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Simple but true!

I know you've heard it close to a million times by now, but I'm coming back
and probably seeing you pretty soon, but nonetheless
I am wishing you all

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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The time of the year has come for the Lady of Elegance’s & Lady of Excellence’s flamboyant b’day-picnic-

EXTRAVAGANZAalt: E xtravaganza

- and you are ALL warmly invited- 

 
...be so goth it hurts...

Date: 02 June (a Saturday)

Time: 2.30pm

Place: Hyde Park (reminder & detailed map to come closer to the date)

Dress: this year as EXTRAVAGANT as you DARE to in the middle of the day! The Ladies of Quality will certainly turn up in full 17^th-18^th century ball-gown attire, and will be highly pleased of receiving matching/dashing guests. No pressure applied.

But the journey had only begun. I was greeted by my good friend and from then on a number of events started to unfold. Followed by numerous insights into the life of this ‘new city’ and the habits of its inhabitants.

 These are the few general observations made upon my first visit to that land.  On a more personal level, the people there had been extremely friendly; we have had many laughs looking upon past and present silliness up till the early morning hours on more than one occasion.  I saw pictures and artefacts from Tibet, talked about everything that came to mind, enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies, whilst talking about the Mayan hot chocolate that apparently had spices added to it, and a few more conversations that are not fit to be repeated (!!).

 So, the morning came for me to go and I found myself feeling quite emotional (and pleased there were not many people around to witness this). The train was there for me once more. I did not have a window seat this time, but I didn’t mind it that much. The man sitting next to me was reading and making notes on some English text –a reminder of the things I’d left behind. I had booked the express train this time, which stopped only on 2 stations in between and made the journey only 4 hours long. I was tired; it was quiet. And the landscape outside the window began to move once more…

 Soon, the journey was complete; I was back to where I started. A lot had happened which would take some time to fully comprehend. But life waited for me eagerly to catch up with all of what I had left behind.

Monday noon saw me boarding the train to head up north, to what once appeared to me as the ‘land of opportunity’. A good friend of mine was to be expecting me at the other end of the 5 hour journey.

After I accustomed myself with the necessary procedure of boarding, finding the right space and settling in, I was a bit disheartened to find I would not be having a cabin, but just a seat. Luckily enough, my seat was next to the window.

The train began to move and the scene outside started getting all of my interest: I saw the familiar buildings, the road I used to take as often as 4 days a week moving by in increasing speed, then the familiar church with the surrounding pine trees and a fleeting image of a past adventure long forgotten, a mist upon my thoughts, went by. On I went, to the furthest points of my travels in the city: here’s where I used to take the metro to go for a coffee with friends, when we wanted to go to a specifically beautiful area-the memory of me standing in the metro with eager anticipation flickered in my mind’s eye. Then, as the houses lessened and the trees multiplied, I recognised the area where I took car journeys with my dad, on the numerous occasions we picked up mum from work. And then, a bit further on, I could be mistaken but I thought I recognised part of other car journeys, going away from the city, heading towards the sea, the beach, the countryside.

And that was exactly what begun to unfold in front of my eyes: the countryside. The valley with the distant but tall mountains, different shade of bluish grey. I saw crops, flowers, trees. And then; the rocks. The train had started climbing up the side of a mountain. The valley distanced itself from us, I could see the rocky side of the mountain clearly, very close to the window. Rivers, streams dug themselves through its side and formed pictures of ingenious beauty. At times, the river bank would be outlined by a series of tall trees in an otherwise barren landscape.

And the train moved on. It was now entering through those very rocks, going briefly through tunnels. We were quite high indeed. I would have been quite scared staring down at those cliffy sides, had the beauty of the landscape not engulfed me in wonder. The train never really reached the top, but we reached other valleys lying high up on the mountain. Spring had made itself known as the colours of the daisies, poppies and lilies added a splash of colour here and there; very artistically too I thought!

Five hours; the drink cart came, and went, twice; the meal came, and finished, and now the scarce few houses had tilted roofs and looked as they came out of an old painting depicting an idealistic romanticism.

And within all this beauty we went through another small place, town or village and the atmosphere changed dramatically. The air felt cold, the sun had disappeared, the few people walking through its streets looked sad and weary, and a general heaviness hung around the place. The train kept moving on; swiftly and determingly. Soon we were driven away from it. The cliffs had become milder now. It was sunny but the earth was characterised by a simplistic emptiness. It was a weird sensation; for a moment I longed for those cliffs the train passed by only a while ago, and those valleys that lay at the bottom of these mountains, which now seemed to have been so full of life!

I now noticed that the train was crossing a number of bridges, made out of stone and metal. I would have normally been very interested in them; they subtle design and proportions. But they looked vaguely interesting, and my wonder now came from the actuality of being in a vehicle with a fixed course to pass through them. I now realise I have always been intrigued by the fact a train has so limited manoeuvring abilities in comparison to other transportation vehicles e.g. the car, the ship, the plane. It seems it needs a constant precision not evident to me in such a high degree in other vehicles.

Now the journey was almost 2/3 through and I started getting excited about encountering my ‘land of opportunity’ properly for the first time. I had only once before been there before and spent 3 hours (between 4-6 am) on my way to another place. I had then been impressed the city had been not only alive but brimming with life even at those early hours; people were on the streets, at bars with their doors wide open to the streets and the crowds overflowing to the street, the music loud enough for them to enjoy but not too loud to disturb the bars next to them, etc. People had been smiling then. I wondered how it would look like in the daytime.

No wonder in my first few minutes there the city failed to live up to my expectations: the buildings looked almost identical to the city I had left behind only a few hours ago. No matter where I looked, the resemblance was striking-and it was not doing it any favours!

I stepped off the train with my few belongings and went through the station with the rest of the crowd. As I stepped out of the station, I felt my jaw drop: it looked like I hadn’t left the city at all, it felt like I had taken a 5 hour journey only to return back to where I came from!

But the journey had only begun. I was greeted by my good friend and from then on a number of events started to unfold. Followed by numerous insights into the life of this ‘new city’ and the habits of its inhabitants.

By Walt Whitman