Here is a small scene from a park: a men and his dog - beautifully groomed golden retriever.
We have two golden retrievers but they are quite different in nature to the one in
photograph. Younger one is a girl of 10 months and she is so mischievous we repeat her
name so often that our parrot has learnt to call her too.
I have spotted these two men sharing a single bench in Pitt Street Mall. There was an interesting similarity in the way they were sitting and yet there was a world of difference between them. Young, fashionable and what seems to be a very assertive young men in the foreground and in the background and older man in conservative cloths. They both looked somewhere ahead, possibly, simply at people passing by.
This is not technically perfect photo and I was ready to delete it but the captured scene won over the technical aspect.
After the driest May on record with only 1mm of rain Sydney has enjoyed finally some rain with first days of June. City parks, which are usually buzzing with activity during lunchtime, were totally deserted. These wet, empty benches will have to wait for some sun before the usual crowd returns. Everyone resorted to indoor venues for their lunches. The bureau of meteorology is forecasting very heavy rain for next two weeks.
I have observed a couple of unrelated incidents today and yet I felt they were tied together under a banner of “acceptance”.
Firstly, in the morning, a homeless woman on the train sat on a three seater bench. She took the first seat thus block remaining two seats. Despite the carriage being full and many people had to stand no one dared or wanted to seat next her. She looked rough but otherwise seemed clean. Finally, a young man excused himself pass her and sat next to the window. She certainly did not like it and made sure he, and other people on the train knew about it. Admirably, he kept his cool. To my surprise, the woman preferred to stand up as she was not prepared to share the seat with anyone. I thought, she should have been glad he accepted for who she was and did not make any fuss about it. Obviously such acceptance meant nothing to her.
Few hours later a similar situation. A homeless man on a three seater bench was half laying across it watching a game of chess. Two Japanese ladies sat next to him. They have exchanged looks and all of them kept watching the game. Acceptance in this case was probably irrelevant as the interest in something in common was of higher importance.
These two unrelated people have one thing in common - they both have taken a moment for themselves. The young man reads his news on a bench of busy Pitt Street, while the girl is having a cigarette and the Pitt Street Mall. I would rather focus on her fashionable outfit but that cigarette spoiled the view for me. Pity that.
How tired must have this worker been to fall asleep on the bench within 200 meters of Central Station. Sweet Dreams!
This man looked so lonely and small while eating his lunch on a bench just in front of the NSW Supreme Court Building.
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