Fiction & Nonfiction
The fascination of a locked door. If you could only gain access, what wonders would you find? Perhaps a hidden world of machinery, maybe simply a bare empty room. There could be steps leading up or down to other levels of mystery.
Continue reading “What Lies Beyond?”
Sitting on one end of a wet, empty bench. Looking along a line of uneven slats which are wavering towards the horizon. Today they are deserted but I can’t help but wonder what life they have seen. How many conversations have been had? Relationships will have been started and ended in these spots. Fun will have been had. Everything from secretive teenage drinking to classical recitals,for the more mature, will have taken place here. Even if these are no longer the original benches, then the ghosts of these past events will still linger on.
Continue reading “Now and Then”
It’s an impossible task to get an image of a beautiful place that contains no people. So we need to accept that fact, move on and capture different images. I find this one beautiful and believe it to be enhanced by the swarms of people visible. Zoom in and see how many selfies are being taken, you probably won’t be surprised.
Continue reading “Swarms”
Reliving old experiences can be beneficial to our minds and souls, if there is such a thing. Going back in time, searching through photograph albums, watching old family videos, it reconnects us to where we come from. It seems more important than ever to do this in the digital age we live in.
Now, that digital world has huge benefits and I am not anti modernity in the slightest. The ability to share ideas, find differing points of view and learn from people on the opposite side of the planet is something that everyone should avail themselves of. Yet, there is something missing, there is no physical record of what we see, read or listen to.
Online music streaming offers huge convenience and the ability to discover music which you would never hear if you only relied on the radio to provide you with new musical ideas.. Ebooks are amazing and with my reading addiction are definitely space saving, but then I started to think. Where is the history? What am I leaving behind?
Remember when you were a child? You could browse through your parents record collection finding things from their past, who would have thought that my dad liked Jazz when he was younger? Maybe he was cool once? Looking at their bookshelf you could see some of the books that your teachers were trying to get you to read. Perhaps you didn’t appreciate it at the time but in the future you would and at least you could see them.
Realising this has made be consider more which books I purchase a paper version of, and then remain on my bookshelf, and which I am happy to own in an electronic version. Even more so it has got me back into the physical world of music, specifically the world of vinyl records.
It is no secret that vinyl has made a comeback in recent years as people yearn for the physical, as well as for the past. For me it is definitely a combination of the two. Fond memories of my youth come flooding back, even if most of the music I listened to then now seems tragic. Even more, there is something immensely satisfying about touching and feeling the music you are about to listen to. Watching the record spin as the music pours forth from the speakers is hypnotising and extremely therapeutic. Being compelled to turn over the record when it reaches the end of side one ensures you stay connected and can’t drift away for too long. We all try to multitask too much these days and all it means is you don’t concentrate and truly pay attention to anything. Of course there is a time for background music and that is when I will happily play a Spotify playlist. But I have learnt to choose which option is correct for the situation and if I want to listen to music I truly listen.
The only problem with all of this is the effect it is having on my bank balance. What began with a cheap turntable and only buying the cheaper second hand records has, of course, morphed into a full on addiction. The turntable has been upgraded and the Pink Floyd collection is almost complete. Next there will probably be a new amplifier and speakers, I hope my better half doesn’t read this.
As I sit here with Dark Side of the Moon spinning I have no regrets though. My children will one day look through my record collection and maybe, you never know, even think that their dad was cool after all.
© Neil Hayes and neilsworldofenglish
Just imagine what’s inside. Looking at buildings like this is always fascinating. I’m not brave enough to be an urban explorer, but watching their discoveries can be fascinating. Not being used anymore, what a waste. What is inside?
But even more interesting is to think about what it was used for. How many lives have passed through this place? What stories could it tell? Tales of joy and pain. Moments of stress, as well as calm. There must be so many clues, hidden inside.
From outside it looks scary and cold. And, maybe, it is just the same inside. Or perhaps there are hidden treasures waiting to be discovered. There could be fascinating machinery from a bygone era. Furniture and decorations to show how people once worked and lived. Or, of course, it could just be empty, with the occasional remnant to give a clue to its past. Whatever the truth, the history remains the fascination.
© Neil Hayes and neilsworldofenglish
Daily Prompt: Inheritance
neilhayeswrites 