Läheisessä leikkipuistossa myllätään, koneet käyvät aamusta iltaan. Leikkipuiston kupeessa sijaitseva taianomainen pikkupusikko, jossa pienenä tyttönä leikin, on leikattu alas kokonaan. Kun ohitin rikospaikan ensi kertaa matkalla töihin, tuntui kuin sydän olisi tippunut polviin asti. Lempipuistani oli jäljellä vain nysät. Seisoin niiden juurella pienen hetken ja muistelin, kuinka lapsena juoksin puiden lomitse kuin keiju maagisessa metsässä. Itku oli lähellä. Sitten pohdin, ettei lasten leikkipuisto ei ole enää minua varten, ja että maailma muuttuu joka päivä. Jotain poistuu, jotain pysyy samana, jotain tulee lisää. Muutos on välttämätön. Katselin leikkipuiston laidalle pystytettyä suurta kylttiä, jossa on havainnekuva puistosta töiden valmistuttua. Puisto näyttää kuvassa kauniimmalta ja järkevämmältä, tunnelmaltaan avarammalta ja valoisammalta.
Kotona söin uuden sadon mansikoita, jotka eivät ole vielä parhaimmillaan.
A nearby children's playground where I used to play as a little kid is being renovated. All sorts of machinery roars from morning until late in the evening. The other day I walked past the playground on my way to work, and saw a little magical forest of my childhood years cut down to little stumps, all of it. I felt as if my heart had fallen to my knees. They are all gone, my favorite trees that formed imaginary fairy-forest alleys that I used to run through as a child. I felt like crying. As I stood there, next to the cut down trees, I thought of change: how playgrounds are not built for me anymore, that the world is different. Every day some things stay the same, but others are simply gone or new ones emerge. In a way it's a relief: there is a time for everything and change is inevitable. I studied carefully a newly erected board that showed the playground after the renovation work has been completed: in the picture the playground and the park surrounding it looks cosier, airier, more functional.
Back at home I ate the first strawberries of the season. They are not quite at their best yet.
What a sad little tale...you'll still have the memories of it to treasure though. And hopefully the children using the new playground will invent some memories to treasure themselves. I love your new header by the way ☺
ReplyDeleteYou know, what's strange is that a few weeks ago I felt a strange need to take a picture of the trees that have now been cut down, and I actually posted a picture of them on Instagram, too. I have a lot of good memories of the park / playground as it used to be. And you are right: today's kids will have memories of their own from what's to come. :)
DeleteI wanted to respond to your instagram message about the UK referendum result ... I just want to say as a British person, I have never felt so ashamed of my country. Today is the first time I cried after an election result.
ReplyDeleteI really feel for you, it's so hard to believe the results. I actually went to bed last night firmly believing in the latest polls that suggested the remain-vote to win, and it was such a shock to wake up to different news. It's a sad day for Great Britain and all of Europe.
DeleteThanks for your kind response. I think it is really important that our European neighbours understand how distressed many of us who voted to remain feel. You will, no doubt, see images on your TV of the leave contingent celebrating, but rest assured, many Brits are appalled by them.
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