Monday 14 July 2008

Bless

One of the manifold delights of Harlot Heights is that it's 45 minutes by foots from kitchen to office. I canter across the Big, Bad Road, and then amble down the hill past Prestonian rose gardens, then amble some more through the badlands of Reservoir, then amble up along Darebin Creek, over a bridge, round a lake, across an oval, through a tunnel, until - ta da! - the Ivory Tower riseth before me, dew-bespangled and beige-bricked in the morning sun.

This morning the school kiddies had school, for the first time since Harlot Heights and I joined forces. And thus the lolly-pop lady. The lolly-pop lady is as tall as my armpits and as old as my Great Aunt Gerty and she wears a fluorescent yellow jacket and a white hat. She stood by her crossing, watching me amble down the street, portmanteau on back, spectacles on nose, rubber soles beneath my feet. She saw me and she thought, "Now here's a young ducky who doesn't know one end of a horseless carriage from t'other", and she pluckily marched out into the street brandishing her lolly-pop stop sign. She stopped traffic. Just for me. And then she said, "Have a good day, love."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just as a matter of idle curiosity - did you actually want to cross the road?

Lefty E said...

What an old dear.

I like old codgers who say "thank you driver" when getting off a bus or tram.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

Did I want to cross the road? Well, you know, not exactly at that point, but I was heading in the general direction of The Other Side.

Alexis, Baron von Harlot said...

"Driver"! Yes, that's what they (the old codgers who say "Driver") say. Where did they learn to do this? It's like "Driver" is some sort of honorific, abbreviated to "Dr".

kiki said...

doesn't 'drive' carry the same weight as 'sir'?

Anonymous said...

Ah - that's good, then. Many's the time I have been propelled at a tangent when an over-assertive lollipop lady, perhaps with a quota to fill, has held up a long column of peak-hour traffic just for me - and, not wanting to cause an embarrassing incident, I have crossed into uncharted territory.

I mean, you can't just cross back again within her eyeshot, can you? On occasions, I've wandered back streets for hours. Perhaps I should get a sign made up, which I can hang around my neck: "I do not want to cross the road". That might stop them.