She said "It's like a dead lake".

Is it really dead? Is this death?

As she spoke, I looked into the lake, the tall moving grass. Moving grass from the winds and the animals within the lake.

She told me a story. "You know long time ago someone drowned here? Yeah, back when it was deep, someone drowned! Then they put a warning saying don't go in the water."

I walked to the tea stand on the other side, thinking to ourselves about the shifting and cycling of this not-lake.

The lake was a lake, then became a lawn. The lake was a lawn, now overgrown. The lake with tall grass and thousands of bugs, now full of life. I spoke to the woman selling tea.

"you know before, like last year, when the grass was short. it was like a football field, it was insanely beautiful. some families, like saturday evening, a lot of families they come here to camp, or the young adults come here to camp, it's super fun!"

But the love didn't last. After trash piled up, the field was abandoned, the grass grew. No one camps anymore.

Who cares for the park?

"Well, there are a few grandfathers and grandmothers around here that will carry a few buckets of water from the vegetable area and water it."

"In the inside area there, there are some people watering."

The allotments beneath the trees, mostly old people with a small patch each.

I tried speaking to them, but they politely declined interviews and filming when asked, before disappearing again into the bushes. Apparently the farming is not quite legal. The farms and the lake. Productive curated space versus wild fruitful abadonment.

A man is filming TikToks behind the farms. "I really like that the park has its own allotment. It's like what nature is like. I like it. Yes, I'm a farmer at my roots. I think it's very advantageous to farm, for everyone. It gives work to older people, they come here and enjoy the trees, the plants, stuff like that. It relieves... many things!"

The farms aren't beautiful. I cannot feel care or love for the farms, other than the plants themselves... but I can feel care for the grasses in the lake. Somehow, it feels like their care extends there too.

"Well sometimes, some people may misuse the allotments like they would use trash leaves and incubate it to make fertiliser ... I think that affects the surroundings a bit..."

How do we agree to care, or not?

Each night, we all agree on the direction to walk: clockwise or anti-clockwise? Always a consensus, a majority. When sunset comes, the amount of people at the lake park peaks. Walkers, runners, cyclists, dogs, weightlifters, zumba dancers. For the ones who moves around in circles around the lake, most agree that anti-clockwise is the way. If you follow it, you enter a strange loneliness, only seeing the faces of the occasional clockwise walker, everyone else always distant backs. I spoke to an old man, he told me, "if im strong, i come everyday". He doesn't meet anyone.

I spoke to the group of girls, they told me the reasons they came here "to relieve stress, ... to make comedy...". They all were taking photos of each other and the sun. They were catching the setting sun with their hands. They came here with friends, like it was a scenic spot. Is it considered a scenic spot? Does it matter for the people of the lake park? I asked people do they prefer the lake with or without water.
"I prefer it with water, it's more cooling." (1st)
"of course, if it is a lake, it has to have water in it!" (2nd)
"a lake needs to have water to be useful."
"if there is immense amount of water,... that would be so nice
I: so beautiful."
There is only one person walking the opposite way.
"I think I prefer the dry lake. because this lake has no source, so I prefer a dryer lake. you can go down there and hang out, have fun."

People call this an air conditioning lake.

"I come here to sit just to enjoy the breeze."
"No, i prefer the area over there. It's cooler, more breeze."
"When the lake park was flatter like before, it was very nice. Lots of people came to barbecue, camp... was very nice."

The lake has its own cycles too. "like this time last year, there was a bit of water. and this time last year there wasn't as much grass as today. when it got sunnier, the water drains away, and the grass becomes very tall since". The guy who likes it drained, he sees the most faces. The people who likes it full, they enjoy the breeze and look at backs.

People's favourite parts of the lake are ones with shade. How is shade found when there is water?

I look at the towers, they grow like trees. Trees that the park doesn't have. I read somewhere the park was made like this because of the tower developments. "Well before this building, was built, there was plenty of water in the lake. Now there is no surface water in the lake anymore. That's what I think anyway."

The towers raised the plants with it. When it rose, what happened?

There's a new tower going up noisily, dominating half the lake. It is threatening change with its loud crashes and collapses. Will it fall on you? Will it cover you? Will there be a day when the lake park is surrounded by towers? The lake will be the valley among peaks. The only space with no rent.

"I2: Let me tell you, around here, if you sell the house or get money from your land, you won't even care about it.
I: Yeah, around here people have got good conditions, why would they farm? (I2: Yeah, they rich.) I: You go to the market, you can find everything." "In the country, I have my own allotment." If you can, you farm outside the city, you visit your hometown. The people who farm in the city have nowhere else. The market can't sell you a connection with the land. The market does not have your countryside, swallowed year by year by towers. Who goes to the market? Who lives here? Who moved here? Who has left here? Who stayed?

There are the old guys with their own hut. They come here to sit and talk every day. There are younger guys playing chess. There are runners. There are walkers. There are cyclists, too. This year, the middle is still. The cycle of the lake, and the cycle of moving around the lake. I like to watch the different speeds and directions.

I joined, anti-clockwise, following the majority. I see backs. Sometimes, rarely, a face. On my right there are sitters, pull-uppers, stretchers, tea drinkers. On the left, moving grass, birds, bugs, bats. I watch the backs and some faces. Is this appreciation without knowing? The unspoken consensus? The unaware agreement?

What does it mean to go to the lake park? Can we admit we love it?

Or does it have to be unspoken?