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| Picture this: Double-three, double-six, double-six. If we’re going to be ‘good and proper’, let’s call it teal. For me, the word teal conjures up a life of boredom. Teal is boring. Boring is teal. But here we are, in the swamp of Colour Vision. A feature which stitches my sojourn to the screen, with coloured thread. Teal thread.
Therefore, my travels were never boring. I can honestly say I was never bored. Therefore, teal, you are banished. NO MORE TEAL. 336666, harbours the devil. Perhaps 336666 is three hundred and thirty-six devils? More likely, it’s thirty-three devils and a lonely traveller. Sobbing because their only friend is the devil. No one likes travel devils. NO MORE DEVILS. When I first saw 33six-six66, I was hit by an airplane. It was a Cathay Pacific airplane. Right out of the sky, as I zoomed in to explore the tonal NO MORE PLANES. The other sensation I gorged upon — just fleetingly — was sea turtles. I was hurled back to the teardrop of India, Sri Lanka. An island which I found ravaged by war: Hindus versus Buddhists. Government versus Terrorists. Barbed wire versus The People. For a couple of weeks I immersed myself in the plight of sea turtles. I toured wide-eyed children around chipped concrete tanks. I made gentle hand movements, and smiled in all the right places. I shocked them. Taught them. Then looked them in the eye and held out a donation bucket. I thought this was the colour of a wrinkly sea turtle neck. But then I looked again. And the bucket disappeared. The wide-eyed child ran away and the tanks completely disintegrated. NO MORE SEA TURTLES So, what is 336666? It’s the colour of tranquil times, and wayward dreams. The tailfin I’ve never seen, the turtle I couldn’t save. Like travel, 33six-six66 can be orderly. Like travel, 3366six-six can lead you astray. |
Looking back, as I distance myself from the creative aspect of the series. This colour is smeared in peaceful undertones. There’s elements of being beneath the sea, an environment that cannot fail to instil calmness.
Sure, you could be lurched at by a terrible looking fish, but your elastic emotions will inherently recover quicker than on terra firma.
I touched briefly on my time in Sri Lanka, and I’d like to invite you to read about the moment I made the decision to volunteer to help protect the sea turtles. It’s a powerful, stirring and unforgettable time from The Trail and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the read.
Do you have anything you’d like to share about this piece? What do you see in #336666? Do you like the series?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is the first time I’m reading this series…it’s bizarre but I was oddly compelled to keep reading your almost stream-of-consciousness on it! It also happens to be the color of my site background, so that caught my eye 🙂 Intriguing Ant, very intriguing series.
The colour of your web site — that’s such a bizarre coincidence! Do you know how many hex colours there are? SIXTEEN MILLION! We should buy a lottery ticket.
I’m glad you were compelled to read it; and I agree, “stream-of-consciousness” is a nice description.
[I hasten to add, any reference to teal as being boring is now withdrawn — Shannon’s website is built on excitement, and vigour. Two very un-boring elements.]
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