Can you return to a place that you never left in the first place? Or a place you have never been to before? Is it possible for a person to find a part of themselves in a place that had no meaning to them before that moment? I think so. That place for me was the busy, coagulated streets of London. I never liked cities much. They are grim and dark and have a hungry feeling about them that steals a part of you that you weren't aware of. But not in London.
The streets and lanes were more narrow than any place I had been and yet they didn't make me feel claustrophobic. There weren't many trees that lined the paths, but there were parks of oaks and ponds filled with life. I had never seen so many squirrels and ducks in the middle of a city before, it was an oasis. The history that oozed out of the whitewashed buildings brought up a torrent of emotions that connected me to every cobblestone I walked over. Each bridge I was suspended by brought thoughts of 'Who had been here before me?'
And it was that question that stayed with me, even after I left the country. Who had been under that sunlight that was so different from the light in my home country? Who had sat in the seats at the cafes I had tea at? How many hundreds of thousands of people had looked at the fossils of animals in the museums, the fountains in the parks, the statues outside the Palace? I will never know. I don't think anyone will. But I have now added myself to their number, and I am proud of that.
That city has imprinted itself onto my soul. The sights, sounds, tastes and smells are still so vivid. I cannot place the feeling or the second when that became apparent to me. Maybe when I saw London Bridge at night, or when I at lunch at a pub older than my country by one hundred years. So, I think that even though it may not have been my home town or my grandparents' house, but I have adopted it as my turf, my place. One day, one day I will return to that place and see everything again. I can't wait!
