I thought it might be good to try to brainstorm by using word association.
A few words:
Love

Solace

Innocence

Smile

Silence

Grey

Nature

No Time

Right

Night

Expectations

Dreams

Tradition

Two Roads

Illusion

Childhood

Waiting

No Way Out

Obsession

I Can't.

All That I Have

I Give Up

Sleep

Curiosity

Discovery

Nostalgia

Solitude

Taken by me

Finding people who have seaked out silence from the world, isolation. But in a more peace & quiet way rather than sad. I think it is a simple concept. Alone.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/matosesfoto/5392694582

https://www.flickr.com/photos/madiator/5523389060

Links: 

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2010/jan/29/john-bulmer-photographs-north

Documentary photography

traditions - people watching bonfire displays, capturing astonishment, a moment of wonder. Lewes bonfire

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevemarland/sets/72157631712671679

Beeching & the closing of the railways

Guildford-Horsham line - cransleigh

lewes to uckfield http://www.blbgroup.co.uk/assets/images/Lewes_1.jpg

http://www.crjennings.com/The%20Remains%20of%20Britains%20Steam%20Age%20Railway/101-151/Rems%20101.html

barcombe http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/22/34/223449_d2daba99.jpg