I’d been watching these two play chess in the afternoon for a few weeks. For someone who loves taking photos of people I lack the pushiness that’s required to stick a camera in a strangers face uninvited. But this afternoon I just walked up and asked if they’d mind me taking their picture. They made me most welcome and I sat with them for a few minutes, swapping stony silence.
He’s a bit of a Northbridge identity: rides into town in the afternoons with his pet galah on the handlebars, puts down a few bets and then takes on all-comers in chess for the rest of the day. The rumor is that he’s a grand master. I know nothing about chess but the few games I saw him play ended fairly quickly.
I always worried about the bird though. He’d leave it sat on the handlebars of the bike in the street, with a bit of food and water, exposed to poking and prodding from every tourist and drunken dickhead that walked past. The bird always seemed to hold it’s own though.
Kingsley Flett 