I awoke before dawn with a man’s hunger and at 5:30 am was in the 24-hour George street McDonald’s. The place was full of villains, wastrels and people that had clearly made bad decisions, myself included. A man washed the floor half-heartedly and I felt a twinge of guilt as my footsteps ruined his work. I ordered my breakfast and stood somewhere my back was protected. A particularly scurrilous rogue watched me intently while trying to appear as if he wasn’t. His gaze grew keener when I got my ‘food’, and I ate under a stare not dissimilar to this:
The bacon was thin and gamey, the egg almost tolerable and the cheese dry and cracking. Worst by far was the muffin, which I suspect had been used for some weeks to prop up a table leg. The hash brown tasted of regret and the watery Diet Coke was barely enough to wash the mess into my stomach. All this under the covetous glare of a starving reprobate, who wandered off after my last bite. I should have given him the food, which ultimately required two 6 am chomp bars to erase the taste. It was a miracle they weren’t themselves chased by an entire bag of cheese and onion chips.
Today was more shopping with mum in the morning (lots of books) before she met her friend for a cuppa and I took off by myself to whirlwind tour my usual spots.
I wandered down to Darling Harbour (which worsens and improves every year) through to Paddies where I saw the above astonishing set of action figures (Red Batman? Zorro? A luchidor?). Paddies is absolutely in decline, and I wonder how many more years it can survive.
After reuniting with mum and making sure she was safe and sound in the hotel I headed down to circular quay and on a whim hopped on a ferry for a brief jaunt back to Darling Harbour. As you can see the weather was wonderful and it was a lovely little cruise. I should ride on more boats!