MY FAVOURITE PLACE

On a wooden bench, under the eaves of the Music Department... That is my favourite place in this whole wide world.

I go there to lay down and look up at the sky, resting my weary head from its studies and chores, and I simply think of the music and the clouds that drift around in the air. Sometimes there is a piano playing, and other times a woman is singing. 

Not many people know about this special place, just myself, and the few others who have lingered long enough in that tiny grassy square to hear the soft melodies coming from the windows. 

“That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.”

— Thoreau

FAIRY LAND

“I’ve read about a Fairy Land
In some romantic tale,
Where dwarfs if good are sure to thrive
And wicked giants fail.

My wish is great, my shoes are strong
But how shall I get there?
”Straight down the crooked lane,
And all around the square.””

— Thomas Hood

I have always dreamed of finding a complete fairy ring: one made up of overgrown grass or toadstools, formed in a perfect circle. When I do finally find my fairy ring, I am going to climb on in, fall asleep in the very middle, and when I open my eyes again I will be in Fairy Land. 

☽☾

There are only two sure ways to get to Fairy Land though, as it is quite a difficult place to find:

ONE

The first way is to get there under a spell, either your own, or one placed on you by the fairies.

TWO

The second way to get there is to get absolutely, completely and utterly lost.

ON THE LOCATION OF FAIRY LAND

“Fairy Land lies just a little farther away than the farthest hill. The frontiers of it are a little uncertain, as the landscape can become confused. But if you see a line of hills that constrains your vision perfectly, then you may be sure that Fairy Land lies just beyond. ”

— Hilaire Belloc

ON CERTAIN METHODS OF REACHING FAIRY LAND:

One of the best ways to get to Fairy Land is to get a little lost. Then you might find yourself in a strange land, where the people look at you with a twinkle in their eye. But, if you find yourself to be too right-headed, and sure-footed, you may try these options:

☆ ENTERING A FAIRY RING ☆

A tried and true method, especially when the date of entry coincides with the full moon, or during the month of October, when the veil between the two worlds is thinnest.

☆ SLEEPING UPON A FAIRY PORTAL ☆

It may be difficult to find one, but a fairy portal is the perfect place to enter fairy land. They often come in the shape of small hills, or rocky outcrops, or even in abandoned barns. Just fall asleep, and the fairies will cast their mischief, bringing you into their own land.

☆ STANDING BETWEEN PLACES ☆

These are places that are neither here nor there: a stairwell, a hallway, the edge of the path and the woods. Even a space between light and shadow, at the time between noon and evening, will act as the perfect door onto the Fairy Land.

I have yet to see the beauty of Fairy Land, but I am sure there is a portal near my house: where the toadstools grow on the rocky hillock alongside the foxglove flowers. There, in among the grasses, there lies a door, long forgotten. One day I may pass through it.

BROKE DOWN

It was hot and dusty, on the side of the road. The guys were debating over the merits of peeing in the radiator, which was emitting steam and a foul smell. But Rachel and I were oblivious, instead peering under our hands at the brightly lit fields about us. The hay bales were calling to me.

Just one jump of a fence, and a leg-up, and I could be Queen of the World on one of those hay bales, surveying my kingdom around me. Well, it turns out, climbing hay bales is more of a difficult and dangerous business than I first thought, and they are always threatening to roll over and squash you. But no matter, with a bit of pushing and pulling, we were up. It took another quarter of an hour for the guys to realise that pee + radiators = not so smart, but during that time, I quite enjoyed taking a moment to breath and look around me. 

It is not often that we get to actually be in the landscapes that swirl past us, as we stare out the car window.