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I stepped around, and behind, the bloke with his trews hanging so low they exposed his jockeys, and lent back against the light post, deep in the shadow of Perry Lane. The afternoon lengthened, I could hear the stores clanging closed for the day. Another long weekend done; more tyre-kickers than shoppers. All hands, no pockets. I sensed her presence, rather than saw her. Maybe it was the half-gurgled intake of air, perhaps the stench of day-old beer, strained through stale sweat.
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Buy the worst house in the street, but avoid walking the dingiest lane in the suburb, even a suburb like this: trendy, expensive, sought after. She kept pushing her matted hair from her slits-for-eyes, not taking them off me. Or my camera. Instinctively patting my back-pack, I stepped closer to the wall. and focussed.
'Don't touch dem beer bottles,' she wheezed.
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19 comments:
Julie, thanks for the visit to sixtyfivewhatnow. You have a beautiful blog, with great pictures, themes, and marvelous prose.
My lucky day.
The self tagged chimney was a nice break for the camera!
oh insides of a city, always much of a surprise indeed.
please have a good thursday.
daily athens
A perfect thought balloon for a dog along with some telling urban poetry, conveyed in words and images. Very good post.
Why?
Were they full?
What did you say?
Disturbing litlle drama created in words and images! Rivetting! And then the last photo... a colourful step back from the innards of this world make it all seem so harmless! Very creative post!
What contrasts.
Unfortunately all cities have their -ugly side- maybe they just make us appreciate the beautiful!
Yep some lanes are best avoided but you never know until you right in the middle. Lovely vignette Julie. Makes me want to keep reading & following the the images. What happened next?
Haunting.
An interesting slice of life you've served up to us today.
Another snippet of city life ... I reckon I would have selected just images 1, 3 and 4 for this post but thinking about it for a while the context would not be as strong ... but your words set the context so well so do you need them? I am telling you this for no reason other than to say your posts always engage me in interesting ways.
Did that really happen to you Julie? Your stories are so well told I can't tell the real from the fiction (and I mean that in a good way!!) I guess that's what makes the world more exciting , weird and strange characters!!
Joan - I endure angst in the chosing of photos. It takes a while to whittle them down. I can see what you mean. You would remove the two that aren't focussed upon the text, the two that provide context. Cup your hands in front of your eyes, like blinkers. That is what the other three, without relief would result in. There would be an intense focus upon a little. You know how people complain that their words are taken out of context? The roof and the street view, provide relief from intensity, provide context. My words zero in to a point, but I never want to be oblivious to the wider world.
Letty & Mark - Tomorrow was crafted with you two in mind.
Grace - I like that. For me, crafting a story is like experiencing a dream. Who is to know what is real, and what is 'made up'? There is a bit of biography in nearly all stories, by nearly all writers. In this story, I am both characters. But then, there is also the lady who entered the lane as I set up, excused herself, smiled at me, and went on her way. And I was still smarting because I went up to Oxford St (with my caddy) on Monday arvo (a public holiday here) to spend the last hour of the shopping day rummaging through Vinnies, but they shut at 4pm not 5pm. So, I could have just written all that - but THAT is boring.
Haha! I get your point Julie.
The first as a think-thank laboratory
Love the photos, but especially like your prose. They say a picture paints a 1,000 words, but I think your words paint a vivid picture.
Beautiful juxtaposition of images, visual and written.
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