Monday Homeward Bound

Ah Monday, there is a cool breeze blowing across the, not so, muggy day. People are smiling, as the heat is kept at bay. Hoorah, hoorah, they all say. Or was that just me? He, he, I think, as the blue sky curls around the fluffy clouds; wisps across the sky. The Rainbow Lorikeets twitter from the Jacaranda trees, as if in play. I watch them fly and wonder what it would feel like to be so free. The gardens have been dug for the autumn show. The agapanthus are blue, but, then again, aren't they always.

I cross between the banked up traffic going slow and out-walk them all. The drivers look hot and bothered stopped in the peak hour and I think that may be I am free. Not time-tables, no red lights for me, just one foot in front of the other. A bus turns across my path, even though I have a green man. Ah well, what does it matter?

Bike riders weave around me. The skater boy goes "clack" over the gutter. An old lady strolls with an equally old dog, as though time has completely stopped for her. She smiles back at my smile at her and tilts her head just so. I imagine her saying, How do you do? How do you do, I think in return. She has grey hair and skin like fine, cracked, porcelain and a serene demeanour.

The trams go clunk, clunk by. The elms wave their majestic branches, down Victoria Parade. I walk between them, feeling small.

The traffic snarls, but not at me. Engines roar as the lights turn green, like something depends on them being first.

The tree's shadows are dappled on the path, in my street, a gentle breeze blows, as I see my front gate.