Vignettes

Hi I’m Rob and I curate this site.

Who I am is hard to define. At times a photographer, musician, nurse, teacher, educational policy adviser, retail trainer, amateur linguist, and many more things beside. But at times I attempt to write and capture the things I see and experience around me. The short vignettes here are brief moments in time, images I couldn’t capture with my camera. Rough and ready and really need editing but I’d love to share. So enjoy and please feed back your thoughts.

All text and Images are ©️2021 Robin Widdowson

New Shoes

Gleaming white. He smiles. Sitting on a stone outside the homeless help centre, he pauses to look. New shoes. A real sense of pride. First, he removes his faded blue shoes. Slowly, carefully, one at a time. Then he extracts the plastic bag he put inside each to keep the water out. He won’t need that now. At least for a while. He puts each one on with a slow, deliberate action. He keeps glancing at the others standing, smoking, chatting to one another. He’s clearly not part of their group. They don’t respond. Finally both are on. He stands on the rock, nothing. He calls to them to look and this time a rapid glance, but that’s all and they’re back to the intensity of cigarettes and conversation. He wanders away with quick glance over his shoulder, hoping they’d be looking. But they’re not.

The moment

You sat on the sand, wrapped in your blanket with your child resting into you. The sun gradually sinking in the sky, becoming bolder, richer, warmer. A bubble of voices surrounding us, but not touching this moment. Those final rays of light briefly warming us. A fragile yet beautiful moment that was never meant to last. A moment that can only fade alongside the disappearing light. A moment that will live inside me forever.

Evening Sun

Standing silhouetted by the setting sun, a gasp as you paused and absorbed the immensity of the moment. I wanted to reach out and put my arms around you and hold on to you and that precious glimpse of joy. But of course I simply stood there silent and unmoving. The gentle lapping of the sea broke the spell, you breathed in and we moved on, the moment lost.

The Couple

Watched a couple – just so sad together – she upset – he just turned to look out of the window – so obviously not knowing what to say … Just wanted to tell  them – don’t talk – just hold each other …

Silence

Water flowing around our feet. No need for a word to be spoken between us. Nothing but the persistent ebb and flow of the tide as it pulls and pushes against the sand and pebbles. Two people lost in in the silence of now. No idea of a past or of a future just this timeless moment.

Walking Around the Rocks

A face full of joy as the sea ebbed around us. I worried that you’d be afraid whilst you for a moment looked as though you’d wade back and do it all over again. Only seconds passed yet it felt briefly as though time had stoped and we had stepped into eternity, for a moment as eye met we were alone on that crowded beach.

Dances

Bright colours, sensual cuts, like giant butterflies they hover around tasting those around them, mostly moving on still searching. I watch, admittedly fascinated yet struggling to comprehend how it works. What triggers that pause and sometimes even the desire to settle and explore further their chosen territory. I can never ignore those visual trappings and yet search further to find a soul I can connect with, a mind I can fall in love with and share life’s experiences with. My mind dances in this world behind distant and seemingly detached eyes. Desperately wanting to join in that dance, yet it dances quietly, invisibly and alone.