Surfers Paradise Sojourn.

(for Mark D. Walker, brother and friend) . They knew how to name towns back then. You can go surfing in mid-July or relax on the warm, white sands of Surfers Paradise beach in mid-July which I do for a few hours of bliss. Close to the beach are white high-rises, buildings mainly apartments for tourists. The different- shaped buildings look so perfect in a soft blue cloudless sky that I think of Plato's Forms and Ideas in an ideal world somewhere out there even if not visible. I see tourists walking the walk on litter-free footpaths then going to nightclubs, although I do not. The building industry is thriving on the Gold Coast as it has for forty years. 'Shall we go to Dreamworld today? ' 'No, that's more for children I think'. 'What about Jupiter's tonight then? ' 'All right, seeing you like poker machines'. ...Now your ashes are scattered somewhere in that paradise'. -July,2012. In Surfers Paradise the nightclubs cater for all. I had fun dancing until midnight with glamour girls, who came from many countries to Australia's best resort. More high-rise hotels, motels and apartments for tourists are continuously on the build, and this enterprise for holidaymakers took off like arocket twenty-odd years ago, the golden years of tourism on the Gold Coast. 'Shall we go to Dreamworld today? ' 'No, that's for children, if you ask me'. 'How about Jupiter's Casino tonight then? ' 'All right, sinceyou like the throwing of the dice.' ...But now your ashes are scattered somewhere in that paradise. - July,2012. (Revised in March,2017) .