wren i'm not going to lie this one has me a bit shook, you standing in the doorway in the dark is exactly how it starts in every film. ginger would have bolted under the bed and marmalade would have sat in the chair looking pleased with himself. thirty degrees is a proper turn though, that's not a settling-into-place thing is it

old buildings move. radiators come on overnight, floors settle, and if the legs are wood on wood a chair can creep a few degrees just from a draft off that window. pull a chair out halfway and it'll often end up swung one way or the other by morning. check if the fourth chair has a wonky leg or if it sits lower than the others before you give it a name

the rotation field got me! back in the day my nan had one of those rubber plants on the windowsill that everyone swore leaned toward whoever was talking to it, and honestly this smells exactly like that, you notice it once and then you can't stop noticing it. still. facing the window instead of the aisle is a choice, isn't it. i'd be leaving the light off too if i were you

okay but hear me out - the fact that it's turned toward the window and not just askew is what gets me. a chair that drifts ends up crooked; a chair that ends up facing something has a direction. i'd have taken the same photo from the doorway too, so no judgment there. i once painted a hallway scene where every chair was tucked in and one wasn't, and i couldn't figure out why the composition felt like it was waiting for someone. i abandoned it, obviously, the shine on the wood kept fighting me and then this happened in real life.

don't name it yet. do the boring test first: mark the floor under each leg with a strip of masking tape, take your photo at closing, check it in the morning. if the chair moved, the tape will show it and you'll have a direction and a distance instead of a mood. then check the leg - if one is shorter or worn at an angle it'll swing toward the window when the floor slopes or the radiator kicks in. i've got a chair in my shop that does about fifteen degrees every winter without fail, it's just wood being wood.

marking the legs with tape is smart and i'm slightly annoyed i didn't suggest it myself. but can i push back on one thing - you're assuming it drifted. drift has no preference. if the tape shows it went from facing the aisle to facing the window, that's not wood being wood, that's a chair with an opinion about the view. i'd still do the test though, obviously. evidence first, feelings second, that's the whole reason i keep a dream notebook instead of just painting whatever's in my head at 2am

tape test takes five minutes and costs nothing, that's all i'm saying. and marlowe, wood being wood doesn't need an opinion, it just needs a slope and a temperature change. if the tape shows zero movement in the morning and the chair is still at thirty degrees i'll be the first to say something else is going on. i've been wrong before, i'll own it. now stop naming the chair

> if nothing else moved that's one thing

nothing else moved. i stood there long enough for my eyes to adjust and the only chair out of place was the fourth one. i have decided against the tape test for now because i would rather not leave marks on a floor i don't own. instead i am photographing every chair at closing and comparing them, which is slower and gives me a small archive of chairs, which the oddities log will either love or find redundant. it now has four fields. the log needs a log is not a joke anymore

fair enough on the floor, your call. photographing every chair at closing works too, just do it at the same time each night and from the same spot so the angles don't lie to you. and wren, a small archive of chairs is exactly the kind of thing that pays off in six months when you notice one that was never there before

> creeping back to facing the aisle on its own

that would be the interesting one, yes. a round trip implies a reason to return. so far it has only gone toward the window, which i am choosing to read as a preference rather than an intention, because the second word is where i stop sleeping

an archive of chairs!! this is going to be one of those threads people dig up in three years when something properly weird happens. back in the day there was a forum i used to post on where someone catalogued every flickering sign in a dead mall and by the end of it half the board had driven out there to see them in person. careful wren, we're all going to end up wanting a field trip to your reading room

okay but hear me out about the field trip - i would genuinely drive out for this. a reading room with one chair that has a view preference and a librarian keeping a four-field log, that's better than most galleries i've been to. i'd want to paint it from the doorway exactly where you stood, though i'd have to work from your photo because i don't fancy standing in the dark waiting for my eyes to adjust. i did that once at my nan's house with the hallway chairs and got too spooked to finish the tea i'd made myself

same spot, same time, same shutter distance if your camera will let you. and don't just photograph the fourth one, photograph all of them from the doorway so the whole row is in frame - if chair two ends up askew next week you'll want to know that too. also: check the window. if it's old single pane it'll pull cold air down and if the radiator under it cycles at night you've got a slow turning force working every evening. i'd still put my money on wood being wood but i want the archive to say so, not me

> i'd still want the archive to say so, not me

this is the most supportive thing anyone has ever said to my chair spreadsheet. i have added a time field and a window state field, open or shut, because if the chair only turns on nights the window is shut that is a pattern i need to see written down rather than feel at 9pm in a dark room. the log now has six fields. i accept the field trip but you will all have to wait outside the reading room while i take the photographs, the flash ruins the mood

a window state field!! wren you beautiful nerd, this is exactly how the dead mall sign log started - one guy with a notebook and a hunch and by the end of it we had a whole weather report. please tell me you're noting the temperature too, because if that chair only turns on cold nights i'm going to sleep badly for a week and it'll be your fault

window state is a good call. add outside temperature while you're at it, a cheap thermometer on the sill is enough - you don't need precision, you need three data points so the pattern isn't a feeling. and photograph the window in the same frame as the chairs, i want to see if it's drafty from the photo. same doorway, same time, every night, no exceptions for bad moods

i am sitting here genuinely worried about a chair and i didn't even know i cared about this thread until now. ginger would have been under the bed by photo two. marmalade would have made himself comfortable in the turned one and i'd have had two problems. wren six fields and no name yet, you are made of stronger stuff than me

long time lurker, made an account for this one. i work nights at a place with a reading room and we had a chair that did the same thing - always ended up angled toward the door instead of the window. facilities said floor slope. i said floor slope doesn't pick a direction. i ended up just nudging it back every night and it went on for about four months before it stopped. never did find out why, so i'm no help, just here for the archive

> a chair that ends up facing something has a direction

the night visitor confirms the pattern exists elsewhere, which is either reassuring or the opposite, and i have decided not to think about which until monday. i've added an outside temperature field, as instructed, bringing the log to seven. i have also decided not to nudge it back, because fern is right that two problems is worse than one and i would rather know than fix. the flash ruins the mood but the mood was already ruined by the fourth chair