REMINISCE
:
I remember as a child the loft being a place where I was never allowed with warnings from my parents such as
“ ” You’re too small to go up there
“You could kill yourself if you fell while you were up there”. I remember as I got older and older, I would move up the ladders further and further; rung-by-rung, constantly helping my dad with stuff such as suitcases, Christmas decorations and seasonal quilts. Those smells which each of them had; now r e m i n d m e e n d l e s s ly o f w h a t t h e y represent such as: suitcases getting me in the holiday spirit, decorations putting me in the Christmas mood and the summer quilt making me pine for summer, much like wet tarmac reminding you of a triumphant water fight.
I remember when I allowed up into the loft. It was to put some flooring down for more storage.
What
I love about that place
Is it’s Individuality.
The house is clean and neat, everything is in its place and exactly where you want it;
“ ” however up there it is the mirror image of the rest of the house,
the runt of the family of rooms you could say.
There was roof rafters everywhere, rough as old boots and waiting to give you a splinter in a second never mind the odd mild concussion when your concentration strayed for the slightest moment. Around 7 years of neglected cleaning had built up in inches of dust. Plastic bags and old cardboard boxes housed the objects which lived up there. The only light came from the single 60 watt bulb held to the rafters, spreading little light and leaving you to squint most of the time to find whatever it was that you wanted. I remember finding old comics up there such as the Beano which I thought my mother had callously thrown away, but no she had kept them along with other things like photo albums, baby clothes, her wedding dress, old toys like Action Man, Barbie, Stretch Armstrong, Pogs and things which my sister was yet to encounter…....LP’s.
It Was Like a
time portal.
looking at some amazing music (mainly of my dad’s) like Madness, Boomtown Rats, Queen etc, and some truly shit music (mainly of my mum’s) such as Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, Human League and the infamous Showaddywaddy. My favourite being an old “45 copy of Jive Bunny. I remember quite well my Mum putting it on and I would play the air guitar while pretend to strum the strings on the sleeve. I remember going to a fancy dress party with my family, and my dad and me went as Suggsy. As ‘Baggy Trousers’ was played, we thought it would be a good idea to do the ‘Madness Walk’ all the way to the dance floor.
Standing up there I had constant warnings of ‘Don’t Stand There!’, ‘Watch Your Head On That!’ and ‘If You Tread There You’ll End Up Falling Into Your Sister’s Room!’. Pointing stuff out to me that I had no clue about like ‘Watch Out For The Hot Water Tank!’ and ‘Did You Know That There Is Stuff Up Here Which Is The Same Age As You?’. I mean when he showed me it I have to say I thought I was in better shape than it was.
The loft to me has always been a place that you know where it is, but you never remember what is in it. It is place which you never think about on a day-to-day basis but once you need something it is the only thing that you can think about. I like it when I am up there because it gives me time to look back at stuff. A sort of ‘This Is Your Life’ moment but in a ‘We Couldn’t Be Arsed To Look After It!’ sort of way.
Craig Buxton 100117784 Visual Problem Solving Sensations Project “Reminisce”