A Trip #2

Make a better trip, find better memories.
A soundtrack helps. Pretend you're in a film.

I went to Roath Park Lake. I walked around here as a kid with my parents. I remember:

• A photo of me in a green, black and purple all-in-one
• Feeding the geese
• Kissing Rachael on a park Bench: "Do you know that geese find a mate for life?"
• A steep side leading down to a play park
• A lighthouse
• Boat rides
• Cherie's Dog
• An intersecting bridge, looking over the lake on one side, and the play park on the other.

Prepared. Observant. Waiting for the coup de grace. Waiting for the climactic film shot with a long zoom in and a slow fade out.
Prepare the soundtrack. Make the film momentous. Sigur Ros: Glósóli.

At the roundabout near the north-west most point of the park I see a small green dark path. I press play and head for it immediately (nearly getting run over in the process!) Create a narrative, follow the film.

Things seemed to happen in sync with the music. Feet walked to the drumbeat, birds flew away to the precise timing of a violin interlude. This was a good film.

So where to film my climactic moment? I headed towards the bridge that overlooked the play park, the river and the lighthouse. I decided I would roll a cigarette and sit on a bench there. A great place to ponder the project. to recall ghosts. To reconcile my younger self.

The song was ending. The cigarette was wonky. When I got to the gate, it was closed. I could just about see the bench, but I couldn't reach it. The epiphany moment wasn't to happen. Rather fitting, actually. So my souvenir is my unsmoked cigarette, which sums up nicely the failure in an attempt to connect with a memory of myself. Not so rosy...no slow fade.