Strange Helmets

Our last day in Darlington and we spent some time packing our cases and generally pottering about. At one point I decided to walk over to the nearest Newsagents to see if I could procure a Woman’s Own magazine - not for me in case you are wondering but for L’s cousin back in the US. On the way back I came across these abandoned helmets in the park. Now what had happened here I wondered? Had 2 cyclists decided to climb the tree as a random dare? But where were the bikes? I surmised they probably had not taken them with them up the tree! Perhaps 2 Russian skydivers had parachuted into the park and quickly doffed their helmets and run from pursuing MI5 agents? Or perhaps they were worn as protection against the army of wood pigeons inhabiting the park but the coast was clear and they were able to discard their cranial protection. In the end I decided they had simply been kidnapped along with their bikes but their captors felt the headgear was not currently in fashion so happy to abandon them, perhaps believing that 2 random cyclists might find them useful having forgotten to wear theirs when they left for a ride round the town.

It made me ponder the often random unexplained sights and events we encounter throughout our daily lives and the fact that we live in community with human beings going about their lives about whom we know so little. Each one has a back story and a life unique to themselves that we will never know. But occasionally we intersect with the evidence of their presence and wonder who they were and what were they doing. Life is full of such encounters and oftentimes we will never know. But it is sometimes fun to imagine!

We ended the day at Café Spice for some last chance Indian food. Tomorrow we move on and make our way back to the US.