Stocktake

For the last five years I've worked in an office in the middle of the city. All that is about to change, and I'm doing that inevitable thing that I suppose everyone does when they know something is about to come to an end - taking stock.

Things I will miss:

The early morning crowd:
- the man who drives the street sweeper car who gives me a cheery wave every morning
- the man with the limp who delivers newspapers, and who always says hello
- the security guards at the front of my building
- the magpies in Garema Place
- the pigeons who do a great job of cleaning up puddles of drunken vomit (are they looking for the inevitable carrots as they paddle and peck through it?)

The interesting inner-city characters who haunt Garema Place:
- Rudy the Poem Man
- The Crouching Man. I never did discover what he was doing all day every day, crouching in the street, taking notes. I peered over his shoulder once, and he was looking at a sheaf of notes in his hand, written in red and blue marker pen. “They will see something that looks like the Flight Centre”, said the notes. They? Who? The returning Mother Ship? Invading aliens?
- The Statue Man
- The Backwards Walking Man
- The Crying Russian Lady

The egg & bacon rolls from Jina's Cafe
The salads from Chicken Gourmet
The L'Occitane shop

Things I won't miss:

The beggars in Garema Place who sit on the ground talking on their mobile phones, sipping coffee/coke and smoking cigarettes, while calling out to everyone who walks past "Excuse me, do you have any spare change?"

The people who try to sell you things in Garema Place - Jesus, Socialism, Gym memberships...

The broken glass/mess that litters the streets early in the morning

Puddles of drunken vomit

My Public Service job (although I will miss a lot of the lovely people I work with)

After next Friday, it's Onwards and Upwards, so long to the city, and starting the next chapter in my life. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Adventures ahoy!