Rainer

Why am I here, on Union Street? All by myself on the footpath. Under the narrow eave of a carport with cream rollerdoors. Staring at nothing.

It's raining that's why. It's raining hard. I'm waiting for someone to come and get me. I'm sad.

My hair is dripping; my scarf feels damp on the back of my neck. I'm wearing a black coat; I'm carrying a purple shopping bag. Inside the shopping bag the items are damp. I'm worried about the Weetbix in its cardboard box. The box is swelling.

In front of me is the street. Union Street. A quiet little street. Opposite me, a cream fence, and a tree. It's a small tree, with some autumn leaves, yellow, red, green, still clinging to the lower branches. The upper branches are bare.

The sky above the fence is dark grey, and the sky directly above me is white. There is a flash. And rumbling thunder. The sky's secret. The rain is easing.

To my left, a fence covered with a creeper. Orange trumpet flowers, waxy green leaves shining and wet. Quivering.

Uneventful Walks - 3

The third uneventful walk began only minutes after the second uneventful walk had ended.

Starting from the Largs Pier Hotel we walked south along the dune path to the Palais. Then turning inland we walked up Semaphore Road, passing all the hotels and cafes we had passed earlier on our quest for the perfect lunch.

The footpath was being upgraded and there were signs and flags directing pedestrians where not to go. But it didn't matter at all if you went there. Just beyond The Goddess, the last shop in the strip, we crossed Semaphore Road, having formed a desire to reach the Port River by some means.

Port Adelaide was visible on two skylines. One, a row of cement grain silos and two, a row of new highrise apartments cut off by the railway line. We crossed the road and entered a short and pathless park which led to a carpark which led to a bus stop which opened onto a railway crossing which we crossed in the proper zig zag fashion.

Now we could follow the train tracks towards the new apartment buildings and, we hoped, gain access to the river. There was not exactly a path here. There was a dirt track partly covered with large compacted stones. There was mud, and a few puddles, flat spreading weeds, and a cyclone fence topped with barbed wire. On the other side of the train tracks was another fence, with a locked gate, giving access to the road. On one of the tracks was a bright yellow piece of machinery.

We continued towards the apartments in lessening expectation of reaching the river. We could see men working under a bridge ahead of us, and a narrowing of the path that was not exactly a path.

We turned back. At the halfway point we tried the locked gate. It was locked. We took a photograph to remind ourselves that this happened. Then we walked back to the bus stop, where two buses were about to depart. One was a Special, the other was going to Adelaide to link with the tram.

Now we were back on Semaphore Road. We walked down Semaphore Road towards the sea, on the opposite side to the side we had walked up twice before. Here too the footpath was being upgraded. The men were just finishing for the afternoon, sweeping away the sand. It was ten to four.

Beer o'clock. We made our way back to the Largs, in good time for it. And here ended the third uneventful walk.