What is it about lanes? What stories did you conjure up when your curious eye peered through the cracks of rusted corrugated back fences? What feet did you imagine trampled on bluestone surfaces?

Lanes by Helena Spyrou

Lanes is a remembrance of my teenage hood where I spent a lot of time walking through the lanes of Carlton in the early 1970s. I wrote the first draft of this piece in 1999 in a workshop with Arnold Zable that explored our relationships to cities. I was so pleased when it was later published in Meanjin (Vol 60, Issue 1, 2001). - Helena Spyrou

Helena Spyrou is of Cypriot and Greek heritage. She is a writer of non-fiction, literary fiction and poetry. Her work has appeared in literary journals, including Meanjin, Going Down Swinging and Visible Ink. She has performed her work at La Mama, Loop Bar and other venues and has worked as a project artist with communities in Melbourne. She studies Writing and Editing at RMIT and works full-time for the National Tertiary Education Union.

Acknowledgements:

Memoria is written,  produced and presented by Nat V.

Helena Spyrou's short story, Lanes, is performed by Nat V.

Music in this episode is by Blue Dot Sessions,  "November Mist" and "City Limits".

Illustrations by Peta Manning. Her book, See Me Doodle, is out now.

Sound effects in this episode by:

Kissing_Smooches_01.wav