June 20, 2017
Being notebook advocates goes hand-in-hand with the championing of writing in general, so as it’s National Writing Day 2017 today – and the event is in partnership with a charity that we send our surplus books to called First Story – we have decided to make a contribution to this year’s challenge. The brief is quite simple; pick a window and interpret its view however you like. Limited to just one window, it could prove tricky, but I’ve given it a good stab anyway…
Our View – Our World.
In the summer, the staff here at Noted in Style are treated to an open air show every day, weather permitting. The minute the sun shoots its golden rays through a gap in the clouds we all jerk upright in our chairs, meerkat-like, and it’s only a matter of seconds before someone has asked the question that doesn’t need asking. The shutter goes up, the walls are painted yellow and a bright white blindness quickly dissipates to reveal…cars. Yes, we may be based in the sunny seaside town of Folkestone but, like many businesses, the view from our window is of a car park.
But I didn’t come here to grumble. In fact, the movements of the Basepoint business centre we are in can be quite captivating at times. Just seeing that there is other life out there, through our window into the outside world, is enough to keep our fingers happily typing – despite the fact that, on open shutter days, we are just an arm’s reach from tempting heat and fresh air, and the sky beckons us to break out of our bubble.
Courier vans and lorries arrive like boxy knights in shining armour, ready to save the day and sweep our packages away, carrying them off safely and urgently to their destinations. Delivery men, customers and employees sail by in their vehicles, and unwittingly brave a cringingly awkward attempt at a reverse bay park, ten pairs of eyes on them as they do. The occasional seagull marches past in the pursuit of lunch, before selecting its carriage and perching ceremoniously atop its hot metal throne, eyeballing the landscape in a far less inconspicuous manner than us. As menacing as they may be, the brazen, beaked creatures bring with them a hint of the seaside and its cool, lapping waves.
The hustle and bustle of an eclectic mix of trade and life around us is marked with the verbal offerings of support of one merchant to another as they pass, and a wave of sunny contentment overcomes us all. We may not have a luscious view of the waves rolling in over hot sand, but what we do have is a tangible air of community that creates a productive and motivated atmosphere to keep the smiles on our faces as we wade through the day’s task list.
Our little worlds collide and collaborate but we observe each other sporadically; overheard conversations are edited by architecture and we witness just small glimpses of other people’s days as they stumble into and out of shot. As a temporary audience normally so consumed by our own microcosm, we might start to consider that the open walls of our unit, though providing a good view into everyone else’s world, also frame a perfect window into ours.
Welcome to our world!
