ON SUNLIGHT

Walking through the densely packed inner city backstreets, the lights of the centre were clearly visible although tantalisingly far away. A lone rat scurried past, its teeth bared in a fierce grin, as though mocking the human attempt to keep order. Half full overturned waste bins demonstrated the vast rat supermarket encouraging relatives from the country to give up the tough search for survival and taste the pre-packed snacks flown in from the Far East. The sun shone ever more brightly as the few humans we passed stared at us suspiciously. From my days living in this area I knew how many ways there were of unsuspectingly indicating we were foreign to the area. Beside us lay the lines of graffiti-covered garages, doubling as front rooms. Easy to accomplish since the houses had been built with their front doors beside the integral garages. The weeds had made progress since my last visit and had found a way through the cracks between the cobble stones. Ahead lay the mock Egyptian pyramid of stone steps that was our only exit from the lower levels of inner city human accommodation. We climbed, sore-footed, until we reached the marble bridge. Below us ran the river of steel, its angry fumes punishing our tired lungs. An escapee with a bicycle passed, shooting us an angry glare while fiddling with his supermarket bag. Moments later, off the bridge and into the back of the car park, we reached safety. The light was much brighter here. The smells of restaurant cooking overwhelmed our noses; our eyes dazzled by the neon advertising signs. Cars that would have been stolen or stripped of their valuables in the streets we had left were parked as far as the eye could see, with the parking guards keeping a watchful eye for strangers. Beside a cafe we found a table facing a few anorexic trees standing nakedly beside a tall steel building housing even more cars. A police person rode by on a chestnut mare. In the centre of the square, the Byrds tuned up....(Okay, enough for now Dos, ED.)