When I couldn't sleep last night I was trying to think of those two words, consequential strangers. It's spring here, and we are normally dodging magpies when we walk, but now the crows have joined the bombing. Consequently, I haven't walked and not met a stranger in a whole month. I didn't realise how much I relied on them for a chat, or a smile, a brief G'day, anything at all.

Consequential strangers have become my lifeline.