I went on a lovely, sunny walk in the Forest with my daughter, this afternoon. We went off the beaten track, trying to find the other side of the lake, where my daughter imagines something special hides – we didn’t find it this time.

However we did find a burst balloon hanging from a tree. It’s a message from Katy to Jess who was a good friend who always made her laugh and cry. Unfortunately, I can’t make out any more as the message was written on a self-adhesive label that was wrapped around the string. The message was destroyed as I tried to open it up. I’ve tried photographing it from behind and blending two side of the message together on photoshop, but there is not enough to work on.

Probably a good thing too. It feels like a heartfelt message of loss.

Maybe such messages should be consumed by fire, which will take the meaning up into the heavens with it. Trusting it to a balloon is not safe. Anyone could find it and distort the meaning and sentiment of the message so that if it ever gets to where it was heading, the wrong impression will be given to whoever the message was meant for. Hmm! It there an idea for a story here?