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'Right Here, Right Now'

27/11/2017

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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
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