I walked through Byron Bay again today.
As usual the streets were alive, vibrant, noisy, colourful.
All manner of individuals were there.
I met Liza who was walking around proudly showing her belt buckle. She said that she has been "pulled over more than once by the cops".
I wonder why.
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| Liza |
I met Joseph who was sitting in a corner trying in vain to sell his home made jewellery. He told a quite amusing story of trying to buy cigarette papers with an old 1968 dollar note - the kind that are no longer in circulation. As no-one would take the money, he ended up using the dollar as the cigarette paper. "It's made of hemp" he said.
I don't know if it was or not, but the story made me smile.
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| Joseph |
In the main street I passed a young couple who obviously had deep affection for each other and were not afraid to show it.
".... Love, rising from the mists,
Promise me this and only this,
Holy breath touching me, like a wind song,
Sweet communion of a kiss....." (Judee Sill, The Kiss)
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| The Kiss |
I spent a few minutes on the beach.
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| Byron Bay, September 10, 2014 |
Normally the beach is crowded, especially on a day such as today.
Not today. The beaches were closed.
A few souls walked them, and most of those were not smiling or laughing the way that the beachgoers here usually do.
No-one entered the water.
No-one other than the lifesavers patrolling on their jet skis. Searching. Searching for the great white shark that killed a man just fifteen metres from this shore yesterday.
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| Byron Bay, September 10, 2014 |
Adjacent to the area where the attack occurred someone has planted some pieces of washed up trees. I don't know if they are a memorial to the victim, but they weren't there last time I walked this way. Knowing the folk of this area, one can be forgiven for thinking that it is a response to what happened yesterday.
A few individuals walked here today. Some stopped at the spot and gazed toward the sea. Who knows what their thoughts were? Who knows how the wife of the victim will find comfort in the coming days and years?
In time the make shift memorial will be gone, the warning signs will be gone and the people here will come and go; but that other world - the sea - it will remain, and its waves will touch this shore as they have done for millennia. The waves shall have their stories. We shall touch them, and surely they will touch us.
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| Byron Bay, September 10, 2014 |
"..... While waters wimple to the sea,
While day blinks in the lift sae hie ,
Till clay-cauld death sall blin' my e'e ,
Ye sall be my dearie..... " (Robert Burns)
Stay safe.
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