To Leave our Selves Behind
Urban Myth by David Antonides I miss the undulating flow of a varied existence, the rhythmic passing between spaces, the rituals that celebrate the demarcation of time and place. The experiences, for the most part, remain largely similar. But they are no longer physically or temporally distinct from each other. And I'm finding this problematic. So yes, I miss going to the pub, and going to soft play with my children. I even miss going to work. But it’s not the places themselves that I miss, rather it’s the ability to pass from one space to another. And, crucially, the ability to leave them. To return to a place that is not them. Or, to put it another way, since pretty much all of our shopping has moved online, I don’t miss the feeling of being in a shop so much as I miss the feeling of not being in a shop. Just like, since all our social drinking now takes place on our sofa, I miss the time when our lounge wasn’t also a pub. And now that I am fielding my work on devices that are a