This list comprises a number of lists made during walks between 31 October and 5 November 2010 in Newcastle, NSW, Australia
1 (31.10.2010)
Length of walk: 3.16km
Number of steps: 4,342
VR 1872
Reflections in glass window
WW1 monument
Hardy, Hurst, Simmington
ANZ
The roar of an engine – deep purr
Steep hill
The smell of stir fry
Drinking fountain
The Last Enemy
‘Are you going swimming?’
$2 plus
An engine roars
Cutlery is sorted
The beat of a car stereo
Sharp shadows
Car stops, zebra crossing
A woman looks out, a man gets in
Statues
Alcohol free zone
Trains waiting in the station
Family sits and eats in a cafe
Red man
Thud of a car stereo
Fredc Ash Ltd
Ugly building like a spaceship
Car parked, door open
A woman looks for something
Merewether Street
Ray gun blast – green man – walk
Crossing train tracks
Cool breeze
Cumulus Nimbus
Ships in the harbour
Huge ships in the dock loading up with coal
No fishing on the timber deck
An empty glass
Water laps
Cirrus Stratus
Nobbys Island in the distance
A man holds his cigarette backwards
A smoker with his fishing rod puffs out his thoughts
Japanese tattoos
A can of Jim Beam
Another car engine
Yachts and kites
A man smokes and reels in his catch
Music
Doughnut shaped cloud
Skateboarder passes by
Man takes photos
Friends sit on a balcony
The water laps on the rocks
Palm trees
Rusted iron girder
The smell of a BBQ
Muscles, tattoos
Watch towers like iron crows nests
A man busks and sings incomprehensible words
Sounds like Bob Dylan
And there’s the harmonica
Now he whistles
Live music ahead
‘Yeah’ exclaims the busker behind me
Laughing
A bell rings
Pizza
A woman sits staring at nothing
‘Sweet home Alabama’
Fat couple sitting down – man talks on his phone, no idea what he’s saying
Feeling hungry
A sit down
‘Wasn’t he moving to Queensland before?’
Souped-up American car
Crap singing carried by the wind
Heading back – need to eat
Watt Street – ‘Newcastle’s most historic street’
Woman with a suitcase, pink bag
An old man sits and stares at the station, checks his battered blue bag, takes out a leaflet, maybe a timetable?
A dog leans out the window
Pink scooter for the girl
Blue scooter for the boy
2 (31.10.2010)
Length of walk: 7.96km
Number of steps: 11,747
An old lady falls over
Dark clouds behind the orange triangle
Two men I saw this morning fishing silently
My shadow on the ground as I write
Blokes in cars, loud music
Beautiful butterfly
Yellow flowers by the water
Yellow souped-up pick up truck shits its roar on the road
‘Get out of it’
Free hugs – no thanks
Small child picks at a flower in her pushchair
Orange triangles
Nobbys Island – first sighted by James Cook on 10 May 1770
Rough sea, strong sea breeze
Lost flip flop
Footprints in the sand that covers the road
Small monument to Macquarie Pier 1818
The edge of the Pacific Ocean
Purple flowers, grassy dunes
A gull flies overhead
The sound of a helicopter
A girl carries a spangly hat
A man holds his hand to shield his eyes as he looks over the water
Dogs on the beach
A trawler sails past
Kites of the kite surfers
Barking, yapping dogs
An older couple walk and smile at the dogs
A small aeroplane zips overhead, low above the kites
Abandoned railway tracks, covered in the main by sand
Old railway tracks
Broken bottles
Sleepers used for seats
Nobbys lighthouse, starkly white against the sky
‘Shortland Devils’ written in concrete, the letters filling up with sand
Long bridge in the distance
Lightning in the distance
Lightning again
Rough sea
Discarded footprints
Cry of a gull
Huge ships cross the horizon
Awkward walking in the sand
Cool breeze
A feather
Tyre tracks
Gentle kites belying the wind’s strength
Rounded, weathered footprints like old fossils
Cumulus Stratus in the distance
The sea flees
Sand in my sandals
Try to dodge through the kite-flyers
Clumps of seaweed
A haze of sand
Boys digging in the sand
The church in the distance
Water in footprints catches the light then sinks into the sand
The sea has always been running from something
The sun reappears
Hat back on
Tiny holes in the sand
Dry and wet sand
Strange to think that captain Cook was once on the horizon
The wind, the sound of the sea, the clouds – no different then
Broken footprints, like statues of ancient times
A pile of towels and possessions
Plastic coffee lid half buried
Flags flutter
Lifeguards watch
Flip-flops and a coke can
Breakwater splashes on the path
A lady looks out to sea
Copy and paste ships on the horizon
Another customised pick-up – another one for sale
More dead birds on the beach
Blown over umbrella
The sun is covered by clouds
The sea falls quiet behind this building
Huge waves
Volley ball courts are empty
‘See you mate’
Strong sun again
Puddles
Wet sand
Reflections
Skateboarders on ramps
Yi-ran-na-li
Sacred space – now a rather sad place
Joggers jog past oblivious
Walkers penned in
No sense of the sacred unless you read the sign
The ships come, they take away and the earth dies a little bit more
Cranes behind the sacred rock
Too little, too late
A link between walking quietly past Yi-ran-na-li and the exercise yard at the lock-up
Nine vast ships
Bogie Hole
Steps down into the bathing area
Iron hoops rammed in the rocks
0.24.41
0.30
Blast of a ship’s horn
Suddenly very quiet
The wind settles, the sea is distant
Water gathered in a tub
Old concrete building
Barred gate shut
There was a wedding here yesterday
Old observation post
Barred windows and doors
Empty, yet full
Lost sounds
Graffiti
Cracks in the walls
Twisted, rusted iron like old fossils
My shadow on the surface
Radar
Lines
Old gate posts
A newspaper flaps in a letterbox
Missing cat – I think of Tiggy
A hosepipe lays across the path, water gushes into a patch of nondescript verge
Two pigeons. four with their shadows startle me
Victorian looking houses
Frisbee players
Grass grows in the cracks in the pavement
Voices behind me
The frisbee lands on the road – a sound from my childhood – orange and lemon frisbees, faded over time
The obelisk
No.6
Two lions
Alien birds
Missing people
Crested birds
An empty bandstand
Why do people shout out their cars?
Roadworks
Purple flowers in the rubble
‘I loved it, I just had so much to play with, but Carlos…’
Scratched star in the pavement
The grass scratches at my feet
Newcastle below me
The twittering of strange birds
Vegetation creeps over the steps
Distant voices – children inside a house nearby
Cabbage-white butterfly
Birds again – save for the motorcycle – the sound of Jurassic Park
No stopping – I stop to write it down
Tripped up, I laugh to hide my embarrassment
Did anyone see?
Balconies with ornate edges
A skip full of cut vegetation
‘To the dump, to the dump, to the dump…’ on the side
Tall aerials
Telegraph wires
Cracked pavement
Steep hill
Sofa on the balcony – empty today
The smell of the past
Cracked bins
The smell of someone else’s home
Empty basketball court
Big lego-church
45
Overgrown verge
Lilac blossoms
David Jones
Christmas Tree
A dumb laugh
Unclaimed post
Everything is shut now
Empty
No-one sits on the benches
Man at the phone-box
Full bins
Chinese speaker in a shop
Lieutenant H B Allen
3 (01.11.2010)
Length of walk: 6.68km
Number of steps: 9,748
‘Auction – licenced hotel’
Depressing building
Hollow windows
Skateboarding down the road
‘Best ever breakfast and lunch’
Pedestrian crossing signs
Yellow ‘H’
Blue building, blue sky
Concrete semi-circles
Give blood
‘G’day’
‘Discover God’s Love’
Military Barrack – first building on the southern side of the block was erected in the early years of the penal settlement
Rusted ironwork
Dirty pink
Drying wetsuits
Empty building – battered rusting air-con fixed to the windows
Newcastle police station
Faded colours
Buchanan
H 27 R
Forensic Psychiatry
18 VR 90
Melbourne Cup
Uphill
Traffic Warden looks like a Canadian Mountie
Sapling
School Zone
Road closed – a car drives anyway
Weathered blocks
Lego church looms large
Cathedral
Cumulo Stratus
‘Placement of ashes in the memorial garden may be arranged’
40
View of the harbour
Sound of running water in the drains
Chatter of lessons in the school
Fallen blossoms
Heavy weather
Broken bottles
Peach coloured church
Dark windows
Grey corrugated roof
A car drives past
Rolled up newspaper
Birds in the distance
Soft shuffle of footsteps
Peeling bark
Turret
Steep hill
Coke can on a pile of leaves
Boring buildings
Bland and lifeless
An engine starts
‘Auction – historic mansion’
Green telegraph post
Australian flag flutters
Old gate posts
Hinges missing their gates
‘Idiot’
Breeze picks up
Birds sound like creaking hinges
Stop
A car’s breaks squeak
1 2 3 4 No Junk Mail
Large wall
Figure of the terracotta army
One Way
Rusted foliage
‘Sold’
Trees
Hungry
Ominous dullness
Pretty balconies
‘Crossing ahead’
A prison?
A lost scarf
Plaque 1918
Lopsided flower pot
Alcohol Free Zone
Autumn leaves still on the ground
Orange flowers stark in the dullness
Empty bottle – little bit left
Kitchener Parade
Rooftops and bungalows
Alloy wheels and pink seats
Running water in the drain
A car comes past from behind
A cyclist turns the corner
A thick blanket of cloud
‘Molly we [heart] you forever 2.2.08’
Water in the drain cover
‘Jen’
Names written in concrete
Reverse alarm in the distance
A paper skeleton
Uphill
My keys jangle
’23’ painted on the kerb
Scottish flag on the back of a car
Pawprints in concrete
A row of wheelie bins
Plastic bag swings with his gait
Black and white birds squawk
San Jose
Pink number plate
‘Reclaim the night’
A lady shuts her boot, the car starts and reverses out the drive
Smiley face painted on a bin
Dog walkers
‘Share the path’
A woman strides ahead purposefully
Boarded up flats
Corrugated iron
‘Undermined’
Strange bird – yellow beak and feet
Car horn blasts
000 Bus
View over Newcastle
Walkers taking exercise
Sunburned girl, plugged in walking
Bar Beach
Large beach
Cold wind
Pneumatic drill
‘FTW is gay’
Men with blowers
A man laughs
He claps
He chats with a lady
Two girls walking
Neat garden
Table and chair
Girls get into car
Man talks on his mobile ahead
An old lady combs her white hair with her hands
Customised green van
‘Danger High Voltage’
Half a face peers above balcony
Grey and white Modernist building
A dog barks
Trimming grass
Rust
A girl skips a step
Greyness
A streetlight’s on
A ladies’ outing
The sound of someone’s water feature
‘Byron 2002’
‘Howzat’
White walls
The sound of something knocking in the wind
Tree shredding
The pneumatic drill and reverse alarm
Faded blinds
A car starts
Someone shouts
Old wooden, weatherworn house
Rusted letter box
It’s raining, I felt a drop
Worn out Art Deco
Another half a face
Water collected in the gutter
A leaf falls in front of me
The trees are stirring
Drops of rain
More wooden houses past their best
The smell of flowers
1840 Malvern Cert
Rust on the white boards of a house
The radar sound of the crossing
Pizza carton on the ground
Ugly concrete building
Ugly day
An old lady with her shopping bag
Stains from washed off graffiti
Green footprints
Area closed in strong winds
Irish pub
Monochrome flowers painted on concrete
‘Idiot’ again
A man collects his parking ticket
Very faded signs
Ugly road
Shut down Amusement Arcade
Cinema
A man squats to smoke
The smell of Maple trees
Graffiti picture of a blue whale
Huge square woman
Banging flag poles
Shoes for sale
Ugly carpark
A woman smokes on a bench, checks her nails
A child calls out behind me
Shop assistant folds clothes for want of anything better to do
Old man presses buttons on the ATM
A woman on her phone eating
The jingle of keys
Reflections in the water collected in the drain cover
4 (01.11.2010)
Length of walk: 4.5km
Number of steps: 8,913
A lady eats a jacket potato alone, reading a magazine
Steep hill
Footsteps behind me
Engine purrs
Black and white paint on the pavement
Australian flag blows in the wind
Birds squawking
Cardboard boxes in a side passage
A lady shields her cigarette as she lights it
Bald man crosses the street – looks down at the ground
A young man sits on a bench, hands in his pockets
A schoolgirl looks through her bag then looks up
Man with white shirt, white hair and an umbrella
The wind gets up
A man walks and runs round the corner
A lady with a pink umbrella marches up the hill
Mail 1 Mail 2
Patchwork of concrete, cracked and pitted
Large houses
The sofa on the porch again
A dog leans out the window of a passing car
Children playing somewhere to my right
Cracked flaking paint
Patches of tester colour on the facade of a house
Empty bottles around a sapling
The turret again
Leading Light Tower
High kerbs
Houses seem stuck in Autumn
A Halloween pumpkin with a tea light beside it
A laugh
A squashed coke can
‘What was the message?’
Barbed wire
Fire Hydrant
I remember myself on the other side of the street
The terracotta army figures
Synagogue
No right turn
Ribbons around the trees, yellow, orange, purple
Man lights a cigarette
Newcastle War Memorial Cultural Centre
‘Return Chute’
Pink car (for her?)
Blue car (for him?)
Both metallic finish
Roadworks
A lion in the garden
Another car for sale
Voices in a garden just ahead of me
Huge trees like great limbs
Old wooden houses with balconies
36
Bygone age
A man blows leaves
A man walks past, no real expression, headphones on his head, can of drink in his hand
Striped painted wooden seat on a veranda
A trumpet plays
Puddle and its reflection
Birds fighting
Another pumpkin on a balcony
Pink roses over an arch
Feels very alien here
Lilac and green
Hammering
Birds flap their wings as if clockwork models
I think of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’
Painted wooden house and the birds; a strange sense of foreboding
Long stretches of road
Headlights on a car up ahead
The sound of kids at school
An old woman on a chair stares ahead towards them
An abandoned shopping trolley
Open drain
A girl walks past me clutching a folder to her chest
The school bus waits
The radar beeps of several crossings
Red and white tape across the pavement
Lorry parked with hazard lights on
Union jack flag in the back of its cab
A lion guards a gate with a letter box beneath
Abandoned cap on a short post
Thrown out carpet crumpled in a front garden
A dog barks
A jogger in a pink top
The Sally Army
Sports ground
Very heavy skies
Forklift truck beeps its horn
A lady takes a photo on her mobile phone
Prepare to stop
Fire engine – siren going
Man holds a sign saying ‘slow’
Garage
A lady pushes her baby
Workers in the office stare at computer monitors
A lady pulls a trolley
A mobile fruit shop
Bright white light in the increasing gloom
A lady lights her fag at the bus stop
Empty bags left under the seat
Woman with ‘I [heart]…’ t-shirt in the passenger seat of a car.
Laughter somewhere behind me
‘Don’t be a tosser’
Lady sits outside, fag high in her hand
The rain starts to fall
Three ladies with umbrellas
One of them coughs
A fountain
A light in a tree
Empty benches looking out
A man in a hat whistles
5 (02.11.2010)
Length of walk: 4.00km
Number of steps: 6,022
‘Our Pick’
Man in a suit enters a door
Barbed wire fence
Demolished building
Empty space
Rusted pipes and windows
Strange hairdo
Traffic cones
Man in shades smokes a cigarette
Empty glasses outside a bar
Convict lumber yard
‘YHA’
‘Laundromat’
Old buildings
A man on a bench sits holding his suitcase
This is what I saw in street-view
Crickets
Car parked, door open, someone sits inside
Modern buildings, old buildings, side by side
Empty hairdressers
Voices from inside somewhere
The sea
Noisy red car
Pipes and tap in a flower bed
Girl on a balcony high above
‘David Cohen & Co.’
The wind again
T&G
A young girl kicks her leg up
Peeling paint – exposed bricks
Tony’s hairdressing
‘Deadly day’
Family portrait in photographer’s window
Man with a baseball cap in a bar with his feet up looks out
A woman laughs
A bird calls
Empty benches
A quarter to four
Squeaky van
06.1L
Derelict house, closed in with wire
Soon to be demolished
Footsteps behind me
Old man with a fag in a bus shelter
Cafe Bar
Wide patchwork roads
Iron in the pavement where a sign once stood
Nicely painted houses
‘Fire safety drill – do not obstruct’
Another dilapidated house
Fenced in
A bird laughs behind me
Lumber Yard – a history
White house – no windows – some without glass, others boarded up
The well
Private carpark – Monday to Friday
‘Please empty’
Park
Scarlet flowers
A child plays in the park
Railway carriage shed
Rain?
Distant shouting and a distant plane
A bell chimes the hour – 4
The line of old rail tracks
Sign for toilets
Distant cars
A large pond
Bridge across
Drowned sunflowers
More discarded sunflowers
Circular walk
‘Heritage Walk – Awabakal Spiritual site, Playground and Fishery’
Chained up wheelie bin
Two men walk on the other side of the road
Litter
Modern apartments
A woman walks with a green shopping bag
Annoying fly buzzing me
Rugby League memorial
Nobbys Lighthouse
All sounds are distant
An old fort
School Special 811
Playground
Newspaper in a plastic bag stuffed in the letterbox of No.40
Red and white balloon stuck on a telegraph wire
Overturned wheelie bin
People sit and chat on the veranda
The sea- great waves
Spongy tarmac
Spongy grass
The big ships still in view
Concrete cliffs
Huge waves
A man fishes over the balustrade
A chin and a mouth in a wing mirror
Parked cars – drivers look at the sea
People parked – not doing anything
Cyclists arriving from somewhere
Battered white camper van, man in luminous shirt
Motorcyclist
Orange flowers
White flowers
Car with its headlights on
Here again
For Sale, Lady Owner $2,200
Post van
S V H
Indicator – car parks
Motorcyclist, long ponytail, holds his helmet and tries to make a call
‘You’re at your place are ya?’
Blue bicycle
‘RNB’
‘Pay Here’
‘No parking day or night’
TV Music
Door open, inside someone’s house – stairs
Dead baby bird
Sofa outside a house
Empty bottle beside it
Orange car
Air conditioning
Man in a woollen hat and bag
Man in a bus shelter listens to the radio
‘Backpackers by the beach’
Twenty to five on the clock
Girl with strange hairdo stands on a box and paints the word ‘Saturday’ on a hoarding
A man yawns
Glass of beer in front of him
A F Toll, Noyes Bros Sydney – old painted advert
A woman drives, she doesn’t know where she’s going
Heel scrape
6 (03.11.2010)
Length of walk: 4.22km
Number of steps: 6,730
A woman looks in through the window
Bright sunlight
WW1 soldier looks down
Skin Cancer Clinic
Open door – restaurant
Workers in the kitchen
‘We are moving’
Bulging pavement
The ‘Dick’ Tower
Pride of Place
A Ute
Ill sounding car
A woman asks me a question – I’ve no idea what she said
I say ‘no thanks’
Turquoise car
Crap music comes from a shop
Pedestrian access only
Crossing high above the railway tracks
A train passes beneath
A speedboat
Down the spiral staircase
Queens Wharf Tower
People eating dinner in a pizza restaurant
A fighter jet somewhere behind me
And another
The family eating look up to find it
A fat man does his paperwork
Alighting from the ferry
‘Where you goin’?’
Skateboarder
Book now for Xmas party
Skateboarder crosses the zebra crossing
Car backfires
Bright sunlight on the water
Man gets up wearing too much for the weather
‘I beg your pardon’
A seagull
The sound of water gently lapping
‘Never really thought about it, but…’
The smell of the sea
A child has a tantrum
Palm trees
Huge ships loading
A man carries his daughter’s bike
She sits down and cries
Her father sits in the sun
A plane flies overhead
Seagulls follow a fishing boat
A Pelican comes
A girl talks on her phone
A man talks to himself
Clouds begin to block the sun
‘Well, what do you want to do? Walk?’
Whale watching
Bars and cafes
Old railway tracks embedded in the pavement
Maritime centre – History, excitement, real ships
‘Main Switchboard’
A man stands, hands in his pockets
‘Hogspitality’
‘Say excuse me’
A girl sits and plugs in her earphones
Distant bells
Cumulo Stratus
‘Danger – Keep Out’
A jogger
‘Keep Left’
Hotch-potch of buildings
Empty bottle
Plane comes in to land on the water
A train passes
Busy road
A man waits at the bus stop
Submission closed
Cottage Creek
Railway Station
Barren ground
‘Steps and landings may be slipper when wet’
Discarded chairs by the railways
‘If there’s anything I haven’t told you’
Adult Shop
Smell of Maple trees
An old man at the bus stop looks at me
‘Parking’
Boards and dodgy tarmac
Empty boxing gym
Could be here all day
The crossing signal goes – too late
Architecture reminds me of old cinemas
Old Police Station 1907
Another derelict shop
Defence Force recruiting
Wedding dresses
Loads of wedding shops all in a row
Civic Station
A jogger passes me
Visitor Information
Lady with a walking stick ambles towards me
Train passes through the level crossing
The pavement shudders
‘Press Pedestrian Button’
A truck skids
Irish Pub where I hid from the downpour
7 (04.11.2010)
Length of walk: 2.79km
Number of steps: 3,878
Polish name
Feeling tired
Woman in a black dress
X-Ray Rooms
A bird twitters
Too hot, take my coat off
Past not passed
Battered facade
The way I went earlier
Roads are so wide here
A Ute
A man holds a ‘Stop’ sign
Statue of a 19th century man
The big ships, barely moving
Beach
Flags flying
A circle of people
Foreboding clouds
Ships in distant downpour
James Fletcher, friend of the Miners
It’s going to rain – hard
Wooden beam, planted in the ground
Ships are like dancers
Many shades of grey
Wooden beam in the ground is a road alignment post dating from June 1864
A lookout
Dedication plaque
Amazing light
Man in luminous shirt walks past me
A jogger in the distance
Shepherd’s Hill
Waves crash large on the rocks
Eleven ships
Mosquito bite
Dandelions in November
Crested birds
Butterfly
Boggy ground
Squelchy sound
Building a wall
0278.803
Empty picnic tables
Spray painted line on the grass
Girl with an umbrella
The leaves on the trees applaud
Fighter jet overhead
People exercising
Empty plastic cup
Strong Aussie accent
Third time up here today
The rain comes
Leave the path
‘Come on, only once a week’
The obelisk
Feels humid
Looking over the tree tops
A child has a tennis lesson
Her mother watches
Dense undergrowth
Where does this go?
Snowflakes sprayed on a bin
Cracks in the pavement – was it the earthquake?
Pavements look like a drought
A man in a car greets a friend
A child cries in the apartment near to where I’m walking
Two men – seemed to have the same face
The waft of perfume
Checking her mobile
Distant beach catches the sun
Concrete building next to something Victorian
18 VR 90
Black bird appears, bright yellow eyes
Taxi
The Grand Hotel
The Underground – live entertainment
Henry Wrenford – convict teacher
Cars leave the car park
Fat man – looks tired
Three men in suits – one points at something
‘Yeah’
A lady sits and reads a book
Very steep road
Old building – somehow beautiful in its damaged state
‘Welcome’
Thorn Street
Old Masonic Hall – Art Deco design
Man carries a baby
‘Ladies Rest Centre’
‘Elderly Citizens Centre’
Interesting graffiti
A lady pulls a cardboard box up the road
Now she pushes
8 (05.11.2010)
Length of walk: 8.89km
Number of steps: 11,760
The rain comes again – spitting
Kids in the playground
‘Ok!’
Steep hill
I can feel my muscles
Rainspots on the concrete
Flowers on the balconies
White painted triangle on the ground
Not sure of the way
Aged tree
Beautiful beach in the distance
Motorcyclist pulls up, flag on the back, dressed in luminous colours
Rev. Rene Cusse died 1866
Steps lead the way
Wind in the leaves of the trees around me
The rain can’t decide what to do
Red flowers
My legs tense against the decline of the road
A man and a woman carry a bag from a house – looks like a body!
It’s a bag of garden waste
Dog paws in the concrete
Fallen red flowers
A bird chirps
A one eyed cat sits outside a house and watches me pass
Overgrown garden
Bottle top
A bright yellow Ute drives past
Falling water counts the time passing
Ugly pink car park
Flowers in a flower box – corner of the street
This time last week I’d just left Sydney
Empty shop – Supertoys
‘We are moving’
An old man sits on a bench and puts his letters in their envelopes
The crossing sounds – just like a woodpecker
A man with a big grey beard drinks a bottle of coke
The back of an old woman sitting on a bench – I can see that she’s eating
KFC – apparently the biggest in Australia
Men working on the window of a supermarket
Men in suits chat on their mobiles
‘An hour and a half ago…’
‘Jewellery repair – open’
‘Regan 4 Lee’ written in the concrete of the path
Back up the hill again
A woman with strong perfume carries her training shoes
Duck beneath the branch of a bush
Painted white lines on the pavement
A mast
‘No Junk Mail Thank You’
A hedgehog pushes a wheelbarrow
Empty pack of cigarettes – don’t see many smokers
My heart thumps
3 x ‘idiot’
Glad I had a good breakfast
Dark clouds ahead
Voices in a house to my left
The wind picks up a little
The light is thinner here somehow
The rain comes again
I see the Obelisk
Men work high on a crane
Flashing orange lights
Bright orange jackets against the dark clouds
Legs hang outside a car door – the radio’s on
Satellite dishes
Lots of satellite dishes
Overturned wheelie bin
Bright red flowers in a tree
Squawking birds
Slippery underfoot
A mirror in the corner of a turning
Shopping trolleys parked beneath a tree
Changed into waterproofs
Awful artificial grass for a front lawn
No idea where I’m going
Piece of twine on the path
A man sorts his shopping in the boot of his car – parked out the rain in his garage
Dead End
‘Slow’
Consult the map
Duck beneath a tree
Bottles emptied somewhere
Autumn leaves swept in a pile
2 iron loops hang on a rope from a tree
The grass has filled in the cracks
No.17 on two faded yellow gate posts
A small child’s multicoloured climbing frame
‘Team 14k’
A bird flies just in front of me
The turning I took before
Distant bells ring the hour – 12
Change back out of waterproofs
A lost shoe on the verge
A dog barks
Thick palm trees
Stones in cages
A car chirrups
Modern looking house – paintings on the walls, portraits
A man dressed like a shadow lumbers towards me
A bird – sounds like a toy
A garden swimming pool
The sound of DIY
Small yellow flowers left in the hollow of a tree
A car reverses out a drive – I stop – driver puts on their seatbelt – I carry on
A white streetlight on against the grey – looks depressing
A garage door closes
They don’t have pavements here – just wide roads
The docks ahead of me
Distant rain sweeping in
The obelisk again
The sound of children playing
Distant sound of the sea
Violet flowers against the grey
Empty beneath the verandah
A car does a u-turn
The ground feels strange beneath my feet
Two men look at the engine of their car
A barbeque and bikes
A man on the phone walks with a pink carrier bag
‘Sara 8-7-05’
A car starts up as I pass
A car door closes behind me
A woman gets out
Empty packet of chewing gum
The sound of someone sweeping
A woman coughs
The pavement just ends
Music in a flat
Birds peck at litter
The sound of water in drains
Distant voices to my right
The rain comes again
Thunderous motorcycle
Large empty park
Phone box
A jogger jogs with her dog
She arrives and opens her gate
Someone practices their guitar
Shopping trolley
Distant laughing
Dumped household goods on the verge – a chair and washing machine
The sea in the distance
A lady stands in her garden, arms akimbo
She claps
Music from a house
A cactus
Paint peeling on windowsills
Empty space from a demolished building
Bright headlights against the rain
Bloody weather
‘Take me – I’m free and I still work’
Written on the side of a fridge
The smell of lavender
Laughter in a doorway
Driving rain
The backs of my legs are soaked
Red trailer for sale $50
A witch drawn in concrete
Ripples in puddles
Someone stands on their porch
9 (05.11.2010)
Length of walk: 0.78km
Number of steps: 1,100
Strong wind
Cold
Huge waves rushing to the beach
Someone swims on the pool
Constant roar of the water
My footprints behind me
Another dead bird
Clumps of seaweed
Patterns in the sand
Big ships hidden by the haze
Other people’s footsteps
The ancient cliff of Yi-ran-na-li
Red flag
Lifeguard’s surfboard
Two dead birds
More dead birds, one sits as if still alive looking at the sea