there are places - certain urban areas - that i frequent, and which feel so different now to how i remember them upon first being there. and not just that the feeling is different, but that they give an overall impression now of an entirely different place; the place i remember is no more, even if i am actually standing there. some of this is of course because these places change over time, but familiarity seems to have a much stronger effect. on first visit these places are labryinthian and mysterious, and i must take in the whole thing holistically as anything could be a point of interest. familiarity gives everything meaning, it places things in physical context with eachother and defines what i pay attention to and what i ignore.

a similar effect has happened everywhere i've lived, but there the familiarity is far more tangible, metaphorical or literal grooves worn into carpet as i have settled in to the place. curiously, it is only in these places that i have occasionally found, just for a few moments, that i am able to re-experience what it was like to be there for the first time. a certain smell, or i look at things just right, and it is if the place is still empty and i haven't moved in.