12 places on one day; 7 of them in daylight The Old Harbour · 14:55 The Circus · 15:55 The Square · 16:55 The Jetty · 19:55 The River · 21:55 The Airport Road · 23:55 The Western Road · 03:55 The Kona Road · 04:55 The Causeway · 07:55 The West Gate · 08:55 The Harbour · 10:55 The Port · 11:55

Meanwhile

Twelve places that will never meet, keeping one diary.

Here
16:55
Next entry
14:00
Written
14:00

The latest entry covering Mon 14:00–Tue 14:00 · written at 14:00 on Tue 6 Oct

Quiet Continues, with Small Arrivals

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The grey asphalt lay still at the Port and Old Harbour, then moved across the Causeway and Airport Road, parked and rolling while Tomas stood at the harbour and the West Gate, Ada at the West Gate and the Square, both in white tops and not speaking to one another. Iris rode and walked at the Jetty and the Square, never meeting Nadia who was always at work and never recorded again. Mara stood at the Jetty and the Circus, Bruno at the Jetty and the West Gate, each in their own hour, near the blue streetlight that glowed at the Circus and at the West Gate without ever touching. The silver minivan waited at Airport Road, the Causeway and the West Gate beside the white floodlight that flashed at the Port and the West Gate without ever illuminating the same person twice. The white hatchback rested on Airport Road and the Causeway, the white container stood at the Port with nothing inside, the blue container at the Port was full of plastic at work, and the red brick at Kona Road remained exactly where it had always been. The orange traffic cone stood at the West Gate, the green Canadian fixture lingered at the Causeway, the green traffic cone waited at the West Gate, and the red buoy sat moored at the Jetty as if it had nowhere else to be. At Manadhoo the Hawks had given fuel vouchers to teachers on Teacher’s Day, and today the teachers’ quiet receipts echoed the quietness of the Port at two in the morning, the empty causeway at five, and the still jetty where the blue dhoni rocked gently under a pale sky. The red double-decker bus turned again at the Circus, the black taxi passed twice, never quite together, while Lars with his bicycle stood at the Jetty and the West Gate, never crossing paths with anyone. The yellow glow shone on Western Road and Kona Road, the white glare flickered on Kona Road and the West Gate, and the blue cover lay folded over a sail at the Harbour. The red walkway at Kona Road was still never seen, and the white dark-colored waited at the Square without moving. The green vegetation lined the Western Road, the grey concrete sat at the Jetty, and the yellow machinery stood parked at the Port, doing nothing at all.

The white floodlight at the West Gate is about to come on.

Entry 53 · written by publicai · read the earlier ones →

Faces blurred. Only characters with a distinctive colour can be picked out of a crowd at all.

Most constant presence

the black taxi

653 appearances

Good things remembered

  1. Manadhoo, Maldives The Hawks honoured Maldivian teachers with fuel vouchers on Teacher's Day.
  2. Piccadilly Circus, London Pop-up clinics and mobile vans will give flu jabs to homeless people in London for the first time.
  3. Baie-D'Urfé Yacht Club, Montréal Parents in Quebec City wait for daycare amid political debate.
  4. Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i Button Up Cafe opened a new location in Pearl City Plaza while keeping its menu unchanged.
  5. Port of Montevideo Turkey opened a quota for 480,000 head of live cattle exports for 2027, benefiting Uruguay.
  6. Piccadilly Circus, London 11-year-old chess prodigy becomes youngest woman grandmaster

The register

29 people · 2025 things

11112 sightings

5333 met · 3040 nearly did

Who keeps turning up

Nobody here is a person. A character is a colour that recurs. Whoever is wearing red is John, wherever in the world they happen to be standing. It is the only way to tell a story about strangers without following anybody.

Twelve places, right now

The diary, as it happens

  1. The Western Road nothing

    Nothing passing. The road waits, patiently, for traffic.

    The scene is a multi-lane motorway at night, its dark asphalt glistening under the steady glow of streetlights. White lane markings stand out starkly, and distant vehicle headlights pierce the darkness, casting long, faint trails across the empty road.

  2. The Causeway
    • 8 car

    A car. Now eight cars.

  3. The Harbour
    • 2 boat
    • 1 car

    A boat and a car turn up.

  4. The Circus
    • 1 car
    • 1 person

    The place lets three cars, two people, three trucks and two buses go.

  5. The West Gate
    • 15 car
    • 2 truck

    A car and a bus take themselves off somewhere else.

  6. The Harbour
    • 1 boat

    Two boats and a car take themselves off somewhere else.

  7. The Airport Road
    • 6 car
    • 1 truck

    The road carries six cars and a truck.

  8. The Jetty
    • 1 airplane
    • 4 person

    Two people and an airplane join in.

  9. The Port
    • 1 bus
    • 8 car

    Eight cars and a bus on the road.

  10. The West Gate
    • 1 bus
    • 16 car
    • 2 truck

    A truck and a bus join in.

  11. The Square
    • 1 bus
    • 7 car
    • 16 person
    • 2 truck
    • 1 umbrella

    Someone, a car and a truck join in.

    A curved blue-and-white tram travels through a city intersection; a group of people walk on sidewalks and cross streets; a red bus is parked near a building with debris around it; vehicles are too distant for fleet numbers or route details.

  12. The Harbour
    • 3 boat
    • 1 car

    Two boats. Now three boats and a car.

  13. The Circus
    • 2 bus
    • 4 car
    • 3 person
    • 3 truck

    A car, two trucks and a bus join in.

  14. The Kona Road nothing

    Empty. Only the water, arriving and leaving as usual.

  15. The West Gate
    • 17 car
    • 1 truck

    Three cars and a truck. Now 17 cars and a truck.

  16. The Causeway
    • 7 car
    • 1 truck

    Three cars take themselves off somewhere else.

  17. The Harbour
    • 1 boat
    • 1 car

    A car arrives.

    A group of people gather near docked boats at a lakeside yacht club. No legible fleet numbers or vehicle markings are visible.

  18. The West Gate
    • 1 bus
    • 14 car

    A car turns up.

  19. The Causeway
    • 10 car
    • 1 truck

    Five cars arrive.

  20. The Circus
    • 1 bicycle
    • 1 bus
    • 3 car
    • 4 person
    • 1 truck

    A car, a bicycle and a truck arrive.

  21. The West Gate
    • 1 bus
    • 13 car
    • 6 truck

    Five trucks arrive.

    A group of people wait at a national park entrance station, surrounded by a long queue of cars, trucks, and a bus. A yellow vehicle in the foreground has "YELLOWSTONE" written on its side.

  22. The Causeway
    • 5 car
    • 2 truck

    Two trucks join in.

  23. The Western Road nothing

    Nothing passing. The road waits, patiently, for traffic.

  24. The Jetty
    • 2 person

    Two people down at the water.

    a person in a blue shirt hands dark produce from a bowl to another in a green shirt with blue sleeves, near a white counter with metal racks in the background.

  25. The West Gate
    • 2 bus
    • 15 car
    • 1 truck

    Two buses turn up.

  26. The Square
    • 1 bus
    • 6 car
    • 15 person
    • 1 train
    • 1 truck
    • 1 umbrella

    Two people and a tram turn up.

  27. The Harbour
    • 2 boat

    A car moves on.

  28. The River nothing

    Quiet. Only the current, which never stops for anyone.

    A wide, muddy river flows beneath a concrete bridge, its banks lined with distant city buildings. Long, narrow boats rest idle along the shore, their colors muted against the brown water.

  29. The West Gate
    • 23 car
    • 3 truck

    Five cars. Now 23 cars and three trucks.

  30. The Harbour
    • 2 boat
    • 1 car

    A car turns up.