The vintage awning

It’s been some time now that I wanted to write something about perspective and expectations. How we perceive our surrounding environments and how something seemingly insignificant can affect, or to phrase it better, distort our view. The truth is that I had a lot of hesitations concerning whether I should upload my story. Maybe it’s a bit silly, maybe it’s not. So it’s better if you see for yourselves.

Awning: a cloth or plastic cover fastened to a building or structure that is used to protect someone or something from the sun or rain

I happen to have a friend who lives close to me. When we first started hanging out together, she invited me to her apartment. All I really had to do was a ten-minute walk. The area we live in is pretty busy, it’s very close to the center. A few trees scattered here and there, a lot of old buildings and traffic. A typical urban air that smells a little like gas passes through your hair when you’re outside, but in an invigorating kind of way. I myself, find the whole atmosphere liberating.

We soon became best friends. And I walked to her house almost every day, it became my routine. I memorized every corner, every shop, I even learnt the names of the cashiers at the supermarkets.  At one point, we decided to even live together for about a month.

Her apartment is great and big enough for both of us. Even though we spent almost no time on the balcony, something really bothered me about it. The apartment is on the third floor, meaning that we have quite a view from above. Sometimes when I had a lot in my head, I would go outside for a bit and let the cold winter wind bring me back to my senses. 

The balcony had a very old awning, a really pretty vintage one with pink roses and greenish leaves. As I said, no one was ever outside. It was used only as a smoking area for her friends, until one day I asked: “Why don’t you pull it up? The awning I mean”. She answered that it was too old It might break. So there we stayed, with a wall-like obstacle that blocked our view. We never expressed the need to see beyond it and there it stayed for quite some time. The few times we were on the balcony we were fine with just watching the pretty flowers. But with the awning blocking the sun, the living room seemed very dark and gloomy. And I knew that better than anyone, because the couch was my actual bed for almost a month.

During Christmas break, we both went back to our towns. At the time she got a call from her landlady who told her that due to bad weather conditions, the awning broke and they had to remove it. Everything was okay, none was hurt and she was happy that more light would get in. She only commented on the light.

When she told me about it, I must say I was indifferent at first. However, I soon realized that this time-worn vintage wall was finally gone. And I wanted to see everything I was missing all this time. 

 Yes, I know. I had already seen what’s across the street. I had been to my friend’s house a million times. But the only time I had a complete view of my surroundings was from below and never from across the balcony. And I never felt sure about it. Even though I knew deep down that it was a short, depressing building with weirdly arranged flags, I did not want to believe it. And there I am one day, somewhat excited to go on the balcony, ready to finally see what I thought would be a new and tall skyscraper, more beautiful and different from the rest. I was wrong. It was a rather small service, barely had three floors, and needed construction. And I knew it. I passed down that street every single day and I reached the point when I lived across that same building. 

And here it is, there is my point. Sometimes, we let ourselves fantasize about things. We keep on building Great Expectations (yes, I made a reference to Dickens) and we wait and wait until we are let down.

We are allowed to dream for ourselves, to set goals in our lives. But we cannot control everything. We cannot expect everything to be extraordinary. We have to see things for what they really are, both things and people. Don’t get me wrong. Sometimes, when the awning is down, what lies in front of us is what we actually expected. Sometimes it isn’t. We are the ones who decide. Either way, all we have to do is pull the awning up. Only this way will we be able to have a better, clearer view of what is going on. Because when the awning’s up light gets in.

Πόσο χρήσιμο ήταν αυτό το άρθρο για εσένα?

Αξιολόγησέ το, επιλέγοντας τη φατσούλα που επιθυμείς!

Μέσος όρος: 5 / 5. Ψήφοι: 2

Καμία ψήφος μέχρι στιγμής! Αξιολόγησέ το πρώτος/η.

Λυπούμαστε πολύ που αυτό το άρθρο δεν ήταν χρήσιμο για εσένα!

Βοήθησέ μας να βελτιώσουμε αυτό το άρθρο!

Πες μας, πως μπορούμε να βελτιώσουμε αυτό το άρθρο?

Δημοσιεύσεις

Φοιτήτρια του τμήματος της Αγγλικής Γλώσσας και Φιλολογίας στο ΕΚΠΑ, με μια έντονη αγάπη για την λογοτεχνία και την μουσική. Όταν δεν ψάχνω παλιά βινύλια και εξαντλημένες εκδόσεις βιβλίων στο κέντρο της Αθήνας, τραβάω φωτογραφίες οτιδήποτε μου κινεί το ενδιαφέρον. Καίγομαι σε σειρές και ταινίες, ειδικά αν πρόκειται για φαντασία και περιπέτεια. Κοινωνικά ευαισθητοποιημένη, τρέφω ιδιαίτερη αγάπη στις γλώσσες, κυρίως στα αγγλικά, και προσπαθώ να εκμεταλλευτώ στο έπακρο την ελευθερία της φοιτητικής μου ζωής, να δοκιμάσω το διαφορετικό και να αποκτήσω νέες εμπειρίες.

Σχετικά θέματα: awning // perspective // talk english to me // tambook // tambook.gr // view

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