Wednesday 21 January 2015

Urban Diary

Winter silence is eerie silence; it awakens in me the sense that my surroundings have been padded with snow despite the conspicuous absence of the white, fluffy stuff in London this season. The sound of passing traffic is muffled. The snap of the cold breeze feels brittle and glassy.

Under the cover of the recently revamped bus depot every one of us tells a story. The bus depot that is located near the tube station that is connected to the railway station. A hub. This is a well-known transport hub, which has been tweaked slightly to make it resemble one of those modern-looking, architectural success stories in continental Europe. Despite the fact that sink estates are rife around here.

Our stories have no words but images, as each of us at this bus stop becomes the vision of an autumn leaf discarded by a tree growing winter on its branches. The tall bloke, pale as paper, with a suitcase in his hand, seems to have just returned from a short-haul holiday in a Scandinavian country. The black woman with the multi-coloured head-wrap, skin black as dark mahogany and drooling baby on her back. The short, bouncer-looking, goateed man in the padded checked shirt paces around nervously. I am sure his sheltered arms are covered in tattoos, each design telling a story. The Gypsy-looking women with tiny tots on their laps sport faces that tell of nomadic travels, of intolerance and hopelessness. The dark-suited man stands somewhat separated from the crowd, as if refusing to be part of this urban family photo. This city’s family photo whose background is the newly-built, grey, skinny, pillars rising up and branching out into  uniform metallic treetops under which we, fallen leaves, huddle together, telling our stories, not with words, but images whilst waiting for our bus at the revamped depot.


© 2015

Next Post: “Sunday Mornings: Coffee, Reflection and Music”, to be published on Sunday 25th January at 10am (GMT)

26 comments:

  1. Your writing is always superior, but that final paragraph--creating a collage of life in your words--charms me.

    In fact, it makes me want to go out and ride the bus downtown, just so I can stare at the people.

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  2. Everyone has their own story to tell in all its glory. Rather have a summer one be told as I hate the cold.

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  3. Open depots don't protect you much from cold and rain. You described clearly and poetically the stories represented here, allowing us to see the panoply of life in your neighborhood. Thanks.

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  4. well at least you share stories...which to me is what truly connects us...
    and has the power to....

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  5. Amazing vignette... So much poetry even in a bus depot...

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  6. A very evocative piece, CiL.

    It could have been written in any large city in any century, I think, and is reminiscent of the observations of a young, late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Century writer in Paris whose name I cannot recall, but who stood on the streets observing, speculating and writing about people passing by him. (When I return home, I will find his name among my books and mention him to you.)

    It also reminds me of the differences among those who live in the city as from those in the suburbs and, most particularly, from those whose home is in a rural area. Life generally is more comfortable when you are among few strangers.

    Yes, very evocative and very fine writing ....

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  7. Some very moving stories there I am sure. And love that you recognise their presence.

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  8. People viewing was a daily hobby of mine when I travelled by bus to my place of work and more so when I used the train. They all have a tale to tell, if only we could enter their minds and read it there. One of my short tales was based on a lady I saw on a train.

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  9. I love people watching, there are so many stories all around us...

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  10. Oh how I love public transport. And you've shown us why!

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  11. Oh WOW!!! I really, really love this, CiL...the way you fellow travelers become fallen autumn leaves beneath the towering trees above...and how each person, only glimpsed for a short while is given a character and life-story.
    Your imaginative ability is truly amazing. What a talent!!

    Have a Fabulous Day :)

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  12. "...each of us at this bus stop becomes the vision of an autumn leaf discarded by a tree growing winter on its branches..." Beautiful image and so is the rest of the post.

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  13. The writing is damn good.you are lucky to live there , I must say

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  14. Nice piece of writing! I do like winter.

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  15. I have not been on a bus in some time.
    When I lived in Boston, many years ago, I always took the subway and I loved 'people watching'
    This a a fabulous piece of writing , I felt like I was there with you!
    Smiles ...

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  16. you know... i love watching people... and even more when they not realize they are watched... so many stories.. you brought them alive..

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  17. Las paradas de autobuses siempre suelen ser un lugar de observación y a la vez de encuentros si siempre se sale a la misma hora.
    Por aquí también aprieta el frio, un abrazo.

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  18. This really transports me to London. Buses are such a great way to really feel a city.

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  19. Thanks for your feedback. Indeed, the new design might be futuristic but it's still open to the elements so I froze my a**e off recently when I was waiting for my bus at this bus stop. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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  20. and my world IS padded with snow now. Last night it fell 20 cm of snow. :(

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  21. You take me back to the days I lived in London - the people at the bus stop, the sense that people's private lives seeming to be lived out in public in a way that it isn't out here in the countryside.

    I was reminded, too, of Ezra Pound's short poem, "In a Station of the Metro" ("The apparition of these faces in the crowd;/ Petals on a wet, black bough.")

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  22. Interesting descriptions-I wish we had such hubs here with bus/subway/train stations all connected (or had subway/train service)!

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  23. I like the way you share your world. It was like standing there.. people-watching along side you. Only warmer.

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  24. Such wonderful descriptions you write! They make me want to know more about the people.

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  25. Once again, your words paint a vivid picture. Just lovely.

    Here's to a wonderful weekend!

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  26. A beautiful cadence even in prose and lovely word pictures--thanks, Cubano. Have a lovely weekend. k.

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