Saturday, May 28, 2011

Stairway to heaven?


Leave it out back
London, ON, May 2011
About this photo: Thematic is still singin' the blues, and you can, too, by following your mouse here.
As much as humans are social creatures, there's something to be said for getting away from it all - and from each other. When I need to be alone, I either take off on my bike, or I go for a long walk. When it's just you and your thoughts, the challenges of life seem a lot easier to bite off and chew. I don't do this enough, and that needs to change.

On this evening, downtown London was my playground. I had about an hour to kill - a rare treat in my scheduled-by-the-minute life - so I set the BlackBerry to silent and headed for the shadowy alleys that strangely never show up in tourist brochures. For some odd reason, I never seem to encounter actual people in these places (I know, probably a good thing) but as you can see from the shot above, there's always plenty of evidence that someone was here not too long ago.

There's a strange sense of order to these hidden-away places, and it's almost an invitation to spend more time here, to look at the side of the city most people never see. In getting away from it all, I seem to have stumbled on another way to remain connected. Odd, that.

Your turn: I think this picture tells a story. What is it?

4 comments:

Kalei's Best Friend said...

There are several ways u can look at this.. 1. Its obvious its just stairs that lead to where the trash is kept.. 2. who would want to spend time where the trash is? unless you're a rat?. 3. Stairway to what can be better is what I see... Love the composition of this.. Looks like you used the stairs as your frame..and I love graffiti.. that little bit adds a great balance to the photo.

sage said...

The title of your post, looking at the photo and forgetting for a moment about Led Zeppelin, shows how to get to heaven, we have to leave the trash behind!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

This is my Stairway to Heaven picture.

(Background here.)
~

Unknown said...

There is definitely some order about all of this in the photo. Even as a back alley, someone (curiously) cared enough about making the stairs look nice. But I don't have a conclusion.