Evening diversion

My intention this evening was to take the tram home from the shopping centre but as I walked out the door to the car park at the back of the supermarket I changed my mind.   I fancied the idea of a walk through the park.

Since I was declared persona non grata at the community garden, I now rarely walk through the park.

At this time of the year, when most people are on holidays, it is a quiet walk.  No one is playing tennis at the tennis club; the only sign of activity is a construction site to one side of the tennis club with cyclone fencing surrounding a cleared area of ground, where two piles of topsoil are waiting to be spread.

The gravel walk, lined with drooping elms whose branches almost touch the ground, is a shaded, cool path for cyclists and pedestrians during the summer. No one else is using the path and the children’s playground is deserted. A lone ladies bicycle with a kiddy carrier is propped against a nearby seat; it has an air of abandonment about it. On the far side of the park, on a grassed area burnt dry by the recent hot days, a woman watches over her two dogs as they chase balls and generally play about.

On the far side of the footbridge, over the very unglamorous main drain, a rain garden has been established.  The work on this garden took months to complete and the result is a natural water purification plant; the water is stored in underground tanks and is used to water the park and the nearby sports oval.

At some later time maybe I will visit the rain garden again and you can have a closer look. I just know you will all be wildly excited about the prospect of learning more about the rain garden.

In the Park      February 2015 file photo

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