26/10/23 – Warrington Bank Quay

Warrington Bank Quay station lies in the shadow of a huge industrial building. I’ve no idea what it is, but it looks like a power plant or something along those lines. It gives the area a post-apocalyptic feel. Still, there’s a warmth to all the people you meet round here in cafes and on buses. If you can’t bring your own positivity to a place like this then I suppose it’s a dull existence.

As I walk along the platform, with the sun shining from the opposite side so as not to be blocked out by the factory, I’m overcome with the absurdity of existence. Not in the despairing Camusian manner that such thoughts have affected me before though. Just a light-hearted reflection on the variation in human experience, including mine from moment to moment to moment. A semi-enlightened reflection, set back from the ‘now’. I’m reminded of the line at the end of Harry Potter, where Harry asks Dumbledore:

“Is this real? Or has it been happening inside my head?”

Dumbledore replies: “Of course it’s happening inside your head Harry, but why on earth should that mean it’s not real?”

On the platform, with the sun on my back and the imposing factory before me, I’m lead to think on the dream-like nature of our time in this world. An avenue of understanding relating to history’s ‘thinkers’ opens up; we are mere vessels for muses that occasionally bless us with ideas. Some have developed the technical ability of communicating these with other humans. These divine musings can give the impression of wisdom when they are captured in works that stand the test of time. But they are leaves in the wind. We are human. All too human and between any of these enlightened moments we are fallible beings driven primarily by emotion and base biological drives. The vehicles we hold up as heroes are distractions from the real show. Like theatres, we play host to the productions that bless our stage. We should appreciate the ideas like we do sunsets or stars. As emergent offerings from nature, rather than fixed identities to grasp on to.

TF