Outside The Asb Tennis Arena.

Before the evening semi-finals in January,2014, when the star of Venus Williams sparkled brightly, I walked out of the ASB Arena to the nearby Domain. I sat on a park bench, to dine and drink cordial. I was alone in the twilight, gazing at the skyline: office buildings with blue-green windows that I like. The eternal flow of cars down the motorway was a contrast to the calm harbor in the distance. I felt that peace which is like nirvana; in a twilight zone out of time and space. A man walked up to put papers in the bin and we exchanged a cordial strangers' greeting, before he said, 'I'm in the tent over there'. I thought of the blue-and-white tent covers where spectators sip champagne court side. However, he pointed out his own blue tent under the broad branches of an oak tree: he smiled knowingly, went back to his dwelling for the summer night, and out of my life. I had glimpsed loneliness and poverty, even dignity, as he indeed lived there. The affable stranger stayed in my mind longer than the semi-final under floodlights. _ November,2015.