U3A Benalla and District Inc.
  • Home
  • Benalla
    • Benalla
    • Benalla District
    • Who, What and Where? - Benalla Rural City
  • About
    • Our U3A
    • President's Page
    • Executive Committee
    • Policies
    • Convenors >
      • Convenors
      • Convenors A - Z 2025
    • Program Ideas
    • Newsletter
    • Website
  • Groups
    • Groups A - Z
    • Recent Groups >
      • Armchair History
      • Chess
      • Cooking Solo
      • Demystifying Psychology Course
      • Enjoying the Internet (S2)
      • Family Research Drop In
      • Sky's the Limit
    • Archived Groups >
      • A - M >
        • A Different View Of German History
        • Armchair History (British)
        • Armchair Traveller
        • Booker Reading Group
        • Bushwalking - Mid-week Walks
        • Comparative Religion
        • Facebook for Mentors
        • Family Research - Advanced
        • German - Beginners
        • Google Apps/TS Plus
        • History - An Introduction to Western Civilization
        • History - Moments in Australian History
        • Hot Topics/The News - Fact or Fiction?
        • 'In the Lap of the Gods'
        • Investment I (1996 -2015)
        • Jane Austen Book Club
        • Legal Matters (Short Course)
        • Meditation
        • Making the Most of the Internet
      • O - Z >
        • On Target - Learning to Shop Online
        • Opera
        • 'Over There'
        • Rail and Tourism
        • Russian Literature
        • Tech Savvy Apple - 'Pages'
        • Tech Savvy Apple Devices - Intermediate
        • Tech Savvy Community Projects
        • Travel Group
        • Wise Guys Book Group
        • Zoom Short Course
  • A-Ch
    • A-Ch
    • 'A Taste of Art'
    • American History
    • Art Appreciation
    • 'As Time Goes By'
    • Australian Shares and Stock Market
    • Be Connected - Android
    • Be Connected - Tech Advice
    • Birdwatching
    • Brain Games
    • Bushwalking - Easy Walks
    • Car Torque
    • Cards '500'
    • Chat n' Chew
  • Co-E
    • Ch - E
    • Coin Collectors
    • Collectors
    • Colour Mixing and Watercolour Techniques - Botanical
    • Come and Learn Croquet
    • Community Singing
    • Creative Writing
    • Demystifying Psychology - Discussion Group
    • Demystifying Psychology - Perception
    • Exercises for Fun
    • Exploring the Universe
    • Exploring Writing Children's Books
  • F-Pa
    • F- Pa
    • Family Research
    • Film Discussion
    • French at the Table
    • Garden Appreciation
    • Garden Team
    • German >
      • German Home
      • Lessons
    • Let's Talk Books
    • Lifeball >
      • Home
      • Lifeball Videos
    • Mahjong
    • Meet and Mingle
    • Music Appreciation
    • Page Turners
    • Patchwork and Craft
  • Ph-W
    • Ph -W
    • Photography
    • Play Reading
    • Politics & Current Affairs
    • Recorder
    • Singing for Fun
    • Spanish
    • Stock and Land
    • Sustainability
    • Tech Talks
    • Train Buffs
    • Ukes4Fun
    • Wine Appreciation
  • Join
    • Join Us
    • Membership Application/Renewal Form
    • Program Guide
    • Timetable with Dates
    • Venues and Maps
  • News
    • News Update
    • May Newsletter
    • 'What's On' Calendar 2025
    • Monthly Calendar
    • Website & Facebook
  • FB
  • Gallery
  • Links
    • Resources and References
    • U3A Network Victoria
    • Seniors Online Victoria
    • U3A Albury Wodonga
    • U3A Beechworth (Indigo U3A)
    • U3A Bright
    • U3A Goulburn Valley
    • U3A Murrundindee East
    • U3A Wangaratta
  • Contact

'Right Here, Right Now'

27/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Right here, Right now, at the corner of Bridge and Nunn...
​
​I do a right hand turn at the traffic lights, aware of the cacophony of  noise. Bearded riders rev their motorbikes. Like gladiators on their iron horses, they appear formidable in their battle clothes of leather as they wait for the lights to change colour.
 
A mother pushes a pram , laden down with shopping bags, she helps her older child across the road. The toddler attempts to dance in a multi colored  fairy dress and whines in a loud voice as the mother urges her to hurry. A guitarist strums his guitar and a generous passer by contributes a few coins into his open guitar case outside Target shop.
 
Pedestrians move as one along the street, a sea of people, some chatting, others alone and intent.  Young long legged girls in short shorts, talk and gesticulate at the same time, elderly citizens deftly negotiate the street traffic in motorised carts, visitors stroll aimlessly. Happy faces, worried faces. Overweight males and females pass skinny, tattooed males and females.  Short or tall, they wear a variety of clothes and footwear. Some are emptyhanded, others carry handbags, shopping bags, backpacks and odd shaped articles of various dimensions.
 
Jazz music emanates from the coffee shop, patrons sit and exchange their news while others pore over newspapers as their pedigreed dogs sit patiently beside them at outside tables, bordering the footpath.
 
Signs provide interest and colour.  Chemist.  Menswear.  Sale.  A neon sign flashes “Fish and Chips”.
 
Good to see Alex from the cheap shop setting up his wares.  
 
Windows gleam in the sunshine of a lovely summer day.  Cars of different colours are parked along the side of the road, the odd one moving gingerly into the stream of slow moving traffic.  A cool shade of green from the avenue of street trees provides a beautiful contrast to the kaleidoscope of colour.
 
A woman sitting at a card table in front of a shop sells Raffle tickets for a local charity.   People moving, people talking, a time frame, a photograph, a snapshot of life, a myriad of the moment.
 
I observe unnoticed from the comfort of my car as I complete my L shaped turn, aware that what I have seen right here, right now has changed in an instant and  only an advertising sign remains in the same picture.  Even the trees change appearance as a slight breeze causes their leaves to move and alter the shaded area.  
 
A new wave of people saunter along, someone whistles, a mobile phone rings, a cyclist props his bike against a bollard.
 
Unstoppable, undeterred, time ticks on, the moment has gone.
 
Jenny McKenna
November 2017
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    'Our Stories'

    Jenny's page

    Picture

    Archives

    July 2019
    November 2017
    October 2017
    March 2017
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016

    Categories

    All
    'Advice'
    'Another Time'
    'Easter'
    'Faking It'
    'Good Vibrations'
    'My Other Life'
    'Proverbs'
    'Right Here
    Right Now'
    'Shaped By Childhood'
    'Stock And Land'
    'The Spud Diggers'
    'What Happened In Vegas'

    RSS Feed

We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to their elders - past, present and emerging.
Picture
News
​Newsletter
Facebook Page
​
Program Suggestions
​CO-VID Safety

U3A Benalla & District Flier 2025
Membership Application/Renewal 
​
Semester 1 Program Guide 2025
Semester 1 Timetable with Dates 2025
Developed and maintained by members, this website showcases U3A Benalla 
​Photographs - U3A members; Benalla Art Gallery website; ​Weebly 'Free' images;Travel Victoria and State Library of Victoria