Our local park is a reclaimed tip, having been filled and landscaped around the same time we moved into the area.
It is a lovely park, with lots of open grass for games, and lots of shade for families on hot days. There used to be a pond, too, stocked with yabbies. Unfortunately, the pond base cracked and there were problems with maintaining water levels before the drought, so once the drought and water restrictions kicked in, it really became a frivolity.
We used to have fun with the yabbies,though, luring them out of the water with a piece of meat on a thread, and then setting them up to race back to the water. Meg was only four at the time and, as much as I enjoy yabbie meat, I couldn’t bear to kill them when we had been playing with them, so after the yabbie races we would throw our bait into the water for them to eat. It seemed like a fair trade.
On Friday of last week, while walking the dogs, I came across this man sleeping in the park and enjoying the beautiful day. He was set up with a very comfortable-looking mat and pillow, and appeared to be completely at peace. I didn’t want to disturb him by going too close to photograph him, and so had to make do with this surreptitious image.