Afternoon by the Bay

I saw this bookshop, stood right across Columbus Avenue. The light turned green, and I crossed the road. They said it carries a baggage, full of history, of pain and victory. I stepped into it, and felt a rush of freedom, breezing through.

There were some words, written by Shakespeare and Co., hanging on the wall of this bookstore. Shakespeare and Co. has fed the Lost Generation, and the Beats generation was fed by City Lights. Two bookstores, carried the same duty on their shoulders, during different times. And now, I am browsing the history of major literature movements like never before.

That afternoon, I was reading Howl, by Allen Ginsberg. And, as I was trying to hide away from the sunlight, I saw a lovely, young couple, sitting at the rocking chairs, right at the opposite corner of the 3-storey bookstore.The boy was reading a poem to the girl. The girl smiled occasionally, while the boy was looking at her constantly.  A soft, yet passionate recitation,  together with the warm Californian wind, gave you a perfect afternoon that you could never have in London, at this very same moment.

I almost dozed off, with a beautiful dream began to set up its own stage in my mind.

Rain at Earls Court

He came down to the doorstep at 15, Longridge Road. He looked out to the same pathway that he has been taking since Autumn.

It's still as wet, as it had been, months before.With the same backpack, and the same old black umbrella, he went onto the same pathway.

He knew that he won't be able to see the rainbows. The rain always comes early, and lingers; while the sun never comes, or it sets early.

The only rainbows that he can probably see these days, are the colourful umbrellas that he sees on the street. Maybe that is as close as the Londoners can get to cheer themselves up, when they are looking up to the sky, under the colourful umbrellas.


Many people who were on the same pathway, stopped by at Bencho, the local coffee house. The warm, cosy couch, coupled with a cup of hot chocolate, perhaps according to them, is the best way to sip through the rains and smell a rainbow. 

The door opened, many people came, and some left. Some were on their luggage, some were clearing their baggage; all under the same roof, same rain, but different moods.

"Is this what March's having for us?" he wondered.

He continued his journey, to the place with a confined green lawn, where the Queen's Tower was erected, and the place where demanding courseworks meet with reluctant students. 

It was a surreal night

It was a surreal night. There was only a star, twinkling from a distant reach.

Since young, you were taught to believe that the stars are amazing. They are the souls of your ancestors, blessing you from afar. Whenever you have something to say, but no one could understand, you talk to the stars. They are the best listeners.

At times, you thought that you were looking at the lights of an airplane. Someone told us that it was beautiful to pretend that the lights of an airplane were like shooting stars. But, it was not moving. The lonely star was stationary, shining dimly.

It was sometime ago, that you had this thought that ran through your mind. - Is it better to believe that the sky is not the limit, and reach to the star, or simply lying down on the green lawn, and look into the night sky?

You knew that was an empty question that won't return any answers, unless you have done both of them.

Flipping through some of the photos you took in Berlin, you got curious, what did the Jewish people, who were trapped in the war ghettos, think about the stars? At desperate times, uncertainties looming in. Maybe many stories were revealed, but more wishes were unheard.

Stepping back on the Parisian streets, it was another image that came into your mind. Many lovers came to make a wish, for a dream to come true. How many wishes have actually reached the tip of Eiffel tower, where action meets words?

Your mind was doing weird imaginations at such times in the night. It reeled back and forth.

It was a surreal night.

Of Coffee Beans at Fitzrovia

He walked into the bubble. A bubble which was filled with the exotic aroma of the Square Mile coffee beans, near no. 66, Great Titchfield Street.

There, he ordered a cup of cafe latte. After a small sip, he realised that the beans were mixed with some cherry and almond grains, which gave the latte an unusual fragrance that a normal coffee will never have. The bubble got more colourful, like a baby unicorn running on a rainbow track.

It was a Sunday afternoon. The shop was full of people. Many people were talking or playing with their phones, with some smooth jazz playing from the silver radio, on the vintage cupboard.

The bubble is an easy formation, but everyone was too busy staying in his or hers. The shop seemed to be a good place to make new friends, but in fact, it was the hardest place to say hi.

Occasionally, the hinge of the door would voice out its dissatisfaction, when the place got too crowded.

Half and hour later, he walked down the street. He was looking for Fitzrovia.

Stood as the century-old bohemian quarter, this place was once frequented by Charles Dickens and George Bernard Shaw-as told by the factually correct Wikipedia webpage on his phone-not to mention the visits by John Lennon and Paul McCartney back in the '60s.

The street was pretty old, zig-zagging in a way which you could easily get lost in this square. Like all bohemian centres, it was surprisingly quiet, with some old-fashioned street signs imprinted on the buildings. It reminded him about the Montparnesse or the Montmarte areas in Paris.

The streets here were pretty similar to the streets at the 18th arrondissements in Paris as well. He wondered how would the bohemian quarters across the Atlantic look like.

It was a landmark which has hosted a few decades of art, literature and pop cultures. Walking out from the area, he suddenly thought about this.

"In decades to come, how will the future define this time of us, this generation in the history?Will harlem shake and  gangnam style be part of the cultures of today?"