Becoming a character in a short story by J G Ballard ...

Walking from Carlisle to Grinsdale, I thought that I was becoming a character in a short story by J G Ballard - 

I was as haunted, surely, as any of his ambiguous narrators - 

The widening river was bridged by crumbling brick structures - brutal spans of concrete were like abandoned bunkers - savage graffiti adorned damp walls -

Tall reeds bordered the river bank - banks of wild disordered flowers brushed against my legs - 

Unknown machinery growled in an industrial estate - 

Power lines crossed the river, strung between pylons neck laced with barbed wire - 

A train passed overhead - pale boys threw stones into the river -

I took photographs of two bridges - 

Penny, Alyson and Julia had walked on ahead - I ran after them -  

10.10

September 14 2014

Under the power lines

Between Carlisle and Grinsdale