As I made way through the main park in the centre of Lismore, I saw a group of men sitting in the bandstand. “Hey brother, watch out for the magpie”, one of them yelled out to me. Having grown up with blonde, straw-like hair, I was well aware of the risk of magpies at this time of the year. As if by some strange cruel twist of fate, magpies would regularly nest in the trees near both my primary school (South Lismore) and high school (Richmond River). After the bloke yelled out to warn me, another followed it up with, “He’s already swooped three other baldies today”. We all laughed.

Of far greater risk than the magpie was the potentially stupid decision I made to cross the old railway bridge between North and South Lismore. It’s something I’d done many times as a child without risk. A few family members worked on the railways, and I would regularly travel over the bridge, as I accompanied one most weekends to check the track between Lismore and Bexhill. That’s of course, back in the days when trains regularly travelled through Lismore.

As it’s at least a decade, probably longer, since the last train came through Lismore, I felt I could comfortably walk across the railway bridge. I hadn’t counted on the missing sleepers which appeared half way across, and so my crossing was somewhat tentative, and it was with a sigh of relief I crossed to the other side. A warning for kiddies: don’t ever attempt what this stupid forty-something did earlier today.

I’m home for the weekend visiting family. As quite a few of them are much older than I am, I figured a walk around would be a good thing to do, as they retired to an afternoon nap. I made my 10,000 steps (and more) wandering around North Lismore, South Lismore and the CBD.