Not Coachella (Day 1)

Other than quirky titles, other things that make me giddy: fairs & festivals.
Perhaps it's the bright lights, the fairytale music or bellowing voices from behind stalls. Somehow they manage to locate my inner (and outer) child. The one who will willingly spend $20 on a game that guarantees a win of $0. And play with so much faith, in assurance that the 5th attempt will be different. To this day, I maintain the tiniest bit of hope, that I'll come along and throw several winning balls into a clowns mouth, on the first go. I imagine everyone will be shocked and I'll be awarded with the biggest tiger on show. Not that I really want it - honestly, the satisfaction would be enough.
Call me childish but it's all so exciting and magical, that it really does feel nostalgic. Not the nostalgia that edges on the point of sadness, but rather, the opposite. Leading you to bask in contentment. Yet, all the same, it resembles into sneak-peek of the circus I never joined; a memory of the carnival I never went to.
On it's last day, I found myself at the Auckland Easter show. My brother and I, scuffing our shoes in dirt and chewing long candy. Of all, happy to be amongst the atmosphere. I took some shots in the midst of the hustle. The lady advertising Lucky Numbers even stopped mid-speech to smile. I laughed; With her one action, I felt like we'd make good friends. She just seemed like my kind of person.
As we made our way around every corner of the fair, starting with an (extremely) quick stop at the farm zone, and ending watching candy floss turn, I noticed one thing was missing. Weirdly, we didn't have the same urge to ride everything we saw, as was once present in our adolescence.
If I had a great amount of maturity, I'd probably blame it on that. Even add a 'ha', emphasising how two months from sixteen has brought me so above it all. But, it wasn't that. I don't think it was a feeling of 'been there, done that', either. I think maybe there are just days when one decides to be a wallflower, and this was one. In reach of good old innocence again. The innocence and thus, ability to fantasise, that us kids understand more when we're six, than when we're twelve. It seems adults should take these days more often too.
To all of you, never try to act too-cool for festivals and fairs. These people just don't exist there.
McKenzie xx