A statement of intent

To Taielle, a friend who inspired me to write again ...

It is early in the morning. London is not foggy anymore, which makes the city less of an icon for those who were brought up reading the incredible Sherlock and his loyal Doctor Watson. However it is a beautiful morning. The sun shines timidly, who knows for how long, and the street is busier every minute with romantic husbands and boyfriends rushing to buy freshly baked bread and croissants for their unaware, sleeping beauties. Few things like breakfast in bed with someone special at your side ...

Two things come to my mind as I look through the window into the streets of London. The first, that it is time to clean the windows. The second .... well, the second is the same flood of thoughts any amateur writer faces in front of a blank computer screen: what to write when the list of possibilities is so enormous? From evermore common topics like travelling, to less than exciting ones like my job. From stories about my fortunes or misfortunes, to tales about you or about someone else. Awesome power that of skilled writers who can create a new world from the emptyness of a white sheet of paper!

But then, under the cover of my confused thoughts, the answer smuggled into my mind. We all live in society, with few exceptions like the stranded Crusoe, I daresay. We all have rules to follow, which allow us to live together. Laws and regulations, social behaviour rules, religious rules, etc. But these same rules are a big weight on our shoulders too. These rules are like a mask on our faces, preventing us from being ourselves.

Why can I not remove that mask for a few pages and write about you and I putting aside those rules? Who is the person underneath the mask? Will it be a playful and happy person? Or a dark individual full of fear and remorse? That is then the task ahead. A trip of discovery, following the steps of Ulysses in search of answer that may or not be there. But if not an answer, I hope the trip will at least teach me something about that person underneath the mask. Good or bad.