I almost always go for a walk on the usual route, because over the years I change two or three routes, all of which are very familiar. Eight in the morning. The temperature is perfect. I set the autopilot Think about my stuff, making sure my body will get me where I’m going. Suddenly the day became cloudy and I stopped recognizing the landscape as the color of the environment changed. On the one hand it continues to be as it always was, on the other hand it is not. For another, it’s a strange way that gives me an uncomfortable sense of loss. I’m wondering if I should keep looking for some known references or just go back. But the references in my mind, I repeat myself, are known. I know this house, this tree, even that dog’s barking… And even though I know them, they seem strange to me. Contradiction is almost unbearable, like being among friends that they are nothing but strange people disguised as cleverly friendly people. I’m talking about that oddity that Freud translates as ‘uncanny’, which occurs when the familiar and the stranger coincide in the same situation or the same object.
I was attacked by the sinister at 8 am on a summer day that promised to be happy. There is no one around, I am afraid, but I keep walking because I have the impression that I have passed the point of no return. Turning might be worse. I see a house with a veranda overlooking the pool. By the pool is a man in a lotus position, eyes closed, no doubt meditating. It looks like a sculpture. I whispered to him to ask where I was but he was so withdrawn he can’t hear me and it’s not about starting shouting.
I was relieved to think that I had a cell phone in my pocket and that in the worst case I could call home and send my place to be picked up. I’ve never used this mobile app, but it seems incredible to me because it’s said: “I’m here, right here on the planet.” You don’t need to add anything else, no street, no number, no town, no city. You send your location and the wasap receiver knows exactly where to look for you. The cloud then passes, the sun reappears, and the landscape takes on its usual familiar face. I’m safe, it’s definitely a miracleone more day.