Layers

 of meaning, facts, categories etc. could not constitute a single being

Once Upon

 When the real falls into the make believe

Simply

 what makes life a wonderful journey and joyful exercise

Preoccupied

 letting the mind wander with an urge

back to times - not so long ago - when photos weren't that common, when the memory was in more demand

vividly remembering a bookstore near Tottenham Court Road, laughing at a German/English travel dictionary in April 1991

and for some reason Brecht

Ring-A-Ring-A-Roses

 the wonderful lightness that too often escapes this world

The Red Line

 a threshold

who to blame

Laborious

 yet deeply satisfactory if unalienated

like musicians