The world outside the window is bleak and grey. The bare tree trunks form grey shadows against the milky white sky, the thin branches radiating skywards like so many fingers. The buildings in the distance look deserted, like empty shells. We pass over some water but it is inky black, not a ripple on the surface, with sheets of broken ice floating dismally by the edge. The ground, clear of snow and ice despite the season is either a naked soil black or covered in sickly yellow grass. The dead world outside mirrors the emptiness inside me, a desolation of … Read the rest
The view from up here is magnificent; all around in the distance the stupendous mountains of the Swiss Alps, snow-clad broken tips and bare cliff faces. The sky is overcast but lively and and on the horizon, just above the mountain tops, is a gap in the clouds showing a strip of azure blue. The weather however is bad, my provisional winter clothes that have worked well so far, are insufficient to withstand the cold. The wind blows icy needles into my face that sting my eyes and my hands quickly turn to frozen lumps. I cannot remain here. No … Read the rest
It’s drizzling, not very heavily, but enough to make the world damp: a steady layer of water on the road surface that soaks through my shoes when I set my feet down; drops all over my clothes that collect in little puddles in the folds of my jacket, and spray coming off the wheels of passing cars. As soon as the needle of the speedometer indicates more than 40, the droplets hitting my face feel like a sand blaster, and the chill of the air is quickly transferred to my bare hands. General all around misery! But there is one … Read the rest
The smell of fresh pork meat pervades the surprisingly lively street market. Despite the hour, very late, or very early depending on your perspective, vendors are setting up their stalls and preparing their wares for sale. To my right, men are cutting up freshly butchered pork, from which arises that special smell which we buyers of Styrofoam packed meat are not used to. To the left women are sorting various vegetables and putting them up for display. All around, men are unloading boxes of produce from delivery trucks, or zipping around on motorcycles. There are no customers yet, so far … Read the rest
“That weird light is back!” The thought occurs the moment I step outside. It’s the same as when leaving work one evening, about two months ago. Sunlight is slanting in past grey tufts of cloud, moisture in the air, not quite thick enough to be fog, diffuses the orange sunset glow, steeping everything in a strange, pinkish yellow hue, like watching the world through tinted glasses. The multitude of droplets just sort of floating in the air make the power lines over the train track buzz and crackle menacingly, but there is no forboding this time, just a lazy feeling … Read the rest
The sky outside the window has steadily grown darker while I have been sitting here, I have been just that little bit too lazy to get up and turn on the lights. So here I sit, in a darkend room, the glow from the computer screen providing the only real source of light, the faint unlight of dusk lingering in the window behind my back. I am pinned here by the woman sleeping peacefully on my lap, holding my left arm in her embrace. I push the laptop to the side, lean back and just sit here, letting some moments … Read the rest
The captain has just made his landing speech over the intercom, announcing that it is raining on the ground. Up here however, above the clouds it is, fair to say that the sunrise is fantastic. The plane’s wing, sweeping backwards, cuts across the blue grey landscape of clouds, forming a constant reference against the soft hills and gently sloping valleys flowing by. The sky above is a rich blue, paling towards the horizon where it is streaked in fiery orange and bright golden yellow, with a few free floating tufts of cloud livening up the otherwise empty sky. The light … Read the rest
We are on a bridge, an arrow straight length of asphalt stretching across the river. We are speeding towards a massive, slate grey wall of clouds in the distance. All around us, the incessant drone of the wind as it buffets our scooter. The young man in front of me is not the most experience scooter driver, neither does he have that solid build that would allow him to move unscathed through a storm, but I, with a few beers in my belly, am not particularly suited for driving either. Here we are, two men equally unfit for driving, heading … Read the rest
The view in front of me is the same as every day at this time: in the distance a jumbled row of apartment buildings; in the middle distance, a deserted parking lot; in the foreground, an unused train platform, weeds sprouting from the the cracks and a pedestrian walkway suspended above it. The sky is a pale, listless blue, intermingled white and grey clouds scuding across it. The light from the setting sun, filtered through a light drizzle, steeps the world in a strange yellow hue and fills the air with a vague sense of foreboding. Foreboding of what, I … Read the rest
I have entered the fomentation room (I don’t even know what that means) which is a large hall with a low ceiling, where people dressed in loose-fitting shorts and t-shirt, the men in all white and the women in red and orange, are lying or sitting on thin bamboo mats spaced out on the floor. This is supposed to be some kind of spa, but as far as spa experiences go, sitting on a bamboo mat is fairly underwhelming. Then I discover it, there is a series of doors along one wall, with signs on them saying things like “Jade … Read the rest
© 2025 Renegade Writings — Powered by WordPress
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑