Sometimes you want opera and

Sometimes you want opera and sometimes you want Kylie. Sometimes wide open countryside, sometimes a claustrophobic nightclub. Sometimes the market news from the Financial Times, sometimes the dumb thrill of a lottery ticket.

Sometimes you want to watch the world go by from the kerbside table of a Parisian café and at others you crave the cosy familiarity of a British department store restaurant. Thus I found myself this afternoon in Café Revive, the in-store coffee shop of Marks and Spencer, watching the middle class buy its underwear.

The shopping mall looked like a Doctor Who set, all white concrete open spaces and bizarre architectural details, so its setting in a former chalk quarry seemed strangely appropriate. I gazed idly out of the window, tired but relaxed. A late Saturday afternoon in mid-April; the world was going about its business. Sipping a skinny mocha, I looked out over the car park, watching families arriving and leaving.

Hardly an original thought, but I considered the notion of shopping as the new religion. All these people - some knowing each other, some not - gathering together for a shared experience within known parameters. The familiarity of the overall context, the pleasure of re-discovery on each visit.

Did they find the meaning that they were seeking? Did they leave fulfilled? Were their souls just a little less empty on returning home? I can't imagine that many of them genuinely needed the wares in their carefully branded bags, it wasn't that kind of place.

And me, which particular void was I aiming to fill by being there? The desire for participation, I think. I can't think of any other reason why I went. I could have bought food and toiletries closer to home, could have sourced my DVDs online.

Sometimes you want a different, individual, unique life and sometimes you want to be just like everyone else. This afternoon it was the latter.

In order to travel, you have to remember where you're starting from.

Posted by Hg on Saturday 13 April 2002 at 21:37.
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