ParkSyde — psychology, counselling, home education

Behind these words a park is being walked: a slow circle round a green bowl at dawn, past eleven lit shopfronts, with a fountain standing in the bottom of the bowl, a creek coming down to it off the rise, and the ranges out beyond all of it.

The whole walk is written out further down this page, under the heading “The park, in words”.

The park, in words

The camera comes in through the gate and then goes round, and it takes a hundred and eighteen seconds to come round again. It stops at each of the eleven in turn. In every one of the windows a small helper stands at the counter — a helper in a digital park, not a person, with nothing written on it. Nothing on this page is told to you in sound: the park makes no noise of its own, and the speaker button in the bottom corner only adds a synthesised dawn — a low drone, a breath of wind, the odd bird — if you ask it to.

Between the doors

The walk runs under an avenue of big figs — six runs of them, not a ring — so it goes from open sky into shade and back out again as it circles. One arc of the slope is stepped into four grass terraces facing down toward the water. In the gaps between the districts there are murals on standing concrete, set at an angle to the path so you catch them going past, and not one of them carries a caption or a signature. People walk the paths: figures of warm light, deliberately abstract so that anybody can be one of them, and some of them roll rather than walk. Out past the park a river runs, with brolgas standing in pairs in the shallows, a jabiru alone and a long way from them, and a platypus that goes under and leaves a ring on the water. Further out again are the ranges, with a railway benched into the side of one of them and a train on it once a lap; and on the far side of the ring, a scatter of town lights that have not been switched off yet.

The walk, stop by stop

The twelve in the order the camera reaches them. The gate is open, so every door below is open too, and each one says so.

Counselling. A weatherboard cottage with a chimney. The verandah runs level with the floor inside, and the path comes up onto it at the door. Through the glass, a long couch turned to face the street, and a soft chair across the room turned back toward it with a cardigan left over the back. There is nothing between the two seats and nothing to sign in at: the floor runs clear from the doorway to either one, and the person who works here is standing on it, beside the empty chair.

Psychology & assessments. Brick, flat-roofed. A paved landing at the door, level with the floor. Inside, a working table with two chairs angled across it and the test blocks still out between them, a screen turned to face the visitor’s side, a tall bank of paper trays down the wall, a spare chair by the door, and somebody at the counter with clear floor in front of them.

NDIS funding. A ramp runs along the front of this one, with a handrail the length of it. Inside, the longest couch in the park with its back to the street, a soft chair turned in at one end of it, and a spare wheelchair standing empty by the door. The counter’s last stretch is dropped low and open underneath, the floor in front of it left clear the whole way from the door, and somebody standing behind it to meet you, with the lit doorway at the back standing clear.

Mowing & grounds. A shed of corrugated iron. The slab is poured out to the path at the door. A wheelbarrow set down out of square at the glass, a mower parked along the side wall with its nose to the street, and three long-handled tools stood together in a rack across the back wall. Somebody at the counter to take the booking, and the floor worn in a line from the door to the yard door at the back.

Cleaning. The smallest shop here, its slab poured out to the path at the door, behind the one undivided pane on the walk: a trolley with its bag hung off the frame, and a vacuum beside it, wand leaning out. Further in, a mop leaned on the side wall, a stack of buckets standing in the lit doorway at the back with one of them out on the floor beside it, and somebody at the counter to take the booking, with the floor worn in a band from that doorway out to the street door.

AI courses. A paved landing at the door, level with the floor. A teaching screen on a stand wheeled out to the middle of the window and lit, two desks in a row behind it with a lit screen on each, and a fourth screen up on the back wall that the class sits facing. Three chairs, none of them square to anything, one shoved right back from its desk with a jacket over it, and the fourth place at the near desk left empty with the floor clear in front of it. Somebody is at the counter with clear floor in front of them, and the lit doorway at the back stands clear.

Home-school. Brick, with a slender tower on the corner. The verandah walkway is level with the floor inside, and the path comes up onto it at the door. An easel stands in the window with the work still out on a low table beside it and four stools left anyhow, and a rug in the corner with cushions on the floor. A wall of small trays runs down the side wall you pass on the way in, somebody is at the counter with clear floor in front of them, and the principal’s door stands open at the back.

Employment pathways. Brick, and the tallest frontage on the walk. The footpath under the awning is laid level with the shop floor. A rail of clothes hung just inside the glass and bunched up one end, and behind it a table set for an interview: a chair at the head of it and another drawn up to the side with a jacket over the back. Further in, a desk against the wall with a screen lit on it, and somebody at the counter with clear floor in front of them.

Memorabilia store. Rendered, with a bullnosed awning carried out over the path on posts, and the footpath under it laid level with the shop floor. A glazed case square in the window with small pieces set out on two shelves, a rail of shirts behind it, and somebody at the counter with one of those pieces already out and standing on it for you. At the back, boxes in the lit doorway with one thing out of them on the floor beside, and the delivery in front of them with its flaps still up.

Kobe's Small Motors. Iron again. The apron is poured out to the path at the door. A whole mower in profile hard against the glass, a second one turned in against the side wall with its cover off, and an engine up on a stand. Further in, two long-handled machines stood on end behind the counter, somebody there to take the job from you, and a wheelbarrow parked in the lit doorway at the back.

Local sport. The verandah is level with the floor inside, and the path comes up onto it at the door. A clubhouse, and the thing it is about is outside it: a half court thirty-three metres out through the glass, with a game on. Inside, lockers in a row with one door standing open, a bench pulled up in front of them and turned toward the court, a rack of balls at the window with one dropped where somebody left it, and somebody at the counter to sign you on.

Games Arcade. Rendered, flat-roofed, the footpath under the awning laid level with the shop floor. Three arcade cabinets stand in a rank across the window, screens raked back over their control decks and marquees lit in a row, with a gap between each pair wide enough to see the park through. A fourth is turned in against the side wall to face the room, a stool pushed back from it and a bench along the same wall. Somebody is at the counter, though nothing here has to be asked for. At the back, the lit doorway stands clear.

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The park, in words

Between the doors

The walk, stop by stop

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