Dept. of Minor Observations
A repository of bulletins, field reports, working papers, and notices concerning small thoughts, odd details, internet archaeology, abandoned drafts, and gentle critiques of modern digital culture. Items are classified, stamped, and filed accordingly.
On streets that are named after things that are no longer there
Mill Road. Forge Lane. Orchard Close. Tannery Court. Bakehouse Close.
These street names record a working landscape that has been entirely
replaced by the streets themselves. The mill is gone, the road remains,
still named after it. The forge, the tannery, the
bakehouse, all gone. The orchard is definitely no longer close. Sometimes these have not been there for centuries.
The Department finds this form of accidental memorial curious. No
one decided to commemorate these things. The names were once functional
then they became decorative and now they are historical without having
any history. The landscape is annotated, if you give it
enough time.