by Steve Tanham
Kendal has a network of old alleyways. I’ve written about them before. They form useful shortcuts across the town. A kind of ancient ‘worm-hole’ is how it feel when you’re striding along one, knowing that you’re shaving precious seconds off the normal time; or sheltered, collar up on the long raincoat, from the cutting wind and rain of a Cumbrian January.
Yard 17 is one of my favourites. Its gritty, faded – and dark in the winter. In the summer, we could be somewhere in a Sicilian market town, perched high above the ocean.
I play a mental game of writing the opening to a detective story there. Perhaps just footsteps heard, and maybe a single clue left on the cobblestones next to one of the doorways. No crime visible … yet.
But then we get to the end of alleyway and the sun bursts through the morning clouds and fills Yard 17 with blazing light – the opening shot.
And any idea of writing such a dark tale vaporises…
©Stephen Tanham 2023
Stephen Tanham is a Director of the Silent Eye, a journey through the forest of personality to the dawn of Being.
http://www.thesilenteye.co.uk and http://www.suningemini.blog
Sun in Gemini 
Ah, so write the outline of the story before getting to the sunny part 😁
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Exactly, Robbie!
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Fond memories of Kendal, but not for its alleyways. An aborted holiday due to engine failure when I was a child and we ended up staying in B&B there for a week. I took my parents to see The Sound of Music (my 5th viewing) and bought poster paints!
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So not too bad, in the end? 😀
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It was OK actually and once the car was fixed, we were able to carry on with our camping holiday. Dad had an estate car and I slept on the bench seat and they slept in the back. The first night I rolled over and sat on the horn, so from then on, it was my head by the steering wheel! Happy memories.
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