INCONSPICUOUS

Inconspicuous, her presence noted only by the obscurity and the ever growing number of spent cigarette stubs that littered the ground. It had been a long day and the rain, relentless in its tenacity had little intention of stopping, baleful clouds hung heavy dominating the lateness of the afternoon sky, a skyline broken only by smoke filled chimney pots and the tangled snarl of corroded television aerials.

The once busy street was fast emptying, the allure of shop windows no longer enticed the last minute purchase as local traders closed their premises to the oncoming night. Solitary lampposts curved hazily into the distance, casting little more than insipid pools, mirrored in the gutter below, only the occasional stranger now, scurrying home on a bleak, rain swept afternoon, the hurried slap of wet leather soles on the pavement, the sightless umbrellas, the infrequent rumble of a half filled bus, hell-bent on its way to oblivion.