What You'll Miss

Weird how a song will come on and kick you back a few years. I was sitting alone listening to The Lucksmiths this evening, doodling away on a scrap piece of paper at the table and not thinking of anything in particular. The song, What You’ll Miss, kicked on and by the time it got to the chorus I had started thinking of a night in April way back in 2003.

The Lawley crew had descended on the Greater Union way out in Innaloo to catch the late showing of some flick, I have no recollection of what it was, and by the time it was finished it was pretty late. The doors from the cinema were all locked bar one, which opened directly onto the huge carpark they’ve got behind the complex. There was unusually heavy fog and each of the lights in the corners of the empty expanse of ashpalt had that lens-flare effect you usually only get in X-Files episodes and B-grade horror movies. The kind of fog that seems to eat up all the usual ambient noise and leave everything a little sharply coloured. Highlights and shadows. Loss of gradation.

We decided we’d cruise past the Paddo on the way home and grab a couple before calling it a night. So everyone packed into their respective cars and we shot off. Turns out we were too late and the P was already shut. After a brief inter-car conference, people went their separate ways. Our car decided that we weren’t quite finished with the night. We headed back towards mine, the fog getting thicker by the minute.

I don’t know whose idea it was to head to Hamer Park but it was a good one. The park was totally deserted, the fog so thick that a torch from the boot of the car made a solid beam of light that trailed off into the sky. We stomped off into the middle of the oval, generally making idiots of ourselves. My camera was near totally ineffective. Any shot taken with the flash merely reflected off the moisture in the air and left me with a screen full of grey blotches. I experimented with a slower shutter speed, with interesting results.

From the centre of the oval, our school was barely visible. The squat buildings hidden in the fog. Only the light behind admin was on. A tall, thin pole with a fat, bore-water stain coloured light shining through the peppermint trees.

In the morning it felt like the world had stopped
And clenched like a giant fist up tight
But then you noticed the dust still dropped
And danced through the bedroom window light

It’s the woodsmoke smell of winter
It’s the sad things that you’ll miss
Like the woodsmoke smell of winter
And the sad things like this

Let it all come down like fog on a cold field
Let it all come down like frost on the lawn
Let it all come down like leaves in a teacup
Let it all come down like trees in a storm

The Lucksmiths – What You’ll Miss (mp3, 6mb)

Posted in Randoms on Friday August 5, 2005.