Tuesday, you were...the bone-white frost on tarmac; a biting reminder of the hole in my boot; spat mumbled swear words into a red scarf I never returned; the scowls, foggy breath and manic hand-rubbing of stranded commuters; the white-gold liquid sun filling the sky but never warming the air.
Tuesday, you were...a train full of the angered, hungry and tired; the delay to a day that no-one wanted to start; strangers crushing and stumbling along a platform; pigeons waiting in the rafters; amber neon flicking on information boards; the ‘Welcome to Brighton’ sign and a memory of a time when coming back to this place was all that mattered to me.
Tuesday, you were... a dirty-yellow office with no natural light; cold coffee and sugary biscuits; the wait for learners who never came; my battle with an education system I can’t seem to leave; the frustration, headaches and nosebleeds whilst I glared at a screen; the watching of a clock, the glances at my phone, and the wait for escape...
Tuesday, you were all of the above but you were also so much MORE...
You were the day when... Rami made huge progress; Nadine thanked me with tears in her eyes; I struggled not to laugh at Harry’s accidental inclusion of the word ‘c*nt’ into several of his spellings; I got an unexpected hug from a friend in the middle of street; I felt again that after all these years A was still with me, hovering somewhere close by; I skipped a gig but gained an evening of laughter and life lessons with Lela; we swooned at the prettiest boys in the Laines; I finally discarded the notion that I might have let the wrong man go; I turned a turnip into a tale of terror; I invented Abraham the angsty, abandoned cat; I made a mad man out of objects: I added to my obsession with eyes; I shared secrets with a great friend on a train headed to somewhere that, for the first time, almost feels like home...
Tuesday, despite of all the grumbles and groans, you were the day that made me see things a little differently and, I think, you might have been just what I needed.
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Sandy East
@SandyEastStar
