TheBanyanTree: A city, not easy to love

[John Bailey]

Wednesday September 3, 2003

A CITY, NOT EASY TO LOVE

I sat on the low wall in Swansea's main square to watch the fountains play, 
water spouts pluming into the bright early autumn sky and splashing down 
into a pool polluted with Macdonald's wrappings and discarded beer cans. I 
watched children playing on worn grass littered with sweet papers and 
over-chewed gum. I looked up at the trees, not long since planted, doing 
their best to grow before traffic blight destroys them.

I sat on the wall because the benches were filled with drunks, noisome and 
threatening, even in the sun. Perhaps especially in the sun.

Swansea is a city that's not easy to love.

And yet, the children did play, and there were lovers walking arm in arm. 
Sure, it's not Rome, and these are not the Trevi Fountains, but it's a 
welcome open space in a less than pretty town and the intention is good, 
like enough, even if the execution is wanting.

After a couple of hours, after a delicious lunch at _La Baguette du Jour_, 
the road back to our little house under the oak tree began to call.

Selecting a platter of fruit from the bowl and pouring a glass of Cretan 
red, I took my book out into the garden for a late-afternoon nibble. It was 
good to be home.

--
John Bailey   Carmarthenshire, Wales
journal of a writing man
<http://www.oldgreypoet.com>