The Ocean Pool at Collaroy

A sunny but cold day, looking down from a clifftop crowned with grass and nasturtium leaves, at an empty beach swimming pool. The surface of the pool is rippled but flat. We can see half the pool and two of its concrete walls, lined with chains and bollards, jutting out at an angle into the sea. Two people stand together at the very furthest point. Below the cliff is a set of steps running the length of the pool, and a broad concrete walkway at the pool’s edge, with a ramp and railings descending to the water. A man with a phone sits alone in the middle of the steps, dressed in trainers and dark pants, dark jacket with wide collar, blue cap and glasses. We see him from above. In both the ocean and the pool, the water is deep blue, shading to green in the shallows.