WhenI was a kid I used to spend time peering through cracks in walls. I am sure it caused my mother to worry that I was going to end up as a Peeping Tom (or Thomasina) or something like that, but she needn’t have worried. I was looking for something that existed beyond those cracks.
Other worlds.
Those worlds you read about in fantasy novels where the grass is so green it appears to have been painted on the ground, where the sky is an unblemished blue, where there are mountains full of wondrous bird life and trees so old and wise they might as well be human. And the lakewater, clear as glass, sweet, the most refreshing drink you have ever had.
Oh, how I wanted to live in those worlds. I longed for it. I prayed for it.
And I came to believe that those worlds existed beyond the cracks in the walls. After all, how could such an urban, semi-industrial world full of metal and steel be the real world? It didn’t seem to be the way it should be. Humans didn’t want to live with all that traffic and smoke and dust. We wanted greens and blues and unclouded light.
We wanted to run and swing our arms and breathe in the air so clean it was intoxicating.
We wanted to be free.
The other day I saw this street art on a wall in Newtown and it made me remember that little girl who used to peer through cracks in walls, screwing up her face, clearing away the rubble with a chubby forefinger, standing on tip toe to see the world I knew was there if I looked hard enough.
This is what I wanted to see. The other world through the bricks, as breathtaking as Narnia through the wardrobe.
All in all it might just be another crack in the wall, but if you close your eyes and imagine the verdant lands and light-dappled lakewater hard enough, a little bit of magic breaks through.
Selma In The City 
I lived in a dream world too, Selma, and Enid Blyton egged me on with her tales starting with The Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair to The Secret Seven, The Famous Five and The Naughtiest Girl in the School etc. Nostalgic post – delicious!
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Your imagination is superb – I’ve never been able to dream of worlds which you write about with such delicious beauty. Thank you for sharing with me!
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Ditto what adeeyoyo said 🙂 There is nothing better than imagining what is beyond Selma and you do it the best of anyone. That street art is amazing.
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I think I only began truly living in the real world a few years ago, it hadn’t been easy up till then! LOL I loved The Faraway Tree and The Wishing Chair too, but I can still remmber ‘longing’ to live in an animated world where everything was so colourful and pretty and … nice! The street art is just wonderful, it would cheer my day to see it :o)
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Oooh, I so understand this! …and Enid Blyton added to my longings too. Then came a period in my life when I experimented with LSD and I looked through cracks and actually saw that within our world and behind the facades of everyday sight are layers of sparkling beauty, and that those longed for worlds are all there if we shift our way of seeing. The drug experiments are decades past but the ‘seeing’ and the magic, never left. 🙂
Wonderful street art and a lovely post. x
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The street art if amazing and your last line says it all. Words to remember. Kids really do have some lessons to teach us, don’t they? From our own childhood too.
Happy Thursday, G
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What beautiful art!! (and post!)
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Hi ADEEYOYO:
I loved Enid Blyton so much as a child. She created such amazing worlds for me. I couldn’t get enough of her books. Whenever I see anything that reminds me of her it takes me back to that wonderful time where I really discovered the joy of reading.
Hi TUMBLEWORDS:
Oh, you are so welcome. I think I actually am a kid at heart, that’s why I think of these things 😀
Hi GABRIELLE:
The street art reeally is FAB. There are some really good artists in my local neighbourhood. Very inspiring.
Hi DEBORAH:
I am with you 100% on that one. In fact, I think I step in and out of the real world on a regular basis. Hahaha. Pixies and unicorns and rivers made of chocolate seem so much more preferable to the way it really is 😆
Hi SUSANNAH:
I have never taken LSD but I have always been curious to see if all the colours and other worlds people experienced on it really happened. That would have been incredible. The imagination when fully fledged is kind of like an LSD experience, don’t you think? Awesome!
Hi GERALDINE:
Oh, absolutely. The selves we remember from our childhood have a lot of things to teach us. I do believe children are very wise!!!
Hi ATTILA:
(Great to see you, by the way.) It is amazing art. I would love to be able to paint/draw like that!
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Hi Selma,
Who ever did that painting done a fantastic job. A very good 3D affect, he/she has blended it all very well with the bush beside it, a very nice job.
Isn’t it amazing when you think back to your childhood and some of the things we came up with in our minds, imagination is a wonderful thing.
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What a beautiful post. It may seem funny, but when I was a kid I had a “Viewmaster” toy – you know, the viewer that you put film in and see pictures in 3D. I used to imagine fantasy worlds when I stared into my Viewmaster; my imagination went far beyond the scenes – whether from the Montreal Expo ’67 or the Flintstones. My mind would wander behind the buildings or the cartoon bushes and explore a fantasy world. Thanks for stirring that memory Selma. Needless to say, I love the way you see.
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Hi MAGS:
It was done really well, wasn’t it? Very professional job, actually. I so agree – my mind was working over time when I was a kid. The things I thought of make me laugh now. It would be fair to say there was never a dull moment.
Hi JENNIFER:
I used to love those Viewmasters. I had one too. I was the same as you, imagining all sorts of worlds in there. I also did the same thing with kaleidoscopes. I had forgotten about the Viewmasters. They were so much fun!!
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Oh Selma, this post was as magical as the other worlds you wanted to see between the cracks!
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Hi MELEAH:
😀 😀 😀 ♡♥
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Lewis Carrol certainly started something with ‘Alice in Wonderland!
The Alice-type ‘hidden world’ theme has been repeated so many times … in the ‘Narnia’ books, on ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Stargate-SG-1” ‘Torchwood’ … also the BBC TV series ‘Primeval’ … although, in that case, you probably wouldn’t like what’s on the other side of ‘The Anomaly’
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I used to believe the same thing as a child, Sel. Actually, I still kind of believe the same thing…about magical worlds just beyond what we see in the day to day.
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Hi TRAVELRAT:
I do think my peeping Tom tendencies were a direct result of reading ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and the Narnia books. When I look back I realise I must have driven my mother crazy always looking through the cracks in walls. And you’re right, the theme has been repeated everywhere. Torchwood. What a great show!
Hi STEPH:
Truth be told I partly believe it too. It keeps me going because sometimes that real world out there is just a little too much to take. Give me a crack in the wall with paradise beyond anyday!
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Ooh, yes me too! We had a split level garden and I spent hours tumbling down the grass bank into “Wonderland”. Enid Blyton and Narnia were also favourites.
On another note, did you watch the Doctor Who episodes with the “crack” in the world, or time, or whatever it was? Seriously freaky. But not as scary as the weeping angels. Yikes.
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HI DAOINE:
OMG. I would have loved a split level garden. How fabulous! I would have been out there every day making stuff up.
Yes. I love that episode of Doctor Who. I don’t know if it is just one writer on Doctor Who or a number of writers but they are excellent, don’t you think? Extremely imaginative. I love the storylines so much!
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This brings back memories of make believe as a child. Where I grew up there was a woody area complete with rolling hills and valleys and I used to imagine what it would be like to have lived hundreds of years ago, as it was all untouched by progress, it seemed like it would be ideal. Except nowadays I wouldnt be so willing to give up my comforts, like running water and indoor plumbing and a/c in the summer 🙂
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Hi CATHY:
If I had grown up with all that woodland behind me I would have imagined the same thing. How fantastic. But yes, like you I would find it hard not to have running water and an inside loo. And the internet and a fridge. We really are spoilt these days, aren’t we?
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