Today I opened a book of mine I haven't looked at for a few years, and out fluttered the number 38 bus ticket I had used as a bookmark. And immediately I was hit by a wave of nostalgia - Oh yes! The 38! I used to take that all the time! And just think, the last time I closed this book, I was sitting on the 38, and now here I am. Ah me, where are the snows of yesteryear, etc etc.
The thing is, I still live on the number 38 bus route. I use it all the time. The superficially poignant circumstances - book, creased old ticket, etc - had automatically tripped my nostalgia switch without me stopping to ask whether there was actually anything to be sentimental about.
This happened to me once before - some friends and I were on holiday, and one evening about half way through, one of us put the photos he'd taken so far as a slide-show on his computer. But being a bit arty, he'd turned some of them black and white, and he picked some rather slow wistful classical music to accompany it. And as we watched it, everyone went a bit quiet, and I swear we were all feeling a pang of nostalgia for the holiday we were still on.
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4 comments:
ah, they don't make nostalgia like they used to.
though actually I found that slideshow more lacrimose than nostalgic -- like I was watching something tearfully prepared in loving memory of a recently deceased friend.
G
That's true. Was it you that said at the time it felt like we'd all been killed in a bus crash the previous day?
We recently purchased a Wii console. One of the features is that you can pop in an SD card and have a photo slideshow complete with restful music. My 10 year old daughter laughed and said it looked like we had all died and our story was being played out on some dodgy TV show!
Its the same with Facebook: any new serial killers will have all their drunken photos snatched off Facebook and splashed all over the news. So if you plan on killing anyone don't get drunk with your mates and do lots of gurning. My killing days are over before they begun.
It makes sense though. Try talking about the thing you are doing at the present moment in 3rd person. It makes everything more interesting. I used to do it when I was seven.
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