Off season

Meer over het boek

The joyous scenes of vacation—children laughing, teenagers enjoying gelato, and families basking in the sun—are fleeting as the season comes to an end. The beaches empty, discos quiet, and families with school-age children head home, crossing paths with migratory birds. The lifeguards perform their annual ritual of closing down the beach: power-washing chairs, dry-docking boats, and boarding up cottages against winter storms. The village stores shutter, the newsstand offers no new headlines, and the bus schedule is reduced. A mild autumn sun sets blood red over the water, waves erasing children’s sandcastles. In this moment of reflection, the narrator grapples with the passage of time, using a camera to capture memories and fend off melancholy. The wide-angle lens distorts the shoreline, emphasizing the insignificance of the self against the vastness of nature. Each wave brings memories, yet the water washes away the sand beneath their feet, symbolizing the transient nature of life. The photographs serve as reminders of those who have come and gone, mere footprints in the sand, destined to be erased. Yet, with each passing fall, the narrator vows to return, camera in hand, to capture the beauty of fleeting moments.