Follow the blue dot

There is a generous courtyard here that catches the cool sunrise.

But again I am drawn to the park bench over the road for a coffee prior to my early morning pilgrimage.

A half of a banana consumed for just enough fuel.

Today I am greeted by the song of magpies and a pandemonium of parrots as I decide to ‘not yet stray’ from my field of current explorations.

I wander off down the road twice travelled.

Noting landmarks for orientation.

I stumble across the Anzac Day March.

Although I have no wreath to lay, I take a photograph of pink roses; a digital symbol of remembrance for Ross' Grandfather and Great Grandfather.

Both Prisoners of War. Survivors of atrocity and suffering.

His Grandfather from the Burma-Thailand Railway and Hellfire Pass in World War II.

His Great Grandfather a crew member on the AE2 Submarine. The first Allied vessel to transit the Dardanelles in World War I.

My sister calls to check in, making sure I am finding the longed for peace and quietude at my retreat and I think ‘how very kind of her.’

And that's when I took a wrong turn.

*

After half an hour on a ten minute return journey, I text a friend.

P: Ummm ... I'm lost.

S: Open the Map App on your phone, keep it open and follow the blue dot home.

P: But I don't know left from right.

S: Irrelevant. You just follow the blue dot.

P: They're everywhere!

S: You're the blue dot that moves as you walk. The other blue dots provide the path home.

P: I don't know what you're talking about.

S: Start walking. The moving dot is you!

*

S: [ Ping ] Are you there yet?

P: No.

S: What have you been doing then?

P: Taking photos.

I found a quaint corner barbershop. It had a red and white striped wooden chair outside and I was wondering if it is the waiting room.

At the railway station, there are purposeful yet decorative breeze-way screens. Dragonfly patterned and displayed on hole-punched powder coated cream sheet metal.

The sights and smells of a local cafe precinct. I’m planning a lunch time outing for another day.

Oh, and a huge brass bell.

S: Irrelevant. Are you lost again?

P: Yes. It seems the big blue dot got distracted. And the Map App got lost.

S: Look at the Map App on your phone, keep it open and follow the moving blue dot home.

*

S: [ Ping ] Are you there yet?

P: No.

S: What have you been doing then?

P: Taking photos.

A garden of curios. Paddle pop stick fence posts painted sky blue and purple with zigzag stripes, supporting scrap wooden totems; one with glasses. They are joined with twisted wire.

Discoveries of suburban green spaces with park benches for later visitations.

Hedges with irregular patches and streaks, contrasting with grey slate stacked walls.

S: Irrelevant. Are you lost again?

P: Yes. It seems the big blue dot got distracted. And the Map App got lost.

S: Look at the Map App on your phone, keep it open and follow the movinng blue dot home.

*

S: [ Ping ] Are you there yet?

P: No.

S: What have you been doing then?

P: Taking photos.

Stately Queenslanders tendered with pride, making me wonder why people build horrid reproductions so jarring to the eye. A dead giveaway, the pitch of the roof is wrong, I mean, why not an authentic relocatable?

Pleasing foliage clusters of differing shape, colour and size.

And pencil pines reaching high towards the sky, evoking a plethora of memories from my childhood home before we moved to escape the traffic congestion descending on Hamilton Road.

S: Irrelevant. Are you lost again?

P: Yes. It seems the big blue dot got distracted. And the Map App got lost.

S: Look at the Map App on your phone, keep it open and follow the moving blue dot home.

It's ok. I think today I'll stray from my field of initial explorations.

Pauline Fountain. © 2021. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the author.