{"id":12414,"date":"2021-05-30T12:52:40","date_gmt":"2021-05-30T12:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/?p=12414"},"modified":"2022-12-01T17:51:19","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T17:51:19","slug":"we-value-your-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/2021\/05\/we-value-your-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"We value your memories."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Facebook shows me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos of old friends I\u2019ve not seen in a decade, or more. It tells me people who don\u2019t know me from Adam think I should go fund them. It applies a bolt of you know, those hormones that make you start, sweat, and feel like you\u2019re not really here? Like you\u2019re not sure who the hell you are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminds me of long walks with my good dog that finish up at the fire with pint glasses and friends. Bliss I can recall with a blink and a think anytime I like \u2014 but I don\u2019t too often as it makes me cry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminds me of walking past 15th century homes on my way to pick up milk and bread, looking around like: \u201cI\u2019m in heaven now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminds me of my intense colleagues where I felt a rush for the work I was doing, for the permission just to be part of something exciting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me steak and frite, Belgian beer bought in Bruges brewed by brothers in brown. Waffles on cobbled streets and Flemish masters\u2019 coloured oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminds me of times I couldn\u2019t walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me pictures of my hand, more machine now than man, twisted and evil\u2026 or, hopped up on tramadol watching csf leak from my ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me pills and slings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows moving boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me moving boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me unpacking moving boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me a new dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me my dead dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows a different car, full of moving boxes, and a different car in a different driveway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me the letters I wrote to stop the vote. It shows me my pleas not to rip Europe away from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me stood with the Queen\u2019s face acrylic as a man with a sword stood while I submitted myself to her painted majesty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me the place where a bishop flicked cold water on my face and made me a different kind of Christian \u2014 whatever that means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It shows me in a car with the wheel on the left. On the right. It reminds me I\u2019m in Indiana, Ithaca, New York America, Cambridge, Yorkshire, Northants, Shrops, Herts, N1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It plays with my timeline, it\u2019s algorithm learning to crack the psyche of those weak-minded people like me (waves<\/em>) whose grasp on their own identity is always tenuous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who the hell am I, anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I want my dog and hillwalking. I\u2019ve not got any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like a pint, but haven\u2019t got that either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like mates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d like me. Whichever\u2019s available, whichever\u2019s familiar. I\u2019ll wait here while the algorithm tells
Me
A story
About our hero
Who\u2019s called Zach \u2014 and that\u2019s all we can tell
You right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe value your memories.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facebook shows me. Photos of old friends I\u2019ve not seen in a decade, or more. It tells me people who don\u2019t know me from Adam think I should go fund them. It applies a bolt of you know, those hormones that make you start, sweat, and feel like you\u2019re not really here? Like you\u2019re not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1868,34,1618],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bio","category-life","category-pandemic-notes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/img_2108.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12416,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12414\/revisions\/12416"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zachbeauvais.com\/host\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}