“Oh, bollocks,” Fletcher mumbled to his mother on the next day when they turned the corner onto Sydney’s street and he saw multiple tables pushed together to form a line down the centre of the road, adorned with banners and flags. Bushes and shrubbery lined the sides of the road so close to the tables that attendees had to turn sideways to slice pass the pushed-in folding chairs and the reaching arms of twigs. In front of each seat was a plate donning the Union Jack colours and white plasticware. Empty cardboard drinking cups rounded out each setting. Rows of vacant houses were tucked neatly behind the hedgerow, as their occupants had already littered the street to attend the festivities. Small children ran to and fro, ignoring who they might collide with during their play.
Vera plastered
