out and about

All the way from Wynyard, a woman bangs her phone against her leg in never-varied rhythm. It pounds in peripheral vision. It screams at the edges of awareness.

On a bench by Sydney’s pedestrian-friendly George Street, a young woman sits with both hands raised to adjust the settings on her hairstyle. Her brow is furrowed. Her eyes are filled with irritation.

At Wynyard a tiny girl stands in the bus queue, eyes closed, rubbing her forehead with a gum leaf.

A family of three walks hand in hand, mother at the front, little girl in the middle, smaller boy dragging at the end and swinging his free arm defiantly. Pulled in two directions, the little girl bends her head and plugs on stoically.

Transport inspectors invade the train carriage, checking people’s Opal cards. One stands at the front, device extended, bored gaze drifting, mouth open, chewing gum. Kylie Mole as a grown-up.

A woman climbs Robert Street in Ashfield, leaning into the hill as she pushes an elaborate baby-transport. Between her and the carriage, a child stands comfortably on a platform made to increase the burden.

All along Sydney’s inner-city train tracks, the backyard fences and the end walls of terraces are covered in graffiti.

Two young women pass by with their mops and buckets and brooms, and one has a vacuum cleaner strapped to her back. They laugh in the rain.

A man is doing arm and body exercises as he walks. Suddenly he looks up, self-conscious. He glances round, walks on, and a few steps later he resumes his exercises.

The wind is just a bit too refreshing now. The sky begins to look like rain, and just like that, it falls.

An ancient woman sits motionless inside the cafe, her expression alternating between vacant stare and angry glare. Her walking stick is ready to make a move but she’s asleep now, her chin resting on her chest.

A young woman wears a crocheted pouch in front. Two small feet poke out the bottom, with a hint of striped leggings.

A boy and a girl cross the square, on unrelated trajectories, with their respective mothers. At precisely the same instant, on opposite sides of the square, both children squeal with excitement and begin to run.

As the bus rolls through Dee Why a grey-bearded Sikh is striding along the opposite footpath. He wears a white robe, long white trousers pulled in at the ankle and a yellow backpack. As we move in opposite directions his head turns to follow the bus, and I feel like I’m under a microscope.

Rain is falling. A young woman walks with a hand raised, sheltering her nose.

A man climbs the ramp with a rolling gait, as if he’s recently had both knees replaced. He carries a shopping bag and a bunch of flowers. A woman in her 30s moves up behind, prepares a smile in case their eyes should meet, and accelerates past. She has orange shorts and good strong legs.

A Japanese woman stops at the edge of the cafe, apparently teaching her little daughter to wave. She demonstrates, with a cheery greeting, bends down to instruct, and the child copies her. The woman turns the girl towards a different point, and the sequence repeats. I look over my shoulder to where they’re waving, but there’s no one there.

They leave without saying goodbye.

In the middle of the rain-puddled square a toddler falls on its hands and knees. Its mother smiles, then laughs and runs to accept a coffee from a friend.

The B1 is in a mad hurry, tearing along Pittwater Road like there’s no tomorrow. Storm clouds are gathering, and it’s all just a wee bit apocalyptic.

A chihuahua trots past the shops in Collaroy, owning the footpath. 🐶

A woman in leopard-print pants pulls a leopard-print shopping trolley past the cafe. An old man shuffles after her, three paces behind, head down and eyes locked on the wheels. He alters course with the trolley, as if it’s pulling him along.

Safe above freshly hung political posters, a young man relaxes on a balcony. He’s playing guitar with his back to the street and someone, sitting opposite, moves her dangling foot in time to the music.

A young bloke leans on a pillar out of the rain, holding a single long-stemmed rose.

A polite elderly woman enquires about routes to the Dee Why Grand, and the conversation turns to her love of coffee.

Me: There’s a place inside the Grand …

Polite elderly woman: No. They make shit coffee.

A woman speaks loudly but indistinctly on the phone. Then she announces, in a tone of surprise and very clearly: “I’ve lost confidence.”