I went for a walk tonight, just around the block. As I walked, I looked up at the stars and saw the distant flashing lights of a plane flying overhead. Passing by the old Methodist church, I noticed an eerie green glow from inside. It was most likely from an LED indicating a fire exit. When I got back to the main road, an empty double decker bus passed by.
I used to be curious about the world around us. The world was full of mystery and wonder. I suppose the internet destroyed this for many of us. The joy of going to a library, picking up a random book and learning something new has largely gone. The number of bookshops seems to be decreasing by the day. We can, in theory, now have almost instant answers to most of the questions we might ask. Somehow, we feel poorer for it.
There was once a sense of occasion connected with going out for the night. This too faded away at some point in time. The atmosphere in the pubs and clubs is different. The streets are emptier.
I met a friend unexpectedly a few months ago. She suggested that we went to a local coffee shop and had a chat. It was an unexpected pleasure, and I think the unexpectedness of it was a large part of why it was a pleasure.
The darkness brings me some comfort. The night doesn't feel as magical as it once did though. It's just that this part of the world is in darkness, and another part of the world is not. Maybe that's it. Maybe it was when I started travelling that I lost the sense of wonder. Seeing the lights of Dubai at night from above, or the sunrise over the desert may have made everything else seem comparatively small.
It seems that I'm just writing unfinished thoughts that go nowhere. Maybe that's what a shutdown is - unfinished thoughts that go nowhere.
