An extra window in your living room

[Philip Edwards]

Would you like to have an extra window in your living room? One which shows a view of something from somewhere other than the actual view outside your house? A beach, a forest, a desert or a pavement cafe?

Some years ago, I read a sci-fi book called “Light of Other Days,” by the Irish author, Bob Shaw. It was a series of short stories based around the concept of a new invention called “slow glass”. Slow glass actually slowed down the time that it took for light to pass through the pane. So, you could put a piece of slow glass on top of a lamp-post. Sunlight would shine on to the top surface all day long. It would take hours for the sunlight to get through the glass. Ten hours later, the sunlight of the dawn would start to come through and illuminate the street during the hours of darkness. If a murder had occurred in that particular street, you took a pane of slow glass off the lamp-post and just waited for the light to get through to the other side so that you could witness what had actually occurred.

The author suggested that you’d be able to buy glass with different ratings. Hours, weeks, months of slowness. So, you’d be able to buy a large pane of glass that had spent a few years overlooking a beautiful view in the Lake District then fit it into your house. You’d have a live view in your living room. You’d even be able to see the postman making his regular deliveries.

 

Shortly after reading the book, I moved into a charming but dingy terraced cottage in the countryside.We had stunning views from the kitchen but the living room was like a prison cell. I so wished that slow glass was a thing of reality.

Step forward to 2020. We still haven’t got Slow Glass but maybe we have the next best thing. Just before The Great Lockdown, we’d bought ourselves a new 4K HD television. At the time, I didn’t know what 4K actually meant until my son-in-law put me right. It is Ultra High Definition T.V. He told me that not many T.V. broadcasts are put out in 4K yet but there are plenty of examples of it on Youtube. Some complete movies and T.V. series are available on Amazon Prime.

As lockdown progressed I really fell in love with some of the Slow Movies that they had to offer. These have no plot or cast. They simply show a continuous changing  scene. It could be a walk through a city, waves rolling onto a tropical beach, scenes from a coffee shop or birds visiting a garden….I could go on…and on. These days I’ve taken to showing one of these at breakfast time. It is a bit like being back in The Beforetimes. Only problem is, you could be taking a walking tour through the city of Rome and the cameraman walks past what looks like a charming pavement cafe….but never goes in.

To watch these Youtube movies on a T.V. you’ll need a smart T.V. or a dongle that lets you see Youtube. Do a Youtube search for “4K” “4K Streetwalks” or 4K + the city you’d like to visit. If you are an Amazon Prime subscriber, search for a series of videos called Ambient Visions. These look really great on my T.V. and on my Echo Show. My favourite is called “Morning Jazz at the Coffee Shop”. A nice place to sit and watch enjoying an Americano.

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