The collected writings of a Renegade Tourist

Category Frozen Moments

Utlandagatan 5:19 pm

The afternoon sky is a clear baby blue and a happy sun shines down on the denizens of the neighbourhood. I am walking with a brisk step in the rather chilly April air. Residential houses and small restaurants flow passed me as I walk. Even though the fine weather is making me cheerful it is all the same as yesterday and the day before and every other day. Only one thing is worthy of note: all the people sitting at tables out on the curb; just because this is one of the first really sunny spring days. It’s a phenomenon … Read the rest

By the window 11:41 am

Down in the yard between the apartment buildings just outside my flat there is an army of people milling about. Children in brightly colored winter clothes are horsing around like children do, nothing unusual with that. What catches my attention are the grown ups who are standing around, evenly spread out among the playing children like beacons of grayness in a sea of sound and color. Each person is holding some sort of shovel, feverishly hacking away at the layer of ice and snow on the ground. They are trying to clear the snow with hand tools while nature, being … Read the rest

In my flat 5:50 pm

I look up from my computer for a minute  and notice I need to switch on the light as the room is getting dark, then, as I turn in my chair reaching for the light switch I happen to glance out the window.  From the low position in my chair the boring blocks of flats just outside are hidden by the window frame and all I see are the forest clad hills and the sky. Speckled with houses the hill is surprisingly green despite the spring not having reached my city, and the sky is a light blue with a … Read the rest

Park by my old apartment 7:27 pm

A snow-clad soft, low hill with a light post at the top casting a cone of light outwards like a beacon, rather than straight down; forming a bright circle at the bottom of the hill. Small, soft snowflakes floating slowly down from a misty, ever so slightly orange sky, caught in suspended animation in the beam of light. They hang frozen in the air yet moving slowly towards earth, twirling, tumbling flowing; a cone of bright little fairies dancing gracefully against a background of dark buildings and trees.… Read the rest

Outside my house 7:31 am

The air is cold and the sky is a clear blue. A single streak of cloud, coloured pink by the rising sun, crosses the sky like a streamer. I’m walking home in the early morning, slightly drunk from the night’s escapades, my knee is hurting and I hold a bag full of bottles that I “borrowed” from a party, in one hand. It is a beautiful morning but now it’s time to sleep.… Read the rest

My appartment 7:17 am

I am standing in front of the window in a nearly dark room, only lit up by the pre dawn twilight. I’m looking out at the world in this early hour with tired eyes, I am not meant to be up this early. Outside is a series of interconnected apartment buildings encircling a sort of courtyard with one single apartment building right in front of my window. A few other people are awake, their windows glowing with amber, and down by the snow-covered ground streetlights cast an artificial white glare on the fresh frost. Here and there are short pillars … Read the rest

On the way home 2:28 pm

My shoes are leaking, my shoes are leaking, my shoes are leaking, my shoes are leaking, my shoes are leaking. It is around three degrees outside and rain is falling from a milky white sky onto the same boring old buildings as always. The rain is mixing with the slush and melting snow, forming small streams and waterfalls as it flows down hills and stairs. All I can focus on are my cold, wet feet and the sickly squelching sensation that my soaked socks make at each step. Stupid shoes, stop leaking!… Read the rest

Park Lane 00:00 am

Music is pumping out of the speakers and red, blue and green lights are moving around up high, casting coloured cones through the dance floor smoke. The amount of people on the floor is just right so that one can distinguish individuals from the throng yet not so few that it gets embarrassing. A few people are living it up on the stage, dancing wildly and showing everyone else how to move. Out in the crowd there are some men with brash clothes making vivacious, rather feminine dance moves, setting themselves apart from the rest of the male population. Yes, … Read the rest

Hairdresser on Guang fu road, 9:15 pm

All I can see is the ceiling, a corner of the air-condition and a wreath saying Merry Christmas, it smells rather much of mint and someone is rubbing what I can only assume is shampoo into my hair. On top of it all they have glued, or perhaps taped a piece of cardboard to my forehead, apparently as some sort of splash protection. Lying back in a recliner having my hair washed is an odd feeling, not bad, not particularly comfortable since the woman is rubbing my scalp with vigor, just… odd.… Read the rest

Cheap movie theatre, Hsinchu 9:03 pm

I am sitting here at the start of the second film of a two films for the price of one deal but, the pictures on the screen in front of me and the sounds coming out of the speakers hold little interest to me. It is just a stream of sensory impressions, light, color and vibrations impinging my eyes and ears. I find it interesting that when I’m stuck here in the salon, with no option to flip the channel or turn off the TV you start taking an interest in sounds and images you would otherwise avoid. Just because … Read the rest

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