Sunday 2 December 2007

Act 1, scene 1; a blasted heath

I set off with my camera in the optimistic hope that the sun would shine weakly and would take the gloom off early December, but no. By the time I got to the end of ulica Trombity, the sun had disappeared behind thick cloud. Much of the land between ul. Trombity, ul. Kórnicka, ul. Nawłocka and the railway line is lying fallow, scrubland overgrown with thorn bushes, tansy, goldenrod (nawłoć - after which the street is named), cow-parsley and wild grasses. For some reason, the landscape, atmosphere and weather put me in mind of northern Texas, hunting jackrabbit with an M1 carbine in the early 1950s, several years before my birth. Another anomalous familiarity event.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Michael. You're starting to scare me with all this spooky "anomalous familiarity" stuff! :-)

Michael Dembinski said...

This, Ian, is an integral part of my existance. Since early childhood I have had many, many experiences that feel just like normal memories - yet from outside my current life's experience. Very often I have these flashbacks that I have trained myself over the years to attribute to a place and time - 95% would be to somewhere from my current life. The rest are just as vivid, as realistic in their sense of atmosphere, yet I can't pin them down. They feel like 1930s-1950s USA, 1950s north west Europe, they've been consistent all my lifetime - a mystery. My quest is to find out what this is all about - is this a brain thing, a spiritual thing - neither or both.

Aphelion said...

Another great photo that reminds me both of my present home as well as my last home in Russia. That kind of scrubland was a familiar sight as well, and while it looks like a "blasted heath" it also is comforting in its familiarity. I really enjoy your blog; please keep posting!