2035

 

In 2035 the sun still shines but it shines on a world that can no longer change. Too little too late.

Children play in the park. The chains on the swings are rusted and frozen; the merry go round stuck in time, as it remembers going round like a planet now dying. 

All eyes on handheld devices; children sitting together, but miles apart, looking at their screens; their parents and guardians occasionally looking up to see if they are still there.

The birds still sing but their song takes a sombre tone with the whine of electric car motors and their tyres crunching the gravel beneath them.

It’s definitely getting hotter. Smoking cigarettes in public is outlawed. Doesn’t really matter. You can’t smoke with your mask on anyway.  like I’ll be eating my d-rats {dehydrated rations} dry tonight.

It gets harder to live in the moment when the moments are so much different now. 2020 was almost Utopia compared to this.

Russell

 

Walking alone in my street, I am overwhelmed by the silence, just silence! Its not like the old days, no more noisy engines from the boy racers’ souped-up cars and motorbikes with no bafflers!

A taxi goes by with no driver. An elderly couple sit in the back seat. I bet they notice all the changes and reminisce about days gone by. I wonder if they’ve adapted yet to this whole new universe.

Smell, there’s no smell anymore, no exhaust fumes or smoke.

The landscape is barren. It’s just full of purpose-built homes. No blocks of flats, no old houses or cottages. No post-boxes or telephone kiosks. Not needed anymore. All automated. No more postmen or operators. There are not even any staff in the shops. It’s all done by faceless robots, manning the checkouts and filling the shelves.

At least we’ve still got family, friends and football. That’s our one saving grace.

My Dad said it would all come to this one day!

Alan

 

Photo by Tomasz Frankowski on Unsplash