Overrated

I sit on the beach. This isn't the start of a romantic story by the way. This is a beach in Britain in good old England, so pebbles rather than sand and it's cold so my backside is slightly numb and the sea is the colour of soup. It's a very unremarkable day... Dull, grey and uneventful.

Which is hilarious when I tell you it's the 1st January 2000. The millennium, y2k, whatever. What a disappointment! No shocking revelations, no disasters and no millennium bug. My telly worked just fine this morning and my computer didn't want to kill me. See? My resolution to think positively worked then!

Instead, it's dull and my head hurts. I'm definitely hungover possibly still a bit drunk. Note to self, necking neat vodka at midnight is a bad idea.

So yeah, I'm sitting on the beach, hungover, looking out at gruel thinking about how little has changed and how people make so much fuss over one blinking day. I'm definitely fed up and dreading the cold walk back home. I'd get a bus but at five pounds flat fare for today no way, besides, it's all I've got for the week...

So I walk, broke and low. I take a short cut into the park. Last night the place was magical, there were fireworks and laughter. Today it's desolate save for the piles of drinks bottles, crisp packets and takeaway cartons. The park stinks, no one could be bothered to use the portable toilets so used the flowers beds instead. My stomach lurches, I wished I took the long route.

Something catches my eye,

What is this?

A blank notebook, quite nice, leather bound. Wow, I think, someone must have been totally wasted to drop this. Taking a pen out of my bag, I write on the first page:

I'd like something to happen please and for this hangover to go. 

There! Although most notebooks I have end up unloved and filled with "to do lists" that never get filled.

I arrive home and flop into the bed. Exhausted from last night's partying I drift off...

It's pitch black when I wake up. No streetlights. Strange. 

I switch the telly on, nothing. Must be a powercut. Great, kettle won't be working, so much for a cup of tea. My head feels clear though, that sleep helped, I'll just sit pretty until the power comes back on, can't be too long. Someone must have drawn a short straw at the National Grid... I find a torch, light some candles, grab a book...

There's shouting outside, glass smashes, a feel of panic. It dawns on me that something isn't right. Why is the power not back on?

The phone lines dead, I'm not surprised. Who can I ring anyway?

Oh god, the shouting is getting louder. A bang, is that an engine backfiring? Please don't let it be gunfire...

Bang. My toe hits the coffee table and I trip, landing on the floor my eyes level with the video recorder. It's blue green display flashing in the light.

My first thought is: oh good, the powers back on...

When I read what it says...

1st January 1900...

© 2019 Kit-the-obscure