Au Temps. (3) !!

September 8 2013 A Thought of The Day - To Lay someone a Ticking.

So I was going to lay you a ticking but I see we are here, not there.

I’m ahead of you!

Yes but I’m confused – last week we were there - not here.

Ah yes, that was because it was not only a Sunday but also the first of September and we had to do Thought of The Day and the September Siftings at the same time.

But not this Sunday?

Well we could, but we aren’t  - because we are starting the “Au Temps” page, which we could have started last Sunday but we didn’t.

Au Temps?

Yes, it’s French, but it’s meant to sound, if you say it quickly, like Autumn. And it completes a fourth part of the blog that we aren’t blogging because we are having a sabbatical, though in fact we are which is why we have these four new pages – Faits D’hiver, Print of Time and Some are Here, and now Au Temps. It sort of makes sense.

Do you think so? ‘Cos I reckon a lot of folk are confused.

A lot?

Ok, some.

Some?

Well possibly one, though I think our sole reader gave up a long time ago.

Never mind, it’s all about artistic integrity and keeping the new pages short enough so that Mary’s computer doesn’t blow up.

Why don’t we just do it like normal people?

I don’t know. I can’t explain it.

Ah.

Anything else?

Where are the Siftings?

Back over there, but not today, they will be tomorrow.

And us?

Probably here next Sunday with another new word.

Did we have one today?

Yes – you used It right at the beginning.

I did?

Lay you a ticking.

September 15th 2013 A Thought of The Day - a raisin-of-being(n), archivable/unarchivable(v) and a thoughtofthedayite(n).

We never get to be in The Archives do we?

We are ALWAYS in The Archives.

No we aren't.

Well, I’m not sure that’s exactly true – let’s have a look….. well, we seem to be here.

That’s just us talking ABOUT The Archives, that’s not our Archived talk is it?

Why would anyone want to archive what WE say?

Well, someone archives all this other stuff; we are just as good.

Are we?

You mean – are we worthy?

I do.

Wow, I don’t know, I had thought we might be.

Anyhow, I’m not sure we qualify; we are always up to something else – like the new-invented-word-contribution-to-humanity-project.

And don’t we have an archiveable gift to humanity somewhere that we could drop into the archives in passing for someone to find later?

I’m not sure that that is consistent with the spirit of the archives.

There’s an archive spirit?

There is! A raisin-of-being.

What?

Think in French.

I can’t.

You can’t?

No, I’m wired differently.

Besides, and this is maybe important, WE are thoughtofthedayites.

That’s a big word- what does it mean.

It means we are what we are, and that is - spontaneous!

Unarchivable!

September 22 2013 - A Thought of The Day - Anomaule (n).

That’s a bit a bit weird.

A bit! I’d say, “that’s VERY weird”.

Go on then.

That’s VERY weird.

I’d say! 2,4,3,8,7,5,6,6,5,5,9,8,3 hits and then..

250!

It makes no sense.

It’s an anomaly!

No, it’s an anomaule. The one that proves the rule.

September 29th 2013 - A Thought of the Day - Categotically

Nothing to say?

Categotically.

October 1st 2013 

Ok, I should, very quickly, explain what has, is, will be go(ne)ing on here.

I hope it's clear.

So…

We decided to have a sabbatical.

Except, then we didn’t.

So The Front Page became ‘A Thought of The Day’ page for the year, thus Sunday only.

Except it wasn’t.

Sometimes, it got taken over for a month by The Archives – like in September.

And we created some new pages.

And on the new pages there appeared, bit-by-bit a story about an old guy sitting in a hotel.

Except when Thought of the Day turned up because The Archives and taken over elsewhere.

Or when The Archives appeared on the new pages.

As they tend to do now and again.

So....... it’s time to get back to the hotel.

I hope that’s clear.

October 2nd 2013

How long did he stand in the corridor? One hour? A day? Months?

October 3rd 2013

Empires rose, empires fell, seas dried, suns burnt out, and time forgot its own meaning.

October 4th 2013

The snow fell again and then the snow froze.

October 5th 2013

And then the frozen ice cracked and spring withered into fresh snow that froze again the frozen snow of yesteryear.

Oct 7th 2013.

And still he stood there.

Oct 8th 2013

And his body took root and his limbs became part of the forest of his memories until all that remained was a tree.

Oct 9th 2013

An ancient tree, broader than all the forests of all the worlds. 

Oct 10th 2013

And as it grew it shattered the building that tried to hold it and the walls fell and the corridor was paved in the ruins of all that could be lost.

Oct 11th 2013

An ancient tree, broader than all the forests of all the worlds and as it grew it shattered the building that tried to hold it and the walls fell and the corridor was paved in the ruins of all that could be lost.

Oct 12th 2013

It was then that she came from her room.

Oct 14th 2013

She stood by the tree and looked up into the branches so, so high above her that they looked like stars.

Oct 15th 2013

And she carved a heart into the trunk.

Oct 16th 2013

And went on her way..........

Oct 17th 2013

................

EPILOGUE

I hadn’t noticed him when he first walked in, I was much too busy sitting in a corner staring at the unlit fire thinking about my own death to notice his. 

Oct 18th 2013

When I did finally look up I saw a shadow hunched over the reception desk, gloom draped around him like a cloud.

Oct 19th 2013

Nobody had walked into my hotel for a very long time so I was unsure what I should do and the feeling of death and loss that shrouded him persuaded me to stay where I was.

Oct 21st 2013

I was turning back to the emptiness of the flames that weren’t, when he coughed.

Oct 22nd 2013

It was a frightening sound, as if someone was rattling stones in a rusty wire cage and to be honest my instinct was to hurry quickly within the refuge of my own darkness. 

Oct 23rd 2013

But then he laughed, and the sound was so surprising, like a mountain stream searching its way through pebbles, that I found myself smiling; it had been a very long time for that too. 

Oct 24th 2013

So, dusting the remains of the past from my lap, I rose and walked to greet him, hoping that my sudden appearance would not disturb him.

Oct 25th 2013

He must have heard my footfall for he turned to face me.

Oct 26th 2013

The feeling of questioning sadness that surged from his grey eyes made me hesitate and he clearly sensed it, for as quickly as it had appeared it was gone and all that remained was a gentle ambivalence. 

It was the practiced look of a trapped animal and one I recognised as my own.

Oct 28th 2013

He looked a mess.

Oct 29th 2013

His shoes, what was left of them were more thick brown mud than leather, his limbs were barely sustained by the clothes that hung in tatters around them and bracken, leaf and moss covered his hair, which would have been home for birds if he stood still long enough.

Even here, in the dim light of nowhere, he trembled as if in a fever.

Oct 30th 2013

He must have travelled far, he must have travelled long and that long and the far had taken its toll.

I never knew his name.

But I knew hers.

Oct 31st 2013

Maria.