Day 746

Most old buildings eventually succumb to their surroundings, ivy grows over them and they collapse under their own weight. This is not the case for a decaying block of flats on the outskirts of Ilford that appears to be growing new windows.

Each window is different in style, shape and view. One looks like a ship's porthole and shows some kind of seaweed gently drifting about in a presumed current. Past the seaweed glimpses of a vast coral reef can be seen and people diving down to collect what appears to be branches.

Somebody once smashed this window only for it to fix itself up the next day. While it was broken I saw the ground around it was soaking and smelled like salt water, the seaweed had dried and shrivelled up,the reef in the background was a dusty grey husk and people were walking about in the distance, dazed and confused.

Once the glass was repaired again nothing was quite the same inside. Everything seemed duller and stiffer, like it was still dead but slowly coming back to health. Even the people moved stiffly, no longer swimming about but instead walking along the floor with a slow, carefully measured pace.

Some of the windows further up have people who open them, climb out and presumably have lives on this side of wherever they're from. I met one once as they had just finished sliding down the drain pipe. They didn't seem to have a discernible gender but called themself "Ali from Finance" as if that was their location, job and surname all rolled into one. They seemed normal enough but for the second set of teeth where gums should be. I don't see them around often.

Another "resident" lives much further down, his window peeping out from halfway through the path. He sometimes try to climb out but mostly yell at anyone passing by to bring him something from the local fish and chip shop. He never gives money for it though, he gives silver leaves which is what passes for currency on his side of the window. I suppose more people would listen to him if he didn't look like a cross between a pig, a bear and a lizard.