11.11.2010 - Arriving

Stepping quickly out of the airport, waiting for the bus and looking at the sky. Keeping on smiling.

Getting on the bus and starting a hiccuped journey to London. Spending one hour in a massive traffic jam chatting with an Italian mother who came to visit her daughter. “She been living in London for 8 eight years now.. She likes it, she is happy here”
(you have no idea madam, how much I share your daughter’s feelings..)
Once in London, the bus first stooped at Liverpool Tube station. Then it drove through the City, past the river banks and a red London Eye. Past the Parliament, the Big Ben, the Westminster Abbey. I spotted St.Paul’s Cathedral behind nineteenth century buildings. Weak beams of light came from the pub windows.
("Nothing will ever be as beautiful as London by night..")

That night London was to me the most romantic place on earth. I was being given the most colourful, calm, fulfilling embrace of all.
What a welcome back – I thought.

One final bus drive and then I will be in a city that I know far too well. No hidden corners there for me.
I have so longed for this moment.. I can’t stop smiling..

11.11.2010 - Leaving

(An overwhelming light-hearted feeling as soon as I enter the airport).
A reflection of myself on a window shows a young woman with a smile on her face. A liberating smile.
I did not realise it until I did not notice it on that mirrored image.
I feel happy. I am happy. It has been so long..
The plane takes off and in few minutes I am up in the sky. I have just left on the ground all my worries, my misery, my wrecked summer months, my dissatisfaction.
Their place is soon filled by a constant and slow flow of confidence, strength, determination.
I feel positive, just, active. It is me. I am back.
It feels so good..

10.11.2010

I feel excited, restless, uneasy, almost anxious.
Once more, once again, I am leaving. It will be tomorrow. I can’t wait.
I am not going anywhere far: it will only be a two-hour flight. I will leave from and I will land in familiar airports. The place I am heading.. that’s familiar too. It is my second home, it is where my heart lies, where -I know, I will be fine at last.