I spied some loose pages from a book on Womerah Avenue, next to Darlinghurst primary school, and it got me thinking.

I used to weave my way along the footpath reading books on the way to school. There was a second hand book shop between my cafe job and home where I used to split my pay cheques between records and books, and one of the things that really bugged me about second hand books was when the pages started to fall out.

My copies of Lilian Roxon’s Rock Encyclopedia and Bob Blunt’s Biased History of Australian Rock are like that. The former due to age, and the latter, cheap printing. But the frailty appeals to me, too.

Following a few leads on the pages – “Ella, Felix, Mrs Cosway, Lydstep Town Hall” – I discovered it’s a copy of Barbara Vine’s The Minotaur. I’m relieved. But is someone out there searching for those lost pages, scattered on the way home from a Darlinghurst second hand book shop?

As school went back for term 4, Darlinghurst Public School announced their new, grassy playground on the message board at the south-western corner of the school.

Since then, each time I walk past, I gaze longingly down at the lush greenery, wishing I could walk on it barefoot.

This morning, it looked so glorious, and we wondered if it could really be real. It is just so green. Without going in the school gates, we got as close as we could, and it did seem to look decidedly non-plastic.

While we were pondering, a cleaner came out of one of the offices and proceeded to walk across said lawn. I called out to him, to get the facts.

It is plastic grass.

Looks lovely though.