The long-suffering MisterMac was dragged off to W3, where I’d pledged to do a block from the A to Z. My W3 patch was essentially a housing estate where the names of the streets follow a golf theme – Wentworth Mews, Brassie Avenue, Mashie Road, The Fairway, The Long Drive, The Tee, Muirhead and so on.
Geoff Nicholson (author of the novel Bleeding London) commented in one of his recent blog posts about the absence of people in many of our uploaded images and suggested that maybe it’s because we’d like to have the city to ourselves. Whilst the sentiment may be true, the reality is that great swathes of our city are actually void of people. I’ve become used to this during the week, but I was very surprised to find that this was also the case at weekends.
I grew up on an estate – admittedly not in London – and Saturdays were characterised by car-washing, playing in the street, gardening, gossiping with the neighbours etc. and as you wandered around, you could hear radios, music, washing machines and vacuum cleaners; in other words, there were people, activity and noise. None of this was evident in W3. There were, quite simply, no people around and the estate was eerily silent. And it wasn’t as if it was raining – it was a lovely spring day. I’m not advocating for one minute that everyone should follow a Stepford Wives lifestyle, but I was curious as to the whereabouts of the residents and wondered if my pictures could provide a clue. A missing cat … A missing person … Extraordinarily large satellite dishes … A suitcase and basket ready for travel… Strange Lights
I can only conclude that this part of W3 is some sort of mission site for alien abductions – although the satellite dishes indicate some sort of desired communication and the suitcase seems to imply a willingness. Interestingly, I was googling around to see if there was an expression for an alien abduction that was undertaken willingly and the answer would appear to still be “alien abduction”. In my vocabulary, “abduction” has negative connotations and the meaning entails a lack of willingness, but in the virtual world, these abductions are highly sought after and only the chosen few get to experience them. If you don’t live in W3, don’t despair! An alternative is at hand, since you can buy an ‘Abduction Experience’ from Alien Abductions Incorporated. “Choose a solo experience or bring friends and colleagues for a group Abduction Experience”. Why choose this over the real thing? “The fact of the matter is that most people will probably never have the opportunity to be abducted by aliens. […] Why even invest the time, trouble, and expense involved in an actual abduction when the highly trained and professional staff at Alien Abductions Incorporated can provide you with personalized, realistic memories of the alien abduction that you have been waiting for your entire life?”
I was going to have a go at the “Abductalizer” to see whether I had any ‘abductalogical characteristics’. Alas, the abductalizer is currently off-line pending ‘NRC inspection’J
Of course, it might just be the case that the denizens of W3 have nipped down the road to Shepherd’s Bush and the Westfield Shopping Centre …
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