Paying Ready Attention

The dawns are a few days and a whole year apart. Both days begin calm and still. Both days become hot. And on both days I am up and about before most of my neighbours are awake. On one of the last dawns of 2011 I drive through the quiet suburban streets of Melbourne. Most of the traffic seems to be rubbish and recycling trucks. Some lucky people are having their bins emptied of all the excess festive glass and paper. Mine will have to wait until next week. In the pre-dawn light all the birds are black birds, just silhouettes on gate posts and street lights. A law abiding couple wait by a pedestrian crossing, pausing before walking across an almost empty road with a closeness that suggests a first date, or a first walk home. Their fingers interlock and they seem to gently bump into each other more often than would have be caused by mere chance. Wrapped in their couple bubble they turn down a side street and walk towards the New Year. The boom gates are shut across a rail crossing as a

Out in the car park Musk Lorikeets chatter in the trees, higher pitched and less terse than their Rainbow cousins. Some flutter their wings in submission or possibly courtship. Some dash along the length of branches in short sharp movements, their feet hidden by fluttering wings. They look like second rate stop frame animations, where all the money has been spent on colour rather than continuity. Their short pointy bodies and short pointy tails turn them into flying crosses. They fill the morning quiet with their voices and the morning sky with their wings. I pause to watch, then walk towards the pool. The glide off the wall is a silky surge of freedom. You pop up to the surface, take one stroke and breathe. Three strokes, right. Three strokes, left. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I reach the far end and turn gracelessly. A fumble turn. Glide, stroke and breathe. Use your feet more. Lift your elbows. Watch the way your hands enter the water. Be here now, in this moment. Not watching TV in a