The unfamiliarly familiar

It was a strange feeling. I went down to the village where I've been many times to buy sandwiches for lunch but this time I went in the afternoon. It felt different. The old familiar shops were frequented, not by the office crowd, but by little old ladies and young women with children moving leisurely about - people who don't do the 9 to 5 office thingy!

I've felt the same way on the few occassions I've gone back, years later, to a place where I used to work or live. There is a kind of eerie sensation of knowing but not knowing, of everything having moved on, of not belonging. I've never felt that way when, say, I've gone to visit a friend after many years. I suppose, with friends, there is always the element of having stayed in touch .. phone, letter, email, whatever.

Sometimes, I imagine how the places that I am now so familair with will be when I'm no longer around. We spend so much time looking after the garden and cleaning the house but we only have to neglect the chores for a few months and chaos reigns. I like the feeling of impermanence these thoughts give me .. my very own footsteps in the sand.