Booking Through Thursday: Location, Location, Location, Part II

Where do you do most of your reading?

I read anywhere and everywhere. Most commonly: in my room (either on the bed or on the floor propped up against it), the couch in the family room, on the train, waiting for the train, at uni while waiting for lectures to start, or in the City Botanic Gardens between classes. I am yet to resort to doing what I have seen others do, namely reading while walking, but I have been tempted at times.

Your favourite spot?

The Gardens. Being the subtropics it’s rarely too chilly to sit outside and usually sunny. My favourite spot within my favourite spot is a shady picnic table beside the river just down from the mangrove walk. There’s a view across the water to the cliffs at Kangaroo Point; and I can watch the boats at anchor and the occasional passing CityCat ferry. The riverside footpath is at the bottom of a steep grassy slope and is generally pretty quiet. But if the table’s occupied or I can’t be bothered walking all the way across the Gardens, I just sit down in the first quiet shady spot I find. If it’s really busy, I’ll even settle for the small and constantly-moving patch of shade cast by a palm tree.

I love the Gardens because they’re convenient (right next to my uni! How lucky am I!) and there’s so much to see. Grand old Moreton Bay figs, hibiscus flowers the size of dinner plates, ducks among the waterlilies, scarlet cannas, trees covered with pinkish-mauve flowers, all the passers-by. I once spent my lunch break being entertained by a rehearsing police band! The only downsides are those wretched mynahs and the occasional roving pack of Jehovah’s Witnesses.