapsing, everything is collapsing... the flames of the firestorm are consuming everything that is solid.

The sources of hope---Kevin Rudd--say that it is only a question of time before the full impact of the global financial hits Australia in terms of deflation and unemployment. But not in Kingston. It felt immune, safe, secure. It was living in a bubble of affluence. How much of the affluence was an illusion?

How do you take photos of this?