Our cathedrals of commerce
Perhaps it was something I ate. I spent the day with this strange impulse to go and buy a guitar. Not that I know how to play one (well, OK, I can pick at it and annoy others), thus no reason to actually lay cash on a countertop. What I’d really like to do is build a guitar: cut down a tree, dry the boards in my basement, learn the craft of the luthier. Maybe even wind my own strings. The whole package, rather than a cash and carry bargain. The urge is passing, as the darkness thickens. Good thing.
Right now, CBC is running a neat documentary on the shopping mall. The rise, the fall, the spreading to other cultures. Almost like a religious movement; in fact, the buildings have a certain church-like constant in their form and function. The fountains, the grand stairways, the high windows. Cathedrals for a consumer society.
In the last quarter century, I’ve seen a few of the retail addresses mutate into other functions. Rarely are local malls simply torn down, because we still have ample room for parking, but if your price per square foot reaches certain extremes, I can see where the bulldozer is part of the dream. Hey, in Sim City, one of the basic tools is just that.
Today marked the rude return to domestic life. My kitchen left me pining for the next new menu in some trendy bistro. On my table, my favourite C-food (chops, charred to perfection). Not exactly seafood, unless pigs can swim.
