Saturday 19 May 2018

Ploxxer


Crossing a bridge into some flat, grassed landscaping with intersecting paths. It feels like my normal walk home, but somehow the environment is amplified, familiar yet strange. Two young women are sunbathing in bikinis on one of the large patches of grass. I am walking near them, sure my flat is beyond the buildings I can see in the distance, off to the right. From behind me a boy dashes past. He is walking 3 dogs on leads and a small toddler trails in his wake. The toddler, smiling at me, almost trots into line by my side but I am able to encourage him to continue in the dogwalker's slipstream as opposed to joining with me. The dogwalker rounds a bend by some bushes followed by the child. Almost immediately the dogwalker flits by me again in the return direction and says something friendly - as do I - in passing. I sense the sky ahead is dark and black clouds fill the horizon, the sun gone. The girls are still on the grass in spite of the lack of light and warmth. I continue on my way, expecting rain, in the hope of reaching my flat in time. I am struck by how far away my flat seems, and by how unfamiliar the buildings I am passing are - I'm now almost walking down a country lane, the ground sloping away sharply to my right, the road/track separated by a fence/hedge. I pass two large semi-detatched porches inset at the side of the road. I'm puzzled - at first I think they are compact houses but then realisation dawns. I lean over the fence expecting to see some sort of building/structure emerging from the slope. There is nothing. Eventually I reach a farm(?) gate and am quite bemused - how did I miss my flat and walk so far? As I turn to leave, the rain falling steadily, I hear the drone of a plane. It sounds very close and I strain my eyes looking here and there, turning this way and that, hoping to spot it amidst the grey clouds. I can see nothing at all then suddenly I spot it. It is a chunky twin jet plane, painted blue along the bottom, white above. Mounted at the front (somehow) are two large spotlights (almost identical in size to the jet engines) and they cast a glow as the plane banks around presumably to land. The drone is by this time very loud and-

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