Corridors and Thunderstorms

Yesterday was quite a surreal day. Firstly, as I complained yesterday in my post, I didn't manage to utter a single word to anyone. I spent the day wandering around the empty department, trying to work out where things were. There's something liberating about having a building almost entirely to oneself. When I got back to halls, I did the same there again. A partial reason for the desertedness of Scott Hall then became apparent when I found that the second floor was actually a geography teaching department which appeared to have been hidden away here with no external signposts that I could see. Third floor was partly the 'Department of Corrections' whilst fourth- and fifth-floor were made up of residential rooms (I'm on fourth) - but none of them had any names or posters on the door. I had the most surreal feeling as I poked around, as if I were the only person in existance at that particular time and place.

I wonder, does a large part of our being rely on our interactions with other people? Maybe to some extent we define ourselves by how we communicate and coexist with other creatures - if not humans, then at least other living creatures. For me, my day with no communication with anything living other than my plants and two goldfish certainly took on an almost unreal feeling, as if I was existing in some sort of purgatory dreamstate. Normally, if I were to wander around a deserted place, I would feel spooked. Instead I felt very detached, like a spectator in the lives of the people who live and work here normally, and I was only passing through studying things frozen at a particular moment in time.

The surreal quality of the day continued into the evening. As I sat in my room at my computer, I glimpsed flashes of purple light out of the window. When I looked out, I saw what seemed like a spectacular storm to me, though maybe it was just a normal small storm here. On a weird impulse I grabbed my coat and shoes (but forgot the socks) and ran down the stairs and outside into the rain. I've never seen a storm with so much lightning, which lit up the sky in all shades of purple. The feel of the rain (I had my hood on, I'm a wuss) and the sounds of the rolling thunder was absolutely exhilarating! I did see other people, one group trying to make a dash to their car but ended up beating a hasty retreat back inside, amidst much squealing and losing their battle to close their umbrella. I wonder how I looked to them, standing outside in the rain, or maybe I realy wasn't visible to them, still in my onlooker mode.

I still didn't manage to say anything to anyone all day.