Rose Street, Darlington on Friday, 1 May 2020

In both my old street directories from 1996 and 2007, there is a Rose Street at the University of Sydney campus, near the Swimming Pool between Darlington and Abercrombie Street. It’s not there anymore as hard as I try to find even a tiny trace of it. I remember the street from the past, as I’ve sometimes looked for a parking spot there. I believe there were wire mesh fences and low buildings which could have housed maintenance workshops. Now the recently built Business School takes up the whole space from Abercrombie Street to Darlington Lane.

It is Friday at about 1 pm on a sunny, windy day. The streets and places are empty apart from a few people who are most likely students living on the University campus. One young man carries a box of beer in his arms while he's riding at high speed on his skateboard. This earns the admiration of two youngsters who are passing by, and mine as well. These three are the only people I see. There are hardly any cars. Normally this area teams with people and cars queue up at the pedestrian crossings where you rarely have a moment without people traversing.

Laundry is drying in a backyard in Darlington Lane. I find this strangely reassuring.