On our way to the local cafe we pass this row of likeable houses. I wonder why I like them? The big windows that start from the floor, the plain solid front door, the ornamental balconies, the small front gardens, most of them with small trees and bushes.
But this general way of looking, this casual gaze, is not what I’m seeing as attractive about these houses. What am I seeing here? Is it about the architecture? The way these general elements have been organised, designed, the proportions, the colour, the detail, the materials chosen, a quality of thinking that lies behind these buildings?
The streets have become familiar. What I look at and what attracts my eye is understood in a superficial way. I look at surfaces and walk on. This cursory glance has nowhere to go, it stops at either liking or not liking what I look at. I feel I need to learn to see the everyday.
For Sale. Asking price, £3,000,000.
(1630)
