Heat, Ruins and Peace: 3 Photographs for 3 moments of my Wednesday Walk

If I could set this short story to music, I would do it with The Beatles' song "A Day in the Life". Basically, I feel it would go perfectly with the mood I felt at the moment of making this post, and of living what I felt while experiencing such disparate moments during the different stages that a Wednesday (or any other) day can have... This is how, through only 3 photographic captures, I was able to capture 3 different moments, in places that are unrelated to each other. Temperature, disaster and pleasure; or as better specified in the title of this post....

Now, during the whole course of this day, the only thing I did was to run one errand after another. As soon as I opened my eyes in the morning, I knew I had a challenging day ahead of me. I had to go to remote parts of the city, and they were in opposite places. The wind chill, from last month (March) to this day, has been inclement. No matter what mode of transport you use, the heat will get to you sooner or later. It is simply impossible not to perspire and feel that humidity, which at times seems to suffocate you.

9:00 a.m. My day begins, I leave the house, and I stop for a second to look at the horizon. The sun begins its inexorable journey across the sky. We are not close to the golden hour of each day, but it might quietly seem so. A car, apparently broken down, is in the foreground, and the tiny blossoms of a tree I don't know are showing the red colour that only presages that spring (and the warmth that accompanies it) are here to do their thing.... I walk on, and am left with the feeling that I shouldn't have worn such tight jeans. I comfort myself, and tell myself "that everything will be fine. Let's be calm.

As usual, chaos is a habit of the place where I live and reside. I suppose the weather has something to do with it too. Although, I suspect, it goes beyond the degrees Celsius on the thermometer. Immediately, I head off to the places that needed my attention, and to my surprise and surprise, things didn't go as badly as I (cynically) thought they would. I'm not claiming that everything went great either, but less complicated is better than totally wrong, don't you think?

As I'm catching another bus, I notice the terrible state of an amusement park that my parents used to take me to when I was a child? The ruins of a place that brought back so many beautiful and unforgettable memories. Sometimes, even in the face of a day full of rushing and hurry, there is time to stop for a moment and take one more picture... On this occasion, that of the "corpse" of what not so long ago was a place full of laughter, wonder and majestic rewards. Today, it is the very description of desolation and abandonment.

I had passed by that old and forgotten mechanical amusement park before, but simply hadn't paid it the attention it deserved. Without thinking about it, expecting it or planning for it, reality simply hit me hard. A bitter lesson from the terrible, and at times, inclement passage of time? How can I explain what a place provoked in my childhood, if there is no longer even "something" to show? The truth is that I arrived at my next destination and was able to do what I had to do. Between errands, the hours went by, the heat increased, added to the traffic and the hustle and bustle, the afternoon was reaching its peak... It's 5:00 p.m., about to die for yet another afternoon.

A few blocks from home, I decide to stop and pause for a moment. Yes, I was very thirsty, and needed something cold. Oddly enough, I was also provoked by a latte. So, I went to a place I've been before, and with the minimum words necessary to be able to order my order and meditate in peace, I managed to enjoy the pleasure of solitude. Duty was done. Now it's time to finish my task with some reward. In this case it is something simple: a pineapple frappé and a latte. A Wednesday day, a lot of walking and stress, but with a story to tell; the one you are reading right now.

All photographs in this post, have been taken by me and are of my authorship.