While standing opposite Cardiff Toyota on the Munibung, Myall n Maquarie Rds intersection the other day with Jan, Rosemary and Lorraine I was stunned at the volume of vehicle traffic passing by. No pedestrians in sight, and out of an open ute window a young fellow yells out at us hey, the awesome foursome! My ears are blocked; I leaned into Rosie and asked Whatd he say? She shouts in my ear HE CALLED US THE AWESOME FOURSOME and so I laughed along with the ladies; albeit, a little slow and behind on the joke. My mind had been miles away; decades ... half a century. Fifty years ago standing on that, at that time, T junction at 4pm Wednesday arvo there would have been pedestrians; mainly kids on bikes, soccer and footie practise happening. In the park we had the pendulous movement of swings and see-saws looking for balance upon their fulcrum. Some kids would be gathering momentum on the circular ride; getting the spinning top up to speed, ready to jump aboard and fly, baby, fly ... and on the road? Only a few cars. Wed been for a walk up Lachlan Rd, past our old homes, up onto Maquarie and down past Cardiff Infants. I pointed to a bench and said, thats where Peter Convery taught me to tie a shoelace in Kindergarten and you know ... to this day I tie laces it in exactly the same way. Lorraine had lived opposite the old gate which is no longer there; and we looked across where Sidebottoms shop used to be, across from the gate. I was a gatekeeper along with Susan Lowe, the doctors daughter. I could see us playing tips n tag and joking around. Susan had a husky voice which I adored. And just up from where the gate used to be stands this huge pine that I climbed up one day and froze when I looked back and realised how high I was. An epic boy vs the wilds of Mother Nature moment Ive never forgotten. Through my tears I was telling myself, dont look down, dont look down ... which is hard to do when one is trying to climb down a tree. The tree is obviously much higher now and as I peer upward I feel a blush of sprinkle upon my face; maybe a wisp of winter rain or, perhaps, an anxious teardrop from an eon ago finally making it to ground level. As we came back down towards the park we all noticed and talked about the complete change of vista one sees nowadays. No Dead Dog over the other side, tree clusters, the ground black as coal, old rail risings; mine shafts ... no horse somewhere grazing. No swings, just a couple old footings and TRAFFIC; such a BUSY intersection it all is now. What is it.. six lanes aside? Twenty four lanes converging on a set of lights. Theres so much more I could talk about in that little walk around the block but will leave it there. We wandered to the bottom of the hill. All lost in contemplation, pondering the past. Obviously, by the look of curious drivers sitting in their gridlock we mustve seemed an oddity. And that lone voice calls out from the ocean of cars around us heyyy; the AWESOME FOURSOME!
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 05:34:13 +0000
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