Wynnum

I took the Cleveland train to Wynnum Central. As I was early for the appointment with the real estate agent, I walked around the area for an hour. In my wanderings, I saw the direction where the bay sat from the top of a hill. From Bay Terrace I turned into Edith Street where there lied some nice houses and blocks of units. The sidewalks were lined with grevillias and banksias. They were just starting to flower. Some of the flowers had fallen, colouring at the base of the trees with a red and yellow silky layer over the hardness of the concrete footpath. The grevillia flowers were crimson. The younger trees only had buds on them and they looked like clusters of blood bubbles. The more matured flowers had a multitude of thick stamen protruding like tentacles from the centre. They glistened with the fresh colours of spring and they invite me to touch their soft lethery skin.

I crossed the road from the Pelican Cafe onto the park. There was much water in the wading pool to my right. It was low tide. I walked pass the wading pool and onto the concrete jetty. The entrance of the jetty was guarded by three big post leaning against each other. These posts were from the the original wooden jetty. I walked to the end of the jetty. The breeze was strong and it howled in my ears. I stood there watching the rocks clustered with small oysters below the high tide mark. The buildings, the boats and the islands in the distance were like phantoms in the mists. The cold wind howled and blew away the fatigue from my face as I stood there feeling the freshness of the ocean and I did not care of what was to come.

The real estate agent showed me all the structural problems of the house. One side of the brick wall was buckled and there were gaps in the brickwork caused by the slipping of the foundation. It would cost me a lot to repair and he said that I would only get price of the land if I sell it. If I had the money I would have demolished it and build on it because the land was on top of the hill and I could see the bay from where it sat. The house looked like how I felt in these past years - dilapidated. Without hesitation, I told him to sell it.