Just Dann now...

Glass Animals - I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)

Hallie - Babysitter

Hotel - Loose Change [Ft. Obi Ill Terrors]

Jaguar Jonze - CURLED IN

Julien Baker - Hardline

K.Flay - Four Letter Words

Keli Holiday - Song Goes On [Ft. Coyle Girelli]

Middle Kids - Today We're The Greatest

Tiny Little Houses - Golden Boy

1300 - Smashmouth

100 gecs - mememe

Alex Lahey - Spike The Punch

Alice Skye - Everything Is Great

Alice Skye - Party Tricks

Amber Mark - Worth It

Amy Shark - Amy Shark

Amy Shark - Baby Steps

Amy Shark - Worst Day Of My Life

Aodhan - I'm Closed

Architects - Little Wonder [Ft. Mike Kerr]

Arlo Parks - Hope

Ashe - I'm Fine

Ayla - Ride Along

Bad/Love - Follow The Leader

Baker Boy - Ride [Ft. Yirrmal]

Ball Park Music - Sunscreen

Beddy Rays - Wait A While

Beddy Rays - Better In Blak [triple j Like A Version 2021]

Berried Alive - Blood Orange

Between You & Me - Supervillain

Between You & Me - Go To Hell [Ft. Yours Truly]

Big Scary - Get Out!

Biig Piig - Lavender

Billie Eilish - Getting Older

Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever

Billie Eilish - NDA

Black Midi - Slow

Bleachers - Stop Making This Hurt

Blu DeTiger - Vintage

Boy & Bear - Don't You Forget About Me [triple j Like A Version 2021]

BROCKHAMPTON - DON'T SHOOT UP THE PARTY

BROCKHAMPTON - WHAT'S THE OCCASION?

BROODS - Piece Of My Mind

Bugs - Diamond

Charli XCX - Good Ones

Charlie Collins - Fuck It

Chasing Ghosts - Summer

Chet Faker - Whatever Tomorrow

CHVRCHES - He Said She Said

CHVRCHES - How Not To Drown [Ft. Robert Smith]

Clairo - Amoeba

Clay J Gladstone - Dead Friends

Cool Sounds - Crimson Mask

Cousin Tony's Brand New Firebird - When This Is Over

D'Arcy Spiller - Wolf Blood

Dave Winnel - Freaking Out

Dave Winnel - C.E.O. [Ft. BodaciousThang]

deadmau5 - Hyperlandia [Ft. Foster The People]

Deafheaven - In Blur

Dear Seattle - Way Out

Death From Above 1979 - One + One

Didirri - Wake Me Up When September Ends [triple j Like A Version 2021]

Drapht - Shadows On My Walls

Drapht - Robbery [triple j Like A Version 2021]

DZ Deathrays - Rock Star [Ft. Nerve] [triple j Like A Version 2021]

easy life - ocean view

Eliza & The Delusionals - YOU

Everything Everything - Supernormal

Fergus James - Backseat

FINNEAS - A Concert Six Months From Now

FINNEAS - The 90s

Flight Facilities - The Ghost

Flo Milli - Roaring 20s

Flossy - Better Off

flowerkid - vodka orange juice

Foals - Wake Me Up

FRITZ - Die Happily

Gang Of Youths - the man himself

Genesis Owusu - Gold Chains

Genesis Owusu - No Looking Back

Genesis Owusu - Anarchy In The UK [triple j Like A Version 2021]

Georgia Maq - Someone Stranger [Ft. Alice Ivy]

girl in red - Body And Mind

Glass Animals - I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)

Gordi x Alex Lahey - Dino's

Great Gable - Hazy

Griff - One Foot In Front Of The Other

Griff - Black Hole

Hallie - Babysitter

Halsey - Easier Than Lying

Hatchie - This Enchanted

Hayley Mary - Chemtrails Over The Country Club [triple j Like A Version 2021]

Hiatus Kaiyote - Canopic Jar

Holding Absence - Afterlife

Hollow Coves - Hello

Holly Humberstone - Please Don't Leave Just Yet

Holy Holy - Believe Anything

Holy Holy - I.C.U.

Holy Holy - Port Rd [Ft. Queen P]

Holy Holy - The Aftergone [Ft. CLEWS]

Hope D - Addict

Hope D - Toxic [triple j Like A Version 2021]

Hotel - Loose Change [Ft. Obi Ill Terrors]

I Know Leopard - Lover Automatic

IDLES - The Beachland Ballroom

Jack River - We Are The Youth

Jaguar Jonze - CURLED IN

Jaguar Jonze - WHO DIED AND MADE YOU KING?

Jess Day - Naked

Jordy Maxwell - The Sweetest Days

Joy Crookes - Feet Don't Fail Me Now

Juice WRLD & benny blanco - Real Shit

Julia Stone - Fire In Me

Julia Stone - We All Have [Ft. Matt Berninger]

Julien Baker - Hardline

Jungle - Talk About It

K.Flay - Four Letter Words

K.Flay - Dating My Dad [Ft. Travis Barker]

KANADA THE LOOP - ZOOM IN

KANADA THE LOOP - Y U NO LIKE ME

Kanye West - Hurricane

Kanye West - Jail

Kat Edwards - Safety

Keli Holiday - Song Goes On [Ft. Coyle Girelli]

KennyHoopla & Travis Barker - hollywood sucks//

Kim Dracula - Paparazzi

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Interior People

King Princess - House Burn Down

King Stingray - Milkumana

Ladyhawke & Broods - Guilty Love

Lana Del Rey - Chemtrails Over The Country Club

Lana Del Rey - Dark But Just A Game

Le Shiv - I'm Fine, I've Said Too Much, But How Are You?

Lime Cordiale And Idris Elba - Apple Crumble

Little Simz - Introvert

London Grammar - Lord It's A Feeling

Lorde - Mood Ring

Lorde - Solar Power

LOSER - On The Edge

Machine Gun Kelly - love race [Ft. Kellin Quinn]

Made In Paris - Wonderlust [Ft. Simonne Jones]

Maggie Lindemann - Crash And Burn

Make Them Suffer - Contraband [Ft. Courtney LaPlante]

Mansionair - MORE

Maple Glider - Swimming

Masked Wolf - Pandemonium

Meet Me @ The Altar - Brighter Days (Are Before Us)

Methyl Ethel - Matters

Methyl Ethel - Frontier Psychiatrist/Dribble [triple j Like A Version 2021]

Mia Wray - Never Gonna Be The Same

Middle Kids - Stacking Chairs

Middle Kids - Today We're The Greatest

Milky Chance - Colorado

Moaning Lisa - Inadequacy

Montaigne - Technicolour

Montaigne - Now (In Space)

Mura Masa - 2gether

Mvlholland - 83

Nick Ward - PRINCESS

NIKI & 88rising - Split

Noah Dillon - Alive And Kicking

Northlane - Clockwork

Nothing But Thieves - Futureproof

nothing,nowhere. - Pieces of You

Ocean Grove - CALI SUN

Olive Amun - Blues

Olivia Rodrigo - brutal

Olivia Rodrigo - drivers license

Olivia Rodrigo - good 4 u

Oscar Lang - Yeah!

Pacific Avenue - Easy Love

Pandamic - BUS

Parcels - Somethinggreater

Parcels - LordHenry

Peach PRC - Josh

Peking Duk - Chemicals

Phoebe Bridgers - That Funny Feeling

Polish Club - No Heaven

Pond - America's Cup

Pretty Girl - Arc

Pridelands - Heavy Tongue

Pridelands - The Walls

PUP - Waiting

RedHook - Bad Decisions

RedHook - Kamikaze [Ft. Will King]

Remi Wolf - Quiet On Set

Remi Wolf - Liquor Store

renforshort - virtual reality

Rosie Darling - Water Me Down

Royal Blood - Limbo

Ruby Fields - Kitchen

RÜFÜS DU SOL - Alive

Sam Fender - Get You Down

Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under

Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen - Like I Used To

Skegss - Down To Ride

Slowly Slowly - Comets & Zombies

SLUMBERJACK - Better Off [Ft. Lucy Lucy]

Sly Withers - Clarkson

Sly Withers - The Scientist [triple j Like A Version 2021]

Spacey Jane - Here Comes The Sun [triple j Like A Version 2021]

Stellie - Bullet Through The Heart

Stevie Jean - Menace

Sycco - Time's Up

Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers - AHHHH!

Teenage Dads - Cheerleader

Teenage Joans - Ice Cream

Teenage Joans - Wine

Telenova - Bones

Telenova - Hung Up [triple j Like A Version 2021]

The Avalanches - We Go On [Ft. Cola Boyy/Mick Jones]

The Dead Love - All For Nothing

The Dead Love - If You Say So

The Jungle Giants - Heartless

The Jungle Giants - Treat You Right

The Kid LAROI & Justin Bieber - Stay

The Knocks - R U HIGH [Ft. Mallrat]

The Lazy Eyes - Nobody Taught Me

The Lazy Eyes - Fuzz Jam

The Million - Last Call

The Moving Stills - Downlow

The Rubens - Muddy Evil Pain

The Snuts - Burn The Empire

The Weeknd - Take My Breath

The Wiggles - Elephant [triple j Like A Version 2021]

The Wombats - If You Ever Leave, I'm Coming With You

The Wombats - Method To The Madness

Thomas Headon & Lizzy McAlpine - Bored

Thornhill - Casanova

Tiny Little Houses - Car Crash

Tiny Little Houses - Golden Boy

To Octavia - The Sound Of The Rain

Tones And I - Fall Apart

Tones And I - Lonely

Tones And I - Won't Sleep

TOWNS - Swimming

WAAX - Most Hated Girl

Wavves - Sinking Feeling

Wet Leg - Chaise Longue

Wet Leg - Wet Dream

WILLOW & Avril Lavigne - G R O W [Ft. Travis Barker]

Wolf Alice - Delicious Things

Wolf Alice - The Last Man On Earth

YEBBA - Louie Bag [Ft. Smino]

Yoste - I only go south

Yours Truly - Walk Over My Grave

YUNGBLUD - acting like that [Ft. Machine Gun Kelly]

Zheani - SKIN WALKER

#1 Dads - Freedom Fighter

070 Shake - Under The Moon

A Day To Remember - Mindreader

A Day To Remember - Brick Wall

A. Swayze & The Ghosts - Mess Of Me

Agung Mango - LITTLE BUM

Alec Wigdahl - The Word

Alex Lahey - Sucker For Punishment

Alex the Astronaut - I Didn't Know

Alex the Astronaut - I Think You're Great

Alice Skye - Stay In Bed

Amy Shark - C'MON [Ft. Travis Barker]

Andy Bull - It's All Connected

Aodhan - Drive

Architects - Animals

Ario Parks - Eugene

Ario Parks - Caroline

Asgeir - Lazy Giants

Ashe - Save Myself

Baby Queen - Want Me

Ball Park Music - Cherub

Ball Park Music - Day & Age

Ball Park Music - Head Like A Sieve

Ball Park Music - Paranoid Android [Like A Version 2020]

BAYNK - Tessellate [Ft. Tei Shi]

Bec Sykes - Edithvale

Beddy Rays - Better Weather

Beddy Rays - Sobercoaster

BENEE - Kool

Bicep - Apricots

Billie Eilish - No Time To Die

Billie Eilish - Therefore I Am

Bob Moses - The Blame

Boston Manor - Plasticine Dreams

Briggs - Extra Extra

Bring Me The Horizon - Parasite Eve

Bring Me The Horizon - Kingslayer [Ft. BABYMETAL]

Car Seat Headrest - Can't Cool Me Down

carolesdaughter - Violent

Childish Gambino - Algorhythm

Congrats Russian - Roulette

Creeper - Annabelle

Cub Sport - Confessions

Cut Copy - Like Breaking Glass

D'Arcy Spiller - What In Hell

Didirri - Raw Stuff

Dizzy - The Magician

Djo - Keep Your Head Up

DMA'S - The Glow

Dominic Fike - Why

Dune Rats - Stupid Is As Stupid Does {Ft. K.Flay}

E^ST - Fresh Out Of Love

Erthlings - Irrational

Eskimo Callboy - Hypa Hypa

Everything Everything - Arch Enemy

Everything Everything - Violent Sun

Eves Karydas - Complicated

FINNEAS - What They'll Say About Us

G Flip - Lady Marmalade [triple j Like A Version]

Garrett Kato - Breathe It In {Ft. Julia Stone}

Genesis Owusu - The Other Black Dog

Gerard Way - Here Comes The End [Ft. Judith Hill]

Ghostemane - Al

girl in red - rue

Glass Animals - It's All So Incredibly Loud

Glass Animals - Tangerine

Gordi - Volcanic

Gorillaz - Momentary Bliss [Ft. slowthai & Slaves]

Gorillaz - Pac-Man [Ft. ScHoolboy Q]

Gretta Ray - Passion

Grimes - 4ÆM

Grimes - You'll Miss Me When I'm Not Around

Grimes & j.ffi:PAN - Darkseid

Grouplove - Deleter

Gus Dapperton - First Aid

HAIM - I Know Alone

Halsey - 3am

Halsey - I HATE EVERYBODY

Halsey - You should be sad

Harper Bloom - Walk My Way

Hayley Mary - Like A Woman Should

Hayley Williams - Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris

Hinds - Good Bad Times

Hockey Dad - Good Eye

Hockey Dad - In This State

Hockey Dad - Itch

Hope D - Second

I Prevail - DOA [Ft. Joyner Lucas]

Icona Pop & Safi Tukker - Spa

Illy - Loose Ends [Ft. G Flip]

In Hearts Wake - Dystopia

Introvert - Mending Breaking

Jack Garratt - Time

Jack River - Dark Star

Jaguar Jonze - Deadalive

Jaguar Jonze - Rabbit Hole

Jake Bugg - Rabbit Hole

James Blake - Before

Jerome Farah - Vibrate

Jess Locke - Destroy Everything

Jimblah - About These Demons

Johnny Hunter - Try As You May

Joji - Ew

Joji - Run

Juice WRLD - Come & Go [with Marshmello]

Juice WRLD & The Weeknd - Smile

Julia Jacklin - CRY

Julia Stone - Unreal

KennyHoopla - how will i rest in peace if i'm buried by a highway?//

KennyHoopla - ESTELLA// [Ft. Travis Barker]

Kilter - Friction [Ft. JessB]

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard -Intrasport

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard -Oddlife

Kira Puru - Idiot

Kita Alexander - Can't Help Myself

Kwame - NOBODY {Ft. E^ST}

Last Dinosaurs - Flying

Lastlings - Take My Hand

Lime Cordiale - Addicted To The Sunshine

Lime Cordiale - No Plans to Make Plans

Lime Cordiale - Screw Loose

Liza Anne - Bad Vacation

Lola Scott - The Eviction Song

Lonely Disco Dust It Off [Ft. Asta]

LOSER - Lazy

LOSER - Upside Down

Louis The Child (with Vera Blue) - Nobody Like You

Louis The Child & EARTHGANG - Big Love

Love Fame Tragedy - Body Parts

Mac Miller - Good News

Machine Gun Kelly - concert for aliens

Machine Gun Kelly - forget me too [Ft. Halsey]

Machine Gun Kelly - body bag [Ft. YUNGBLUD & The Used]

Make Them Suffer - Soul Decay

Max Leone - Cautious

Mia Rodriguez - Beautiful & Bittersweet

Mickey Kojak - Strange

MID CITY - Forget It

Montaigne - Don't Break Me

Movements - Don't Give Up Your Ghost

Nectr - Someone

Nick Ward - Aubrey Plaza

NIKI - Selene

Nilufer Yanya - Crash

Northlane - Enemy Of The Night

Nothing But Thieves - Impossible

Nothing But Thieves - Unperson

Nothing But Thieves - Phobia

Obscura Hail - Doomer

Obscura Hail - Penumbra

Ocean Grove - DREAM

Of Monsters And Men - Circles {triple j Like A Version 2020}

Of Monsters And Men - Visitor

Oliver Tree - Cash Machine

Oliver Tree - Let Me Down

Oscar Lang - Apple Juice

Peach Tree Rascals - Deer

Peking Duk & The Wombats - Nothing To Love About Love

Petit Biscuit - I Leave Again [Ft. Shallou]

Phoebe Bridgers - Kyoto

Pluto Jonze - Walk Off The Edge With Me

Powderfinger - Day By Day

Powfu - death bed [Ft. beabadoobee]

PUP - Anaphylaxis

Purity Ring - peacefall

Purple Disco Machine - Hypnotized [Ft. Sophie & The Giants]

Puscifer - Apocalyptical

RedHook - Dead Walk

renforshort - i drive me mad

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Cars In Space

Romy - Lifetime

Royal Blood - Trouble's Coming

Ruby Fields - Pretty Grim

Run The Jewels - Ooh LA LA [Ft. Greg Nice/DJ Premier]

RVG - I Used To Love You

Siobhan Cotchin - The Fair -Weather Friend Blues

Sloan Peterson - Nightmare

Slowly Slowly - 19

Slowly Slowly - Creature Of Habit

Slowly Slowly - Melbourne
Slowly Slowly — You Are Bigger Than This Town

Soccer Mommy - yellow is the color of her eyes

Sorry - Right Round The Clock

Stand Atlantic - Jurassic Park

Stand Atlantic - Shh!

Stellie - Californian Lullaby

Stuck Out - Mindless [Ft. Mikaila Delgado]

Sycco - Embrace [triple j Like A Version 2020]

System Of A Down - Protect The Land

Taka Perry - Jesus Walks [Ft. A.GIRL/Emalia/Gia Vorne] [triple j Like A Version 2020]

Tame Impala - Posthumous Forgiveness

The Avalanches - Running Red Lights [Ft. Rivers Cuomo/Pink Siifu]

The Big Moon - Barcelona

The Flowers - You Don't Say!

The Naked And Famous - Bury Us

The Strokes - Bad Decisions

The Weeknd - Save Your Tears

Thelma Plum - These Days

Tia Gostelow - Rush

Tilly Tjala Thomas - Ngana Nyunyi

Tired Lion - Lie To Me

Tones And I - Bad Child

Travis Scott - The Plan

trials - i'm a fucking wreck [Ft. Daniyel]

Trophy Eyes - Figure Eight

Two People - A Taste

upsidedownhead - twice as tough [Ft. Mansionair]

Washington - Dark Parts

Whethan - Upside Down [Ft. Grouplove]

Willaris. K - INDIFFERENT [With Gordi]

Woodkid - Goliath

Y.O.G.A. - Your Devotion

Yorke - Treading Water

Yours Truly - Don't Look Back in Anger [Like A Version 2020]

Yours Truly - Together

YUNGBLUD - Lemonade [Ft. Denzel Curry]

YUNGBLUD - Weird!

Why to I let myself get drawn into these situations?  Situations I could so easily avoid by feigning interest in my watch and walking right by?

I was so close to home... so close I could see it.  From the station overpass, I'd followed the skyline to my house and up to the moon above, before I started down the stairs towards home.  Then I stopped at the landing in the middle.  A woman seemed to be struggling with a large suitcase.  It appeared she'd dragged the case down one flight, where the effort had exhausted her, leaving her stranded in the middle, draped and panting over the railing.  Both myself and another guy heading downstairs stepped to her aid, offering to assist with the luggage.  The woman gratefully nodded thanks to us both.

'Have you got it?' the guy asked, and I nodded, and looked back to the woman for the first time.  As I picked up the red suitcase, she attempted to look at me, struggling, it seemed, even to lift her head.  She panted as she thanked me, through visibly chapped lips, and looked to be struggling even to draw enough breath for the second 'thank you' which she desperately spat out.

'No problem...' I sneered, telling her to relax and take her time, as I took the bag downstairs, allowing her some time to compose herself.  I flipped the beige tag on the bag with my thumb innocuously as I placed the bag down, revealing the name 'Mimi,' and a local landline number along with a mobile number.  Turning back to the staircase, I saw that the woman had struggled to move beyond the landing I'd left her on.

'Sorry...' she wheezed, the effort of just lifting herself from the railing and speaking in tandem seeming to drain her of energy.  She attempted a few steps down, before her panting resumed, and she needed to sit on the stairs to recover further.  She took a swig from a water bottle she carried, some of which I could see had previously spilled over her shirt.

I could have waved goodbye at that point.  I should have bid her a good night and contined briskly away.  But I didn't.

'Take your time,' I said, feigning a smile.  'Rest for a while.'  I waited by her suitcase.  I glanced up at the woman, against the darkening sky.  She kept attempting to stand, but her rotund form threatened to topple her in the opposite direction with each attempt.  I sighed, telling her again to relax, and regain her energy.  What was I doing?  Why was I still waiting, dumbly, next to this woman's heavy red suitcase?

It took her a long time to make it down the remaining maybe twelve steps.  I tried not to make it too obvious that I was monitoring her progress, though not sure what action I would have taken had she actually stumbled forward as she appeared so likely to.  When she reached the bottom of the stairs, panting even more than she had been before, I suggested another period of recovery.  She told me I was kind, and asked my name.

'Dann,' I told her, through clenched teeth, watching a dark blue ute circle the mostly-empty parking lot.  The woman told me her name was Vanessa, and I glanced again at the tag on the bad, with little extra thought.  'How far do you need to go with this bag?'

'Just to the carpark,' she told me.  I asked if she was parked close by.  Perhaps, I could walk this wretched bag to her car and see her on her way.  'Yes, just in the carpark,' she repeated in answer to my question.  I looked at the few cars, wondering which I'd be stopping at before I went home.

Weak, but apparently with some strength regained, Vanessa stood, without saying anything further, and took some exploratory steps towards the carpark, looking around, peering behind the steps we'd just spent so long traversing.  'Are you waiting to be picked up by someone?' I asked, after she didn't seem to be making progress to any particular car.

'No,' she said.  I waited for further explanation, which I was worried wasn't going to come, until Vanessa moved distressingly close to me.  Leaning in to my face, she said, without emotion, 'This is embarrassing.  My car is on the other side of the platform.'  She smiled widely.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds.  'Are you sure?' I asked.  'The other side of the platform is all bus stops...'

'Yes,' she nodded, looking back up the stairs.  'I was confused.  But that is where I'm parked.  I know where my car is.'

I sighed, and asked if she was sure that her car was on the other side, and if she would like help to move her bag back across the bridge.  "Oh!" smiled Vanessa.  "You're too kind.  Why are you so kind?"

I told her to come on, suggesting we use the long, winding ramp, rather than the stairs for the return journey.  As I wheeled the case to the start of the ramp, Vanessa started toddling off in a different direction.  I called out to her, telling her it was this way.  She didn't acknowledge the error, and I started up the ramp to the first of several landings on the ramp leading upwards.  Noticing her lagging behind, struggling to keep up with the pace I'd deliberately slowed, I slowed further.  Catching up to me, Vanessa took another break, leaning against the rails of the ramp.  When she started moving again, I let her lead, noticing that the effort was causing her to sway.  I didn't open conversation.  Vanessa started to a few times, only asking if I minded helping her.  Hearing the effort of combining speech with movement, I cut her off each time, telling her not to worry.

By the time we'd made it to the top of the ramp, Vanessa was visbily staggering, to the point that I'd lunged forward a couple of times, thinking I'd need to at least steady her so she didn't fall into the concrete bridge we were walking on.  When she stopped to lean against the glass panel overlooking the train tracks below to recover from the climb, I nodded in the direction of the darkness at the opposide end of the bridge.

'That's where you parked?' I indicated.  'Over there?'

Vanessa may have nodded, I wasn't sure.  By now, she seemed completely depleted of energy.  But a plan had formed in my mind.  If I could guide her into the station building, perhaps I could gain the attention of the ever-present station staff or even the group of police officers I'd noticed earlier to leave her in their care.

'Tell me when you're ready to keep going,' I told her.  She nodded, took a few steps, then stopped, swaying, and collapsed, her water bottle falling to the ground.  I lurched forward, and propped her up.  Vanessa's mass was significantly more than my own, though, and I struggled against her weight, able only to stop her fall, and lower her instead to the ground where she sat.  She sat in silence for a while, before trying to get up, telling me something I couldn't decipher, and offering me her closed fist, an action I didn't understand the meaning of.  Failing at standing, she remained leaning against the glass wall.

Looking into the station, I tried to gain the attention of station staff, but, for once, I couldn't see them pacing inside.  'Tell me something,' Vanessa slurred from the ground.

'What?' I asked, still looking into the station.  'What do you want to know?'

'Tell me a joke,' she smiled, her tongue, swollen, perhaps, appearing to get in the way of clear speech.  I considered that this is how the dying speak in action movies.  I reeled one off which I had read on my work's pathetic Yammer joke community.  She made a sound that I suppose was laughter, before she looked up.  'Hey... What's your name?'  I told her, and as she started to tell me her name, I cut her off, telling her I remembered her name.  Before I'd even finished, she asked my name again, and for a joke.

While I'd been on the look-out for staff inside the station to wave over, I'd noticed a young guy with a BMX spending a while ordering from a vending machine.  He spotted me in what must have appeared a strange situation.  He asked if I needed help.  I nodded discretely.  He asked 'You want me to call the cops?'

From the ground, Vanessa unleashed a sudden, gurgling growl.  I looked down, then back to the guy  'No,' I said, loud enough for him to hear.  'Can you see the station staff around?  Just wave them over.'

'No!' Vanessa gripped my pants leg.  'No, don't call the cops!'

I told her that I wasn't, but said that I'd waved to the station staff.  'Maybe they can think of somewhere better for you to sit for a while...' I said, seeing station staff inside, finally.  I wasn't sure if they'd noticed me waving to them, but thought I saw them look over, and sharply away.

'You can't!' Vanessa gurgled.  'You can't get the police...'

She kept talking, and I said stuff quietly, still trying to wave the attention of the staff.  Behind them, I saw the boy on the BMX appear at the other end of the platform, pointing in my direction.  The crew of police officers I'd passed when I first arrived at the station followed his directions over to me.  I don't remember what the group asked, but an officer, waved me away while some of his colleagues kneeled down near Vanessa.

'I'm Nathan,' he started.  'What happened here?'

I told him I'd found Vanessa on the stairs, and offered to help her with her bag, and that I thought she'd exhausted herself carrying it, but that now I wasn't sure.

The officer asked for my name, and told me his again.  He asked me if I knew the woman, to which I said I didn't.  I heard his colleague asking Vanessa 'Who is Mimi?'  The officer asked me where I had been, and where I was going, and I told him.  He asked for identification, and I had to explain why my license and passport both had my previous address on them.  He told me he was conerned about the woman's mannerisms, and asked me if she was using drugs.

'I don't know, man,' I said.  'I only met her ten minutes ago...'

'I just came from down the road,' I heard Vanessa complaining behind the officer.

'You're good to lend a hand,' the officer told me.  'By the way, my name is Nathan.  Keep up the good work.'

I, finally, said goodnight, and walked quickly back down the stairs.  I didn't look back or even listen to what was happening on the bridge behind me.  Once I got home, though, I did take a look through my binoculars, and saw that the group of officers was still tending to the woman on the railway overpass.  Watching from afar, I recalled a couple of previous incidents, also on public transport, where I'd assisted people, several years ago.  A couple of times, people had reprimanded me when I reacted negatively to the exaggerated displays of gratitude shown.  A quote has stayed with me:  'Why do you even bother to help if you don't want thanks?'  Again tonight, I wonder why I do.  I always thought it was, in some holistic sense, required of humans.  Wasn't that the point of an infamous Seinfeld plot at some point?  I was never a fan, so I don't know.  But as recently as last month, members of what my colleagues refer to as my 'Tram Club' mocked me for helping a mother lift her child-laden pram onto the tram.  Maybe they were right to do so.  So little benefit come from helping people, and usually there is some annoying burden too.

Ball Park Music - Frank

Cub Sport - Come On Mess Me Up

Elliphant - Love Me Badder

Major Lazer - Jessica {Ft. Ezra Koenig}

Metric - Speed The Collapse

Nothing By Thieves - Amsterdam

The Rubens - My Gun

SAFIA - Paranoia, Ghosts & Other Sounds

Vampire Weekend - Step

The man is an artist.  The woman is a consultant of some kind contacted for police investigations.  They had met in unlikely circumstances but found themselves drawn together socially, despite their differences.  After his son goes to bed, the artist prefers to debate the nature of the universe over a glass of wine, admiring the sea views from his (barely) converted warehouse home curiosity.  The sometimes-detective would rather a more adventurous evening, her penchant for sports cars and fast driving often impressing or intimidating her dates.

After meeting professionally, they'd each tried to ignore their mutual attractions, but had easily fallen into a pattern of 'dating,' (although neither had ever used such a word to describe the relationship.)  Each found the other fascinating, delighting in each new revelation, none of them feeling like a complete surprise.

I don't remember how I became involved with the pair, but tonight I've been assisting the 'detective' in her investigation, my insight apparently unique and useful (a compliment which, I can't deny, I feel pride in.)  The artist's son has accompanied us for reasons I don't think were ever really explained to me, and he now sits in the passenger seat next to the detective on the driver's side.  From the dark back seat of the current-model Porsche 911, I watch the detective shift her eyes from the road to the boy from time to time, surprised yet impressed with how easily she has been able to connect with the boy, the first time she's had much reason to interact with someone so young.  I understand the look completely as she glides the car quickly through the sparse evening traffic, even though we are not in a rush.

As we draw nearer to the dock on which the artist's warehouse home sits, I notice the driver cast another glance at the boy, this time a brief one filled with concern, though she makes no comment and returns her focus to the road ahead.  A moment later, and I understand the cause of her expression.  The sight of flashing emergency lights becomes visible to me in the sports car's back seats.

None of us speak as drive closer to the lights and the car slows.  All three sets of eyes in the car are locked onto the distinctly human shape which has been covered by a tarpaulin, shockingly bright blue amidst the assemblage of police outside the warehouse.

An electronic tone draws my attention from the form beneath the blue sheet.  Loud but not obtrusive, it is distinctly not organic to the scene, and goes unnoticed by the other two occupants of the vehicle.  Taking one last look at the shape on the dock, I acknowledge the source of the sound, and wake up to switch off the alerm ringing on my new mobile phone.  I smile to myself at the potential of the dream I've woken from, and sigh at the knowledge that, like the last episode of a prematurely cancelled television series, this story will not be continued.

I used to have detailed dreams like this reguarly, and kept dated notebooks outlining their plots, should I need to refer to them for some reason - inspiration, perhaps, or curiosity.  The dreams didn't stop, but did stop being as detailed or easy to remember.  Based upon the dates of the notebooks, I theorised that I suddenly started remembering my dreams due to the use of Tegretol and noted that the notebooks have less entries after I ceased using the drug.

The content of the dreams could certainly be explained.  Themes have continued through my life to this day.  A recurring element is my missing some catastrophic event whilst being inside a building for work.  I could always tell I was working too many hours, and sacrificing too much time, when things like that happened within my dreams.  Obviously, since I haven't been working a lot, and variously at that, this plot hasn't been evident recently.

But something has changed.  I've started remembering my dreams, and dreaming vivid plots like I used to, in the last few months.  Perhaps my mind is understimulated.  I don't know if medication could be an influence - I haven't spoken to anyone about my dosage in eight years - but I am not dissatisfied with the symptom anyway.  A highlight was a dream in which agents Mulder and Scully were interviewing me about the sudden appearance of a second sun in the Earth's sky.

I guess I'll just enjoy this while it lasts.

Alex Lahey - Am I Doing It Right?

Harper Finn - Conversations (With The Moon)

Lana Del Rey - The greatest

PUP - Morbid Stuff

Rex Orange County - New House

Slowly Slowly - Creature Of Habit Pt. 2

Thelma Plum - Better In Blak

Tones And I - Johnny Run Away

Thornhill - In My Skin

100 - Weightless

A Day To Remember - Degenerates

Aitch - Buss Down {Ft. ZieZie}

Alex Lahey - Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

Alex Lahey - Am I Doing It Right?

Alex Lahey - Interior Demeanour

Ali Barter - Ur A Piece Of Shit

Ali Barter - History Of Boys

Alice Skye - I Feel Better But I Don't Feel Good

Alison Wonderland - Peace

Allday - Restless {Ft. The Veronicas}

American Football - Uncomfortably Numb {Ft. Hayley Williams}

Amyl and The Sniffers - Monsoon Rock

Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

Angie McMahon - Pasta

A•sgeir - Youth

Ashe - In Disguise

BABYMETAL - PA PA YA!!

BABYMETAL - Shanti Shanti Shanti

Bad//Dreems - Sonny

Bag Raiders - Lightning {Ft. The Kite String Tangle}

Baker Boy - Meditjin {Ft. JessB}

Bakers Eddy - Can't Afford It

Barrie - Clovers

Beautiful Monument, The - Deceiver

Bec Sandridge - EYES WIDE

Beck - Saw Lightning {Ft. Pharrell}

Beck - Uneventful Days

BENEE - Find An Island

benny blanco & Juice WRLD - Graduation

Big Thief - Century

Billie Eilish - all the good girls go to hell

Billie Eilish - bury a friend

Billie Eilish - my strange addiction

Billie Eilish - xanny

Birdz - Black Child {Ft. Mojo Juju}

BLESSED - Memoirs Of The Melancholy

BOI - Imaginary Boys

Boo Seeka - Rush

Boston Manor - Liquid {Ft. John Floreani}

Bring Me The Horizon - heavy metal {ft. Rahzel}

Bring Me The Horizon - mother tongue

Broods - Sucker

Butterfly Effect, The - Unbroken

Cage The Elephant - Ready To Let Go

Catfish And The Bottlemen - 2all

Catfish And The Bottlemen - Encore

Ceres - Me & You

CHAI - Choose Go!

Chance The Rapper - Ballin Flossin

Chance The Rapper - Hot Shower

Chats, The - Pub Feed

Circa Waves - Movies

Clairo - Alewife

Crooked Colours - Never Dance Alone {Ft. Ladyhawke}

Cry Club - DFTM

Cry Club - Two Hearts

Cub Sport - Party Pill

CXLOE - Devil You Don't

Dave - Black

Dean Lewis - 7 Minutes

Dean Lewis - Hold Of Me

Dear Seattle - Daytime TV

Dear Seattle - Try

Denzel Curry - RICKY

Dizzy - Twist

Dune Rats - Rubber Arm

DZ Deathrays - Year Of The Dog {Ft. Matt Caughthran}

Eat Your Heart Out - Carousel

Erthlings - Returning

Fergus James - Mistakes

FIDLAR - By Myself

FIDLAR - Flake

Foals - On The Luna

Foals - Black Bull

Foals - The Runner

Fractures - Chains {Ft. ROZES}

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes - Anxiety

G Flip - Lover

girl in red - dead girl in the pool.

Gracie Abrams - Stay

Green Buzzard - I Don't Want To Be Alone

Greta Stanley - Kick

Haiku Hands - Dare You Not To Dance

HAIM - Summer Girl

Half Moon Run - Then Again

Harper Finn - Conversations (With The Moon)

Hayley Mary - The Piss, The Perfume

Hein Cooper - The Fear {triple j Like A Version 2019}

Hilltop Hoods - Be Yourself {Ft. Ecca Vandal/Nyassa}

Hilltop Hoods - OOFT (Ponda Baba)

Hobo Johnson - Typical Story

Hockey Dad - I Missed Out

Holy Holy - Teach Me About Dying

Holy Holy - Maybe You Know

I Know Leopard - All That She Cared About

I Prevail - Breaking Down

I Prevail - Paranoid

Illy - Then What

Injury Reserve - Jailbreak The Tesla {Ft. Aminé}

Jack River - Adolescent

Jai Wolf - Lose My Mind {Ft. Mr Gabriel}

James Blake - Don't Miss It

John Floreani - Echoes

Kat Edwards - Good Girl

Kevin Abstract - Baby Boy

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Cyboogie

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Planet B

Kingswood - Say You Remember

Kira Puru - Why Don't We Get Along

Lana Del Rey - Doin' Time

Lana Del Rey - The greatest

Lizzo - Cuz I Love You

Love Fame Tragedy - Backflip

LSD - Heaven Can Wait

Mansionair - Alibi

Meg Mac - I'm Not Coming Back

Methyl Ethel - All The Elements

Methyl Ethel - Ruiner

Mickey Kojak - Video Games

MID CITY - Fake Friends Forever

Milky Chance - Daydreaming {Ft. Tash Sultana}

Milky Chance - Fado

Miss June - Anomaly

Montaigne - Losing My Mind

Montaigne - Love Might Be Found (Volcano)

Murlocs, The - Comfort Zone

mxmtoon - Blame Game

Nilüfer Yanya - In Your Head

Ocean Grove - Ask For The Anthem

Ocean Sleeper - Light In My Dark

Of Monsters And Men - Alligator

Olympia - Hounds

Owl Eyes - You Don't Know Love {Ft. Tapz}

Palehound - Killer

Phantogram - Mister Impossible

Polish Club - Breakapart

Polish Club - Iguana

Pond - Daisy

Poppy - Scary Mask (feat. Fever 333)

Post Malone - Goodbyes {Ft. Young Thug}

Press Club - Get Better

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Hymn For A Droid

PUP - Free At Last

PUP - Morbid Stuff

PUP - See You At Your Funeral

Rapsody - Ibtihaj {Ft. D'Angelo & GZA}

RedHook - Paralysed

Rex Orange County - New House

Rex Orange County - 10/10

Rex Orange County - It Gets Better

Rich Brian - 100 Degrees

Rich Brian - Yellow {Ft. Bekon}

Rubens, The - Live In Life

Ruby Fields - Trouble

Ruel - Free Time

S.L.P., The - Favourites {Ft. Little Simz}

SAFIA - Resolution

SAFIA - Think We're Not Alone

Sahara Beck - Queen Of Hearts

Sam Fender - Hypersonic Missiles

Sam Fender - Will We Talk?

SebAstian - Run For Me {Ft. Gallant}

SKYND - Tyler Hadley

Sløtface - Telepathetic

Slow Pulp - High

Slowly Slowly - Jellyfish

Slowly Slowly - Creature Of Habit Pt. 2

SOAK - Deja Vu

Stand Atlantic - Hate Me (Sometimes)

Stella Donnelly - Lunch

Stormzy - Vossi Bop

Tame Impala - Borderline

Thelma Plum - Better In Blak

Thelma Plum - Homecoming Queen

Thornhill - Nurture

Thornhill - In My Skin

Thornhill - Lily & The Moon

Tones And I - Johnny Run Away

Tones And I - Dance Monkey

Tones And I - The Kids Are Coming

TOWNS - Safe To Stay

Tyler, The Creator - I THINK

Tyne-James Organ - Something New

Vampire Weekend - This Life

Vanns, The - Deranged

Voyager - Colours

WAAX - Big Grief

Washington - American Spirit

Wave Racer - AUTO

Wave Racer - This N That {Ft. Lunchmoney Lewis}

Weeknd, The - Blinding Lights

Windwaker - My Empire

Yeasayer - Fluttering In The Floodlights

YUNGBLUD - Loner

YUNGBLUD & Halsey - 11 Minutes {Ft. Travis Barker}

I always like the chance to try something new from Coca-Cola (and, it was their pre-summer release schedule that inspired the timing of the festival for August,) so I was glad to see something quite different from the brand - an energy drink version branded as simple Coca-Cola Energy.

I tried the regular version, with a sugar-free option available. (The can design for each is almost indistinguishable, so I didn't even realise I had choices to consider until later.)  The flavour was interesting, with the tang common to energy drinks, but less pronounced than in V or RedEye.  The cola flavour is not the distinctive Coke taste, but more of a vintage cola.  Overall it wasn't a bad addition to both the cola and energy drink market, though one that was hardly groundbreaking.

Soda Press Co. are another welcome addition to the apparently burgeoning DIY soda syrup game.  Whilst sitting alongside Soda King and even SodaStream syrups on the shelf Soda Press's syrups might seem a costlier option, the larger bottles seem as concentrated as Soda King's, so the difference is a wash.  Soda Press also produce more exotic flavours, though my first attempt, when I excitedly tried their pink graprefruit syrup, made me realise I mix a lot less grapefruit cocktails than I had thought I might.  A new flavour, Blonde Cola, arrived in time for this year's festival.

When I mixed it, I wasn't sure I had the dosage right.  I'd been expecting the liquid to remain mostly clear, like Bart Simpson's Clear Cola which was available in the early 1990s (peculiarly sold in a car, negating the product's novel clarity) or the new Coca-Cola Clear released in Japan.  Mixed at the prescribed dosage, the result is a pale, almost ginger ale colour.  The bouquet, though, is distinctively cola, almost like the flavour of those Japanese cola bottle lollies.  The flavour was refreshing, though not as distinctively cola as the scent.  I am excited to try the drink as a mixer, and especially curious about how it will work with gin.  It seems like a perfect match for Canadian whisky, being less dry than ginger ale, and not so strong as to neutralise the whisky's flavour.

I'd been looking forward to trying PepsiCo's (presumably) heritage recipe since I'd first spotted its appearance, but it took until the Festival to do so.  Unfortunately, I think the reduction in price is probably a sign of the discontinuation of the product line, rather than a generous celebration.

I tried the Original Cola flavour first, and was very impressed.  As expected, it had the base of what I tend to call a vintage cola, but was also more carbonated than these typically tend to be.  Beneath that, deeper flavours rose in the aftertaste, almost like the calm slowBurn of a spirit.  The cola taste was followed by nutty, spicey flavours that truly are quite unique in this market.  I even started to wonder if the drink, as well as being refreshing in the afternoon, might have the medicinal qualities of Pepsin as Brad's Drink had originally intended.

The following day, I sampled the Ginger Cola variant, pleased to find another Ginger Cola on the market after CCA's short-lived attempt.  I was even more pleased when I opened the can: the ginger scent is immediately apparent, but the taste was not overwhelming, as it was in Coke's ginger edition.  The result was an instantly refreshing drink, the perfect balance of traditional cola and ginger spice, added with the right amount of carbonation.  PepsiCo's 1893 varieties were a nice change, and it would be good if they could stay around.

Another syrup, this one is described, oddly, as being archival. Like the 1893 Pepsi, this was clearly reduced as a deleted product rather than in recognition of the Cola Festival (the entire shelf was marked 'Reduced to Clear.')  For $1 per bottle, I thought it was worth a try.  Mixed with soda water, the concoction didn't have a lot of flavour.  Even when mixing well beyond the recommended dosage, the result was mediocre, with slight hints of a Sunnyboy Cola taste, but it is so faint as to render it meaningless.

Billed as 'Naturally Refreshing,' Nexba Cola is one that I have seen and been tempted by at Festivals for at least the last few years, but have never actually sampled.  Something about the product never appealed to me.  Maybe it was the 1990s style graphics on the packaging.  Unfortunately, the flavour also had the same impact on me.  It wasn't bad, and was certainly a refreshing drink as advertised.  It was just kind of bland.  The cola taste was indistinct, and perhaps even closer to something like Creaming Soda.

Despite being surrounded by Kombucha in my previous job, where everyone seemed to drink variations of the drink at lunch time in my last couple of years, I had never actually tried it before this festival.  I had not realised the drink is promoted as a probiotic, I guess a more refreshing alternative to Yakult, and maybe something with health benefits.  I was not interested in that though, and was just here for the taste.

This was distinctly something with a cola flavour, rather than a pure cola, but the flavour was there nevertheless.  Combined with the flavour was a kind of dryness, like the texture of ginger ale, which was not unwelcome and did not make the drink any less refreshing.  I was also pleased to find that there was a slight carbonation, though not as much as I might usually like.  Still, the drink would certainly be a nice refreshment in warm weather.