I have returned to same street I left when I was sixteen years old. To live with my first girlfriend who lived in the same street and lives there now. Left at 16 return just before I'm 60, "FULL CIRCLE, like a bad penny!" Good title for a book, watch this space. Thank you Jan for your input on the title.
It was a wonderful journey home from my idyllic beach in the Philippines. After spending the better part of two weeks saying my farewells to the many good friends I had made over the last year.
As I knew I would suffer from jet-lag from the 18 to 20 hours of flight, this time I was prepared and practised some EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) to combat the stress of jet-lag. Thankfully they worked with the aid of catnapping throughout the journey and during the first twenty four hours after landing.
As is my schedule I was up at around 2 am this morning, chatting to my many friends around the world. It's surprising the effects flashbacks can have on a persons emotions. I spent the first hour talking to my friend Susan, in Zhoucun China. During a ten minute break at the end of the conversation and with a mug of my favourite Chinese tea. I stepped outside to have a quick fag, standing at the gate and looking at the house which for the time being was going to be my new home. Having another thought, must use that EFT to stop smoking.
With no rhyme or reason I felt an urge to look up and there before me was the plough in all it's glory.
The first constellation I could recognise from when I was a small boy living in that street. I seemed to know instinctively where it would be. This then led to the next flashback of a lecture I attended when I was about twelve years old, these lectures were held each month in a village hall in Heaton Moor but the one that stuck out in my mind was the one done by one of my boyhood hero's Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore. Two and half hours of passion from an amateur astronomy, his talks and television program the Sky at Night were part of my early education. Which demonstrated to me that if you have a passion for a subject it was so much easier to learn. My passion in life has been life itself added to travel and meeting people.
As I look back over the (nearly) sixty years of life, I have fulfilled that passion. Lets hope the next forty years as I head towards my next big ambition, the telegram can be just as fulfilling.
Stephen
The Nomadic Romantic English Gentleman
