Mary Street, Lilyfield on Saturday, 6 June 2020
Part of the street runs next to the Leichhardt Oval leading to the swimming pool. The large car park area is almost empty. Two skateboarders are having a good time. The swimming pool is open, but no walk-ins. You have to make a booking. The Mary Street playground is empty, even though it’s available for use again.
The rest of the street is residential. Building and home improvement work is going on in several already existing homes. Somebody is playing the song ‘Everybody hurts’ by R.E.M. “Well, everybody hurts sometimes, everybody cries,…. So hold on, everybody hurts, you are not alone”.
A bit further down the street, two workers argue in a mix of Arabic and English. Later I see the younger of them walking away down the street, upset and talking on his phone.
While I am admiring a white gardenia bush, an instrumental jazzy music piece starts from inside a house. It’s beautiful. On my way back the music changed to a Van Morrison song: “Just like way back in the days of old…” Also beautiful. It seems, it’s music day today and every line of these old songs has taken on a new meaning.
The last house where Mary Street merges into the Leichhardt Oval section looks like the gatehouse of some old passageway where people had to pay the toll and could water their horses.
The last house where Mary Street merges into the Leichhardt Oval part looks to me like the gatehouse of some old passageway where people had to pay the toll and could water their horses.
