Torrens Lake

It's been raining! Now
the Torrens Lake is filling
up again. Some weeks ago the weir gate
was said to have malfunctioned and the water drained away into the sea.


It was dirty water anyway, with
blue green algae in it. There were rumours
that a council worker may have had
something more to do with it than failing to prevent the great escape.


Anyway. It was a huge
embarrassment. The Film Festival
and the Fringe were due to start
and the confluence of visitors would ridicule us for our stinky mudflats.


The Torrens flowed no more
by Elder Park, the beautified embankment.
Someone offered to donate some water
to refill it from an unused quarry that they owned up in the hills.


That water turned out to be
unsuitable, too high in sulphate. It would
have harmed the water fleas and fish,
so was abandoned as an option and we waited for the rain.


Last weekend I went with Allan to inspect,
thinking it our civic duty. We were
surprised to see the Torrens Lake
filling up a little on its own, drawing water from an aquifer underground.


It looked so natural. The water level
very low, the river banks exposed and tree
roots too, mudflats, now cleared of cars
and wheelie bins and witches hats, bristling with clay-encrusted bottles.


The Popeye barges stranded, at odd angles,
paddleboats lined up along the brink.
The fountain infrastructure looked too fragile,
but the Paper Boats in contrast were supported by huge rusty metal rings.


The stink was not so bad.
There was a smell of creosote
and ducks. The ducks and black swans,
seagulls and one pelican looked as though they'd never liked the Torrens Lake so much.