Saturday 15 August 2009

Leaving

Woke up (relatively) early today and so I read a few of the 81 blog posts I've missed since being here. There was one from Jay about a road trip he's been on and the idea of leaving something, someone or some place behind. I've been thinking a lot on the subject lately as well so I thought I'd try to get some of it down on paper (so to speak).

These thoughts always come when I'm travelling, I suppose because for every place you go, you have to leave some other place behind. Maybe just for a few days or weeks, or maybe for an indefinite amount of time. Take today for example, I'll be getting on a plane and leaving this little island, and though I'd love to come back one day, I can't know that I will. I might never see this place again... The yellow buses, the sun scorched rock beaches, the assortment of off white buildings of all shapes and sizes that make up the city landscape... They might all be forever confined to my memories.

But memories are pretty powerful. I realised yesterday that I'd hardly taken any photographs here, but I thought back to some of the places I've been and the strongest memories are so much clearer than the photos I have in a cupboard somewhere. I remember so perfectly the waves crashing against the rocks in Portugal, the steep steps spiralling below me as I stood high up on the cliff. I remember road tripping to Benicassim, not knowing where we were and just saying "Keep the sea on the left and drive!" And I'm sure I won't forget the sight of the Blue Lagoon any time soon. It was remarkable - like someone had tried to design paradise.

Leaving a place always gives me mixed feelings. I'm really looking forward to seeing England again. As nice as it is to get away for a while it's still my favourite place in the world. I've been to so many beautiful places but never considered living anywhere else. But at the same time I don't want to let go of this place. It has so much that I won't be able to enjoy for such a long time. On top of that having been to somewhere new I want to do it again! So really I want to be in three places at once; home, here and somewhere else.

People are awake now so I'm going to cut this short(er than I'd thought it would be).

Speak to you when I'm done leaving.

xxx

6 comments:

Nicholas said...

I know what you mean. I love travelling and seeing the world, but I also love coming back home.

The best thing about travelling is creating memories and making friends and if these friends visit you back home, it's a great mixture of travelling, revisiting memories, and staying home. Does that make sense? *sigh* I rarely do.

Btw. I loved Malta as well. Especially the rocky beaches and Valetta at night. Fun times...

doug said...

*Paradise plus jelly fish

I'd like to live out of England for a while. It's so boring here: I have to work and learn and stuff.

Anonymous said...

Great writing. Sounds like an excerpt from a book. I enjoyed reading this.

Jay said...

it seems as though traveling as brought out the author in both of us. haha

i didn't take any pictures during the trip at all because i forgot the camera at home. :/ but meh. if a picture's worth a thousand words, memories are worth hundreds of thousands. infinitely more potent.

A Behniwal said...

I know what you mean. As much as you love a place, you'll still always be in love with home. It was nice to see you appear on Stickaid tonight/morning by the way.

Anonymous said...

Dave, did you know that Bright Eyes has a new band along with the guy from MMJacket, M. Ward and the other guy he always works with. They sound great. The band is called Monsters of Folk, and they are on YouTube. They uploaded some videos today, and it looks like an official channel, but I'm not sure. Youtube.com/monstersoffolk