"It's Cambridge, Jim, But Not As We Know It"

I rode into Cambridge on a brand new train. Looking out of the window it suddenly occurred to me that every building I saw had been constructed within my lifetime and some were very new indeed. I've often wondered just where they stand and which streets lead to them.

As the train halted a voice told me to be sure to take all my personal belongings with me. For a moment I pondered on how you could have belongings that were not personal but my drifting thoughts were interrupted by the same clinical voice telling me that if I saw anything suspicious I should inform a member of station staff. I promised myself that I would.

The automatic turnstile delivered me into the bright sunlight of the busy square which has recently been laid out in front of the station. Buckled reflections sneered back from the huge glass windows. People hurried in all directions and taxis came and went. 

It was mid-morning but cafe tables were occupied by people who had no work to do other than sit in the sun on  red chairs drinking expensive coffee. Nearby a smartly dressed young woman in stiletto heels smoked an e-cigarette.  A little further along green chairs and tables stood unoccupied.

Suddenly I found myself in a strangely empty space with perfect grass where nobody sat, surrounded by rectilinear buildings with plain walls and blank windows. I strolled on towards the newest buildings, pulled on by a magnetic attraction.

I entered effortlessly into their realm but there was something unexplained going on here. Or perhaps wasn't going on. Something was missing. Something was absent. Something had not been included in the plans. I pondered on the discrepancy and was met by silence.

Ah. That was it. Silence. No birdsong. No traffic noise. No children playing. Not even a car radio pumping out relentless beats into the warm summer air. And there was no litter. Lollipop trees stood with their roots imprisoned by concrete. Just a few perfectly parked cars. And no untidy heaps of locked bikes; this is Cambridge, there should at least be that.  Wherever you go in Cambridge there are always bikes. Now this is all "suspicious", but there's no station staff here for me to inform.

Signs quietly informed nobody at all that this was "Residents Parking". Quiet, though firm, and unwelcoming. But no signs to helpfully point the way and no advertising. Definitely no advertising. And very few people, though there were a few items - a plant in a window, a jacket hanging on a balcony chair - that showed there were inhabitants hiding inside.

Two Chinese girls walked together down the steps. One was wearing dainty white headphones, the other stared at a small screen that she held before her. They did not speak to each other although they walked side-by-side. Suddenly one of them laughed at some secret joke, disturbing the carefully controlled equilibrium.

I walked the clean pavements, I raised my camera, considered the angles, balanced the composition and clicked, collecting shapes and colours but not answers. The Chinese girls disappeared into an unmarked door, a plane passed overhead,  then I spotted it. 

This was Cambridge after all.

Take care.