Tel us about the experience of being outside, looking in — however you’d like to interpret that.
Photographers, artists, poets: show us OUTSIDE.
East Ham market in London – complete with gate and fence, to keep the shoppers out or to stop them leaving. Probably at night everything is closed with the danger that someone might have the idea of breaking in and stealing things.
I think today we lock everything outside, confronted with permanent worry of being robbed.
When I was a kid I grew up in a poorer part of London, we even used newspaper in the outside toilet now and again if there was no other suitable paper available; of course in the old days no big problem. The soft hygienic touch we are today accustomed to did not yet exist, but this being perhaps a subject for a blog about telling how it was in the olden unhygienic days, I will continue. I remember if we kids played outside in the street, all the street doors were open, the key was only used to lock the door if the house was empty. There was no danger that someone might walk in the door and take something. We had nothing to take.
Things change over the years. I moved to Switzerland, my parents moved to another part of London and eventually had a house with an inside toilet and bathroom, but now there was something to take if you were not careful. Not that my parents had a lot more, but the toilet paper was soft and comfortable and there were fitted carpets on the floor: at that time if you had fitted carpets, you had made it. I remember visiting my mum and dad with my family from Switzerland. We all went on a shopping trip at the local mall and returned home in the early evening. We entered the house and I switched on the lights in the living room.
That was a mistake, mum rushed into the room and jumped at the curtains and drew them immediately. “Pull the curtains, pull the curtains” she was saying in an excited loud voice. I quickly looked around in the room to see what we were hiding, but everything was the same as always; no gold bars laying on the table, no Picasso painting on the wall, just the normal working class uninteresting surroundings. We did have a painting on the wall that mum had bought in the local supermarket depicting an oriental lady, but I realised that this painting was hanging in more than 50% of the local houses.
“What’s wrong mum?”
“If you put the light on and the curtains are not drawn, everyone can see inside.”
I decided not to reason with mum, she was always right, but I realised with the increasing wealth and better standards, people began to lock themselves in. On the same visit to London we were staying at my parent’s house and it was evening. Dad was doing something in the kitchen which backed onto the garden. I heard a noise and my dad was in the garden. I asked what happened. He told me that he looked out and saw a “bloke” (we are cockneys) jump over the garden fence, run down the garden with the neighbour running after him. This “bloke” had wanted to break into one of the houses.
Another visit I paid a few years later, I was on my own at my dad’s place. I was helping him with the housework and used the vacuum cleaner. Vacuum cleaners were not use so much in my family, more for showing everyone that we had one. I was probably doing something wrong and the vacuum cleaner exploded sending up a cloud of dust. I do not think the vacuum cleaner had ever been used so much. Anyhow, I put the vacuum cleaner outside by the house wall for the next rubbish collection and bought my dad a new one. We had no problem with the broken vacuum cleaner. Five minutes after I had put it outside, it disappeared, no longer there. Someone had hopped over the garden wall and taken it. Dad and I had to have a chuckle, the vacuum cleaner motor was kaput, but otherwise it just looked like a normal vacuum cleaner. How times change.
Back in Switzerland we have locks on most of our windows to be opened with a key as well as metal blinds. There is a special safety lock on the door and a motion detecting light outside on the porch; not for our felines that they can see better in the dark, but since my neighbour’s apartment was broken into during the afternoon and she had some valuable jewellery stolen, the neighbour and I both had one fitted.
Today we all live inside, but we are all worried about those living outside that might want to come in.
I was going to write something about being a “foreigner” living in Switzerland, but realised I am today more Swiss than English and no longer have the alien touch. I even speak the language. If in Rome Switzerland do as the Romans Swiss do. I still do not have a numbered Swiss bank account, but to compensate the Swiss state collects my tax money.
Outside Pingbacks
- The Great White… | The Jittery Goat
- Enjoying Outdoors | Dance with the Rain
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | My Outlook on the World
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Under the Monkey Tree
- The Outsider | My Little Avalon
- Monica Spear’s Murder Shines Light on Venezuela’s Violent Crime/Se resalta la violencia venezolana con la muerte de Mónica Spear | DCMontreal: Blowing the Whistle on Society
- DP Daily prompt: The Outsiders | Sabethville
- One Night of Invisibility | likereadingontrains
- Cold Glass | Kate Murray
- The Outsiders | A mom’s blog
- Sounds from the Outside | pen . paper . storm
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | laura-in-china
- Daily Prompt: Outside | Not The Sword But The Pen
- The Outsiders | My Days In A Song
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Incidents of a Dysfunctional Spraffer
- Downtown Chicago in the Early Hours | As I please
- Outsider | Lost in Adeline’s
- Look out for the outsiders | Sue’s Trifles
- daily prompt: the otsiders | aimanss…
- The Outsiders? | Geek Ergo Sum
- Outside Looking In | Momma Said There’d Be Days Like This
- The language of Heaven? | Tales of a slightly stressed Mother!
- worn | yi-ching lin photography
- 248. Outside Looking In | Barely Right of Center
- That Mirror Image: What has Changed | THE OVERCOMING
- The Outsiders | L5GN
- Outside | Rebecca Barray – Writer/Photographer
- Little Jimmy | Code Name Incog
- The Outsiders | The Story of a Guy
- Daily Prompt: The Outsider | Square One Notes
- Looking Inside | Flowers and Breezes
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Finding Life
- Daily Prompt: Outside: Hunting Senior Portraits | Daily Prompt & Blogging Progress
- Staying Outside Helps | crookedeyebrows
- Losing Balance | Broken Light: A Photography Collective
- My Coorg Trip | all my likes
- The Outsiders | Shakespeare’s Sugar Spun Sister
- The Best Thing About Night Shifts | HEART KINDLING
- The Outsider in me | Life Love Lily
- Pennine Photography
- Children and Chocolate Outside: Daily Prompt | alienorajt
- DAILY PROMPT: FOREVER OUTSIDE, ALWAYS PEERING IN | SERENDIPITY
- Carte Blanche: | Shade Walker
- Outside But In | Lisa’s Kansa Muse ~ Dreamy abstraction in a 100 year old Four Square Farm House
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Awl and Scribe
- 6 critical things I wish I knew three years ago about how to reduce cholesterol | The Curious Giraffe: Habits for Radiant Well-Being
- Resonate | Daily Prompt | Word Disorder
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | iChristian
- Daily Prompt: Outside in Ha Long Bay | Mishe en Place
- My New ‘Don’t Ask’ Policy | Just Visiting This Planet
- Out Back… | Haiku By Ku
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders : Disfixional
- The magic window | Life is great
- WINTER WISH « MY WALL
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders « Mama Bear Musings
- The Outsiders – | Randomlyabstract’s Blog
- looking in from outside | sarahscapes
- The Other Side | Retrofocus
- Swallowed ghosts | shame
- Daily Prompt: What it looks from the outside | My Endless Rants & Ramblings
- A Picture Metaphor of Depression |
- The To Be Continued… of Falling in Love | An Upturned Soul
- Outsider | johnny ojanpera
- Disassociation – Being the Outsider | Real Life Co.
- A little different… musings on blogging from the outside | Vampire Maman
- Always peering in… | Hope* the happy hugger
- Unclean!!!! Unclean? /The Outsider | I’m a Writer, Yes I Am
- The Outsiders | The Nameless One
- Blind | Stories from aside
- The Outsiders | dreaming of melville
- BLACK OUT | hastywords
- Outside | Northwest Frame of Mind
- Of being outside, looking in | Concentrate On Yourself
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | One Starving Activist
- I Didn’t Know I Wasn’t Welcome Here | Grilled Cheese (& Other Things That Make My World Go ‘Round)
- HAPnHAP
- Outside Look of a Dream | Passionate Dreaming
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Basically Beyond Basic
- Door to the Past: Outside of Presidio Building | Exploring the world
- The Whims and Wishes of One Little Bug | meanderedwanderings
- Outsider: Struggles with Religious Identity | forgiveness for wanderers
- Outside? | Words ‘n Pics…
- The Outsiders | Wicked Words
- Outside to Inside.. | Dreams to Reality !
- Going Outside? | Photography Journal Blog
- Drops of Rain Outside | Crumbs Sugar Cookie and Pillow Featherbed Twins
- I saw me | Emovere
- Daily Prompt: Outside Looking In | Morrighan’s Muse
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | To Breathe is to Write
- PLAYING WITH DEATH | Standing Ovation, Seated
- An Outsider on Christmas Eve | melanielynngriffin
- The Outsiders:Daily Prompt | The Joy of Health Nutrition and Beauty
- In or Out? | Fictionalism
- The Stranger Inside Me | Dick-ta-tion
- This Outsider, Right Here | aMUSEing THINGS
- The outsiders | Life as a country bumpkin…not a city girl
- Daily Prompt: Outsiders | This Blog Needs A Title
- The Outsiders: The Undateables – Moving, Inspirational, Uplifting! | lynnesartandsoul
- Crashing the Party | Ginger’s Grocery
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Shannon’s Creative Work
- Something in the air. | Climb Every Molehill
- Insider? Outsider? Depends. | Emotional Fitness
- Storefront Window | Nodus Tollens
- Outside looking in | Purple Rosemary
- From the Outside Looking in: Daily Prompt | babystepstowriting
- Frozen Falls – Jeroen’s Journal
- He Doesn’t Mind, But I Do
- Outsiders – how does it feel to be on the outside? | Laura’s Little Things
- Daily prompt: Misfit prime time | helen meikle’s scribblefest
- Outsiders Grace « Not Quite Home
- [M.M.X.I.V. 9] Social periphery | noah121weiss
- My California Girl | charlottesville winter
- Looking out, looking in | Theresa J. Barker
- Outsiders | Exploratorius
- The outsider | Sonhos desencontrados
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Words We Women Write
- Inside out | Melissa
- Outside, Looking In | The Teen Theme
- This Post I Wrote | Edward Hotspur
- Fat On the Outside | Shades of Teal
- Fat On the Outside | Boxes
- Outside Looking In | Finale to an Entrance
- WP Daily Post- Outsider: Looks Aren’t Everything | by LRose
- How I Became A Slut…(warning mature content) | Quiet Desperation
- Outside, Looking In | The Silver Leaf Journal
- Staying in Focus: Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Staying in Focus
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | by LRose
- Blue Sky in Barcelona | Travel with Intent
- The point of the story | Turning Pages
- Being The Weird One | Polymathically
- Outsiders: Being held back by mental health | Speak Through Fingers
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders – “A Glass Wall” | A Midnight Blog
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Nicole Sloan’s Writing
- The Outsiders – Ramblings from the Swamp
- The Day I Met Myself | Wiley’s Wisdom
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Lux
- Outsider « My journey to qualify for the Boston Marathon…and everything in between…
- Gate | Mara Eastern’s Personal Blog
- Life on the Outside | My Author-itis
- Outside | The Land Slide Photography
- The Outsider | divorced doodling
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Image Incite
- Casseroles and Condolences | field of thorns
- I’m Not Sister Pauline | Muddy River Muse
- of wtf moments « Anawnimiss
- Outsider | Crescent Moon Yoga – Kalpanaa’s Yoga Blog
- 999 Outsiders | Aurora Morealist
- Daily Prompt: The Outsiders | Nola Roots, Texas Heart
- A Night Out with Blueberry | Raspberry’s Daydreams
- January 9 Daily Prompt: The Outside- Sleepless Nights | Like Ocean Waves