As I write this, we’re only hours away from watching one of Lady Laura’s most-loved comedians perform live at the O2 Arena.
No, it’s not me on this occasion.
Jimmy Carr is one of the UK’s most prominent comics, and this trip will mark the dozenth time we’ve gone to this arena.
We’ve seen Usher twice there…
Justin Timberlake…
Floyd Mayweather…
Steps (don’t judge me)…
John Bishop…
And a number of other talented chaps and chapesses that my weary mind is failing to recall.
And that’s just me.
That arena has had millions upon millions of people push through its gates and buy their grossly overpriced Budweisers to be entertained and/or relive their youth.
It got me thinking about all the laughs, cries, and drunken cheers those walls have struggled to contain over the years.
Imagine all the friends, siblings, and lovers dancing the night away to old songs.
That’s a lot of energy in one place, don’t you think?
My question is:
Where does it all go once the show is over?
Does it dissipate with the crowds, or is it layered into the walls, seats, and vaulted ceiling like the thousands of nights before it?
I was originally thinking up ways to describe such places once every reveller has gone home; words that depict the deafening silence left behind.
I soon settled on:
Halls of absent thunder.
Me likes that one mucho.
I know this is all “quite deep” for a Wednesday, but I did warn you that my musings are unhinged and occasionally sobering.
And in the spirit of all things marketing — and the desperate need to transition this introspective piece into a shameless pitch for my wares — I believe books are also halls for such thunder.
On the outside, they are “just” digital or physical parchment with black ink dotted across them.
What people don’t see is the hum of the story inside.
The gentle wave of electricity sewn in by the author and amplified by the many hundreds or thousands of souls that laughed or cried flipping through the pages before them.
But unlike a concert, you can relive those moments by simply reopening a book.
Better still, you’ll likely uncover new ones.
(Such is the power of re-reading or re-watching your favourite stories.)
So if you’re the kind of soul who likes to peel behind the veil and ask deeper questions — or have characters ask them for you — then you’ll find plenty across the five books inside The Divided Region.
Unlike halls of absent thunder, this series unleashes bolts of lightning from the very first page.
The link, as always, is here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/TDR-Bundle
DJJW