A River of Stones: January 14

In Cashel St a girl is selling cherries
from a table on the pavement.
Three men in fluorescent vests
stand and point at a broken parapet.
A family passes by a row of closed shops:
"This is what it will be like in Brisbane"
the mother says.

For A River of Stones

I was surprised this morning to discover that a number of shops in town are still closed, not from the September 4 earthquake but from the Boxing Day aftershock. These shops look quite modern from street level, but stand back and gaze up - they are actually old brick and masonry buildings, and the cracks are showing.
It was a beautiful sunny day. In Brisbane, besides closed shops, there will be water and mud. If I was given the choice between the earthquake we had here, and the massive flooding they are having in Queensland (rain since November 30th, I gather), I think I would take the earthquake.