This Used To Be A Title / Ĉi Tio Iam Estis Temo
Abandoned Places, Abandoned Faces / Forlasitaj Lokoj, Forlasitaj Vizaĝoj
Imagine a city, across a bay, that is far enough to be invisible by day, but close enough to be visible by night, when the lights are switched on. If you look for a long enough time, you will see lights moving across the horizon — a metro, moving from stop to stop, like clockwork, never early and never late.
There is no bridge and ferry to this city across the bay, and so, out of curiosity, you acquire a telescope — the kind used for stargazing — and, when night arrives, peer through it, to see what happens across the bay. You find the city, though bright and electric, is without people. The lights and trains turn on and off by themselves, obeying a routine, providing a service, for people who are no longer there, if they were ever there at all.
This is a list of such abandoned, metaphorical, settlements, that nevertheless persist. Roombas that vacuum houses without residents. Billboards that advertise companies, that have not been in business for a long time. Halloween costumes that no longer fit. Something between ruin and city. An echo from the past, but often about the future.
Most recent Blog that is not this one — this settlement does not even have electricity anymore.