I thought that today would be little more than a mundane companion piece to yesterday’s photograph. Walking through Parliament Lawns as I usually do of a weekday morning, I noted the two council workers clearing off all of the leaves that I posted yesterday. Naively, I had assumed that this would be achieved with huge rakes and good old-fashioned muscle. Alas, I was wrong. I should have known that bulky (and extremely noisy) leaf blowers are all the rage these days. They were corralling the poor frightened leaves into the centre of the park, where a truck was waiting to haul them off to oblivion. That was that (I thought), 'a slice of Hobartian life for the world to peruse at their leisure'.
As noted, I thought that this was the end of the story, I would post the photo and be done, but in the act of resizing it to make it more user-friendly, I noted something odd in the background. Like David Hemmings in the classic film Blowup, there was a strange character lurking in the background (I'll keep you updated if I have a naked romp with two models later in the evening - if confused, go and rent the movie!). Focusing on this section of the photograph, I decided to ‘blow it up’ and have a closer look. Now I could be mistaken, but it does appear to be someone taking a photograph.
‘What is he photographing?’, I wondered. It could be the council workers, but I already had that covered. It could be of the leaves, but he wasn’t really pointing at the huge pile, they were too far to his right. There were no other people around, and nothing special going on. No, the evidence is clear, he is pointing directly at me!
Now, I am not sure if it just the John le Carré Cold War spy thriller that I have nearly finished (wonderful stuff, by the way), but now I am wondering if the whole “one photo of Hobart a day” thing is not threatening the security of the state (or at the very least a risk to innocent children). I know that many of the visitors to this blog are active ‘Daily Photo Bloggers’, so I am sure that you are aware of the current ‘sensitivities’ around photography in public spaces. USA Today and the BBC have more.
So either I have gone mad, or the world has gone mad. Which is it people?
Comments
By the way...what John Le Carre novel are you reading? He used to be my absolute favourite author! Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy... George Smiley...aaaahhh! A great TV series too with Alec Guinness (before he became Obi-Wan Kenobi)
That may be a 'Circus agent' taking photos of you....be careful...trust no-one! (hahaha)
I've done a few trilogies over the past year: the Hitchhiker's Guide; Updike's Rabbit series; Richard Ford's "Frank Bascombe" novels; and Melvyn Bragg's Wigton trilogy (of which a new novel has been released). I've enjoyed them all in their own way, but am very much looking for a little Cold War intrigue!
I already trust no-one. In fact, I've had my suspicions that Henry may be an agent for a FARC sleeper cell, but I'm keeping quite about that for the moment.
I miss reading...I just never seem to get enough time for it anymore. Because I can't put a book down once I start...I avoid it as it wreaks havoc with my sleep and then my ability to function properly at work! I think I will have to get a job that is a long, long way away and then travel on public transport to get there so I have a lot of time on my own to fill in (and thus not feeling guilty about sitting and reading)!!!
And do keep your eye on that Henry...MI5 are known to recruit their agents young!