Mark 
“The Quiet Forward – A Dérive Through Stillness in Ouistreham”
Some dérives whisper instead of shout. This was one of them.
I wandered without aim and was drawn down this street, not by landmarks or the promise of surprise, but by a kind of magnetic symmetry. Every tree seemed placed with intent, every house quietly observing, every step met with the hush of a place that has seen too much to bother explaining.
The road sign pointed forward. One way. Simple, blunt. But in a dérive, nothing is simple. That arrow felt like a command, like a life instruction: go on. Keep walking. But what if I don’t want to? What if I want to pause here, in this space between memory and movement?
There are no war monuments on this street. No cafés, no churches. Just the ordinary. And yet I felt it, the weight of ordinary lives lived through extraordinary times. Perhaps children played here when the echoes of war had barely faded. Perhaps they still do, just later in the day.
Ouistreham is filled with big stories, of landings, of battles, of crossings, but here, in this quiet corridor of calm, I found something else: the dignity of unnoticed places.
I didn’t take many steps here. I didn’t need to. Sometimes the dérive isn’t about covering ground, but letting the ground settle beneath you.
And sometimes, forward is simply where your heart begins to listen.
Join me on my Next trip to Ouistreham
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Image Details
A quiet residential street in Ouistreham stretches into the distance, perfectly symmetrical. Rows of closely planted trees form a green canopy along the pavement. Neatly kept houses flank both sides, modest yet proud. Overhead, power lines criss-cross the grey sky, and a single blue road sign declares: “one way, forward.” The street is empty, hushed, and curiously timeless.
© Mark Stothard MA ARPS
