03.10
“The English Barn” (That Almost Wasn’t) – photo-art from the archives – copyright Dennis Mealor 2015
Camera used (analog): Olympus OM-1 SLR
Returning to my home village – Parkgate, Wirral, England on a month-long visit in 1991, I was glad to see this old barn again. Very glad. Because, as an 8 year old, I set fire to its hay bails. I just wanted to see what would happen if I put a match to a hay bail. And of course, it took off like crazy. By some miracle (in panic) I put it out – with a piece of wood I think. Luckily maybe, the bail was still tied tightly, which gave me some time. Had I just run away – the barn would no doubt have been destroyed.
As a kid I used to play in the barn – as the cottage where I lived was nearby, in Swift’s Weint. A weint is a short alleyway between the cottages of the estuarine sea-front, and the cottages and fields behind. I left England at nearly age 10, to come to Australia. I also visited in 2005, same month as the London bombings. I now love the smell of hay – and from that particular smell I now know that it was probably Lucerne (Alfalfa) hay.
So glad I didn’t succeed in the barn’s burning.