Magic Shops
Childrens' books are full of magical shops that appear in alleys, act as a gateway to adventure, and then disappear again. In real life, we often find places that have a magical charm to them, but then fail to find them ever again, no matter how hard we look. Has this happened to you?
I have hunted a small village in the French departement Vendée for three days. It was a charming little village and I found this cute bric-à-brac shop with a wonderful, wonderful old lamp with a turqoise glass shell - like a banker's lamp.
I decided not to buy it but regretted it when I returned to the campsite.
Next day I went back and I could not find the shop. I thought I had lost my mind, but I could not find it. Asking locals did not get me clear answers, so I after three days I gave up. Never found the shop again, it just disappeared...
It seems to me that the places I've found most magical I've found to be so because of whomever I was with at the time. Like the night I met Brian (it turned out to be a one-night fling, but it seemed to hold much, much more promise than that on that first -- and only -- night), the corner diner where we had our first meal was transformed from a neat but nondescript eatery to an enchanting place of discovery, rich with possibilities.
I've never not been able to find somewhere I've been before. What happens, though, is that the place loses its charm and feels like somewhere ordinary. With that magical feeling gone, the place can seem very different.
One thing I do remember is, six weeks when I had to walk across a peat bog for 20 minutes to get to work. Every day you could, without realising it, walk in a completely different route and see what seemed like a very different landscape. Every day it felt like you were seeing new places that it was always impossible to re-find.
Everywhere is magical all the time. Oops, time for my medication.
There's an shop in Venice which sells melon icecream to die for - or did in 1984. But could I find it again on my next visit? Of course not. So I'm spending two weeks there next year to continue the hunt. It'll be Carnival so everything will be mysterious and disguised but I like a challenge!
Déjà vu is emotional memory … it has nothing to do with magic.
I could have sworn you'd already said that, Barbara!
The voice of God has appeared again.
There's is an absolutely brilliant pub out on Dartmoor somewhere, that I found in Summer 1999. I spent an amazing day there and have never ever been able to find it again.