William and his friends spend the majority of their time wandering the streets, visiting the harbour and watching other people's lives. In this highly technocratic world, life and the city both resemble a non-stop television program. In 2073, Sydney is reopened as a museum after economic catastrophe forces all business to cease and residents to leave. Open from September through to March, Sydney is a great place to visit. He is Cohen's second main protagonist and while he archaeologises the past, William and his friends imagine an unknowable future.
Nobody knows anything any more.
The museum guide is astigmatic. The failure of his vision is not just the mist and the air. His corneas are flattened. He was born with it. Nothing he can do.