viernes, 7 de noviembre de 2014

My England in a Heartbeat

Stephen and I have been traveling up and down the country for the last couple of weeks, and the ride’s not over yet.  God and Goddess, I’ve been wanting to start a blog entry just like that for a while now, la la la!  (Doing happy dance around the room) (Well, no, there are too many suitcases on the floor, so goes out and happy-dances up and down the porch stairs with the view of Glastonbury and the Tor and tower…) (Much better!).

Oh, but before I really start, I have to ask forgiveness from my readers for my absence last week; I have been computerless for a while as well as on the move, so it’s been hard to keep up with myself once again… but my projects remain and soon you will see my other blogs as well as (hopefully) my books coming out too.  Now, where was I…?

So, yes, we have been pretty much zig-zagging (or more like heart-monitoring) England lately, all thanks to my classes in Newcastle, his brother’s birthday, and both of our filming days in London and Windsor… Ah, saying that we travelled between London and Windsor is cheating, you say, since they’re so close together?  Wrong!  Windsor is about three hours away from where I live in Greenwich, or maybe more, because even though it’s right outside London, there is too much land to cross before getting there; it really doesn’t matter whether we go by bus, train or car, distances like those are quite long anyhow…  Then again, there’s something about the Gypsy trek we took that is making me look at things differently now, or rather beautifully again… as we lugged our bags from house to house and coach to train and hotel to train and back again, he wearing his hat and leather jacket (which makes him seem as an Indiana Jones adventurer type, though he claims otherwise) and me in dangly earrings and beady necklaces (more for effect than practicality), I was reminded once again of  my love for looking up.  Granted, it’s not that easy to look up when you’re dragging a case and rushing for the train or trying to find the hotel in the wrong street, but that moment you realize that even in those situations you can still look up and admire your surroundings, you know you’ve found bliss.  I know it sounds simplistic, yet I don’t mean about when this happens just in the cities you visit, but also in places you know well already but still find new things that catch your eye, or when you’re hiking and are able to keep looking up even though the altitude might make you dizzy or you’re afraid to lose your footing, or even in your own town, at instants when you find hidden jewels you hadn’t been aware of during the previous ten or twenty years of your life…  Thing is, that little moment, when you’re able to appreciate your surroundings even when you’re too tired or too focused on something else, that’s the moment when you plant yourself in the present tense, with no other worry than to be in the here and now, and not even that’s a worry!  This is one of the things Eckhart Tolle talks about in The Power of Now, and it’s so simple and easy to do, that when you manage it, you feel surprised at why you don’t do it more often, or why others don’t do it as well…

What I’m talking about is the contrary to what I’d been complaining of during the past few weeks, which, in case anyone’s forgotten, is that I’d been too tired to look up lately, and even worse, had to force myself to turn and enjoy the sights when I intuitively knew they were coming into my eyesight!  Now, there are two visual things I recently enjoyed enormously: one is the sight of the Tower Bridge from the train on my way to London Bridge Station (that I talked about a couple weeks back), and another is a brief moment during my trips between Newcastle and London when I was waiting for my train back to Greenwich and I tipped my head at the platform, so as to look at the full length of the Shard as the train approached and blew my hair back…  The Shard is a pretty cool building, even though I am rather partial to the old architecture instead of the new one, but there was something about that moment, in the midst of my tiredness and the crowd, that I felt that for the first time ever, my good-bye was being organic… OK, to begin with, you’re right, I’ve still got weeks left in London before I have to move up to the North East, and also, with London it is never a good-bye!  It is a “See you later” at most, because of course I will be called back there over and over again.  It’s like the city thinks I’m a yo-yo or something, because it draws me in and then throws me back out with such a force that I end up spinning for weeks before being pulled back in…  Only this time it is me that’s making the choice!

There were many things about this wonderful trip I’m doing that are making me more and more sure that I’ve made the right decision, and also that my love for London is something that will never get stored away as a simple memory…  Remember how I said that there are some places in this country that makes me think I want to live there even though my younger friends make me feel old as the buildings? (lol?) Well, Glastonbury is definitely one of them (and happily no one’s made me feel old here); Morpeth as well, though it’s too far away… there is also Durham and York, and Leeds and Bath or even Manchester, if I were looking into bigger cities…  Bristol I have yet to see, as well as Nottingham, but judging from what I am told about those places, I’m quite sure I will like them enormously.  Given that most of the smaller towns I’ve been to are more retirement villages than tourist attractions, I’ll not be moving to any of them (probably not even Morpeth) yet, but as long as I am in means of visiting places like Alnwick and Corfe Castles (and absolutely everything else in-between!), as well as all the stone circles that for some reason last year I never got to reach for lack of means, I will be a happy traveler…

As for London, oh my London, however did I complain so much about you over the past few weeks?  I have my right, I know, and I don’t take back any word I said, but that’s why I admit that it’s healthier for both of us that I move away, and you know it more than I because you’ve been telling me so for about a year!  But hey, if I had not been so adamant to return to you I would have never met Stephen, and I would have never been able to open the doors that have presented in my path, so we both win, don’t we?  I am happy and I am leaving my positive imprint within you, either with my Sonic or my crystals or my hands; and last time I ran around in costume, I touched the Thames, and I knew just as much as you have always known, that I had to be there –in you- to be able to reach out to everywhere else!  I like that I still have my base in your midst, but my home is somewhere else; I hear your words because I’ve been gifted, and now I look up and see the Tor and tower through Stephen’s window and I wonder how it’d ever been if I hadn’t persisted so much on returning for the Summer, “To try to get my novel published”, “Just for Mani’s Doctor Who”, “To get my books and other treasures back”, “To see what would happen…”.  It was to see what would happen that I contacted Newcastle about my business idea when the program opened, and it was to see what would happen that I applied to carry it forward this year instead of next, and it was to see what would happen that I remained for the Autumn when my Summer stay was done…  But my rule while in London for over four years has been to always follow my instinct, even if it means changing my course on my way home out of a last-minute whim…  Er, no, getting on the wrong train or on the right bus but different direction does *not* count!  I am in no way justifying my direction awkwardness by making it mystical… Although, I should…  I could market it and make millions!  Hm, I sense a second business stirring up… ;)

About the trips that I’ve been making lately, with my perfect partner and his suitcase full of fancy dress, and our Gypsy blood running through our veins (…well, *he* knows it for sure, whereas I can only assume… but come on, have you seen my family? On my mother’s side there are 6 of us who live other-where, a grandmother that has three houses and travels all-year-round between them, and the remaining 5 who travel for a living, plus we all have partners who either follow or lead us, or both at the same time!  And on my dad’s side there’s 5 of us who left home, but all the rest are keen on traveling, if only for enjoyment; so I think that I get the Gypsy blood from my mom’s side, but there is something of it on both sides, because out of all, the most Gypsy-like are my sister and me…)… Oh, yes, about the trips!  Right, to begin with, my boyfriend is starting a career as an actor, so he had his script from the play he’ll be on this weekend to read on trains and coaches, but as it also happened, given that we were going to his brother’s 40th birthday party as Amy and Rory from Doctor Who, Police Woman Amy and Centurion Rory actually, that was costume one (er, because it was a Fantasy-themed fancy-dress party, not because we’re kooky or anything… well, yes, we’re quite kooky, but that’s a whole other matter); then there was also Halloween, so he had his V for Vendetta costume in the mix as well (I was Wonder Woman, but I had my costume back in my closet in Greenwich, so my case was not as fancy as his…), and then of course there was his Doctor outfit, since we’d be filming in Windsor and some bits of London too… again, my costume was in my closet in my room, so I did not seem as professional an actor as he did, hehe, but do let me promote my man, cos he’s quite good at what he does…!  What prompted him to get into acting you will have to ask him yourselves (link! https://www.facebook.com/theonemantheatrecompany?pnref=lhc), but I'll let you all know that it was because of that that we met in the first place… Have you all guessed who he is yet?  Nah, try to guess first… yeah, go on…! (Hint: he’s the other Doctor in the Imaginarium Fan Productions production!) (How did you like that for a narrative device?  Just trying out stuff, bear with me, wink wink!).  For some of you this is no news at all, for the rest, I will briefly tell the story, cos it’s always worth telling that the first time that he caressed my hand we were posing with our arms around a Dalek right in front of the Tor, and the first time we held hands was just moments afterwards, when we were doing the group hug around the darned thing!  I’m sorry, around the Dalek, I mean…  I’ve been watching the Peter Cushing movies with him for the last couple nights and I’m all Daleked out, as anyone who knows what I’m talking about might imagine… for anyone who doesn’t but might be curious, research it, cos they’re sooo worth it!  And keep an eye out for scenes with elevator shafts!

Seriously, though, being with someone like him has so many perks, all of those that I’d almost lost hope I would see coming my way… I mean, it’s not only the vast amount of sci-fi and fantasy DVDs we have on queue for dinner time and stuff, but also the hours and hours of talking about our twisted theories on the stories we watch or read (and the fact that we understand each other!), and how much he can teach me about history, spirituality and politics, or his perfect English accent (that he of course is completely oblivious to), or the fact that at Comic Con, while we were both dressed as our own Doctor character, I had the chance to say “Let me get the TARDIS and then we can go home”… sadly I didn’t have enough money, and as Comic Con is *not* the best place to steal a TARDIS, however fully out of character it seems to even say such a thing, we had to take the tube…  So there you have it, the reason I have been so happily rambling on about this man for weeks, and the reason I wanted to drip feed him on my readers, cos otherwise it’d lose its magic!  Both the situation and the narration, I mean… or rather, the situation *within* the narration, cos the situation by itself cannot lose its magic by any means…!  Also, I had been waiting for the first episodes to air to make my revelation, but there have been some slightly huge obstacles come our way, and things are moving at a slower pace than we’d like…  Meanwhile, we’re persevering and the production carries on… just be patient, cos it’ll be so worth it, I promise!!

Want to hear one more precious little thing I discovered?  The type of house that I used to wish I could live in, that is, not a house but a flat in a tall building from where I could see the city expanding underneath and perhaps some of the marvelous sights, like St Pancras or the Tower Bridge (I already had the Shard and the Gherkin visible from my last window), has changed dramatically into a ground-floor flat in a community kind of town where I can have my own garden and grow veggies and fruits and from where I can walk down to work or the market to get the rest of whatever I might need while saying hello to the neighbours… (Gasp!!  Sandra wants to take up gardening and talk to people!!  Who is this person typing, then, and what have you done to the *real* her??)  Yes, I heard all your questions, and rest assured, it’s still me, just exercising my right as a wise person and as a woman to change my mind as to how and where I want to live my life from now on… And completely happy with that choice!

So then, I close this entry with a beautiful thought on my happiness and everything I’ve found at long last: I took a turn in a last-minute whim and I found my way home… *smiles blissfully*

May you all find what you’re looking for as well, or may you have new dreams if you’re looking for new things to reach out for, too! Have a happy weekend or week, and always keep smiling!  Cheers!

 

One more thing…  As I edit this I’m seeing how obsessed I’ve become… Pavlov me!  If I don’t mention anything about Doctor Who on the next entry, give me a cookie!

 

 

…if I do mention *it*, just let me be…  It might only mean that I’m a hopeless case and the world will have to live with my obsessions…

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