Make a different October.
Put on a pair of boots that not only look great but will take you miles. And a thick coat, with a hood and with pockets that can store anything from your smartphone to a bottle of water and perhaps a half-eaten sandwich - the kind of coat that you can huddle up in, if you don't want to be seen or if rain is lashing down, and feel warm and safe in.
Then start walking the streets of the city. Even if you think you know the streets of your home town and know there is nothing really worth seeing. Even if you don't know why you're not with your friends or fleeing reality in front of the TV. Even if your heart aches because you can't get away to see other cities and other, more exciting, streets - especially then.
Walk aimlessly. Think of nothing. Pay attention to details - to the dirty asphalt, to bright windows behind which people are living their lives, to a million wonders like a sunray through tree branches, a beautiful wrought-iron gate, the glimmering diamonds in the jewelry shop window.
If you feel vulnerable and sad, stick to empty back streets and take comfort in the beauty of the gardens you walk past. If you feel brave, watch the people - there is so much beauty to see in them as well, in the broad shoulders of a strong man, in the long legs of a teenage girl, in the tentative smile of an old lady. Entertain your curiosity and ask yourself what that man is buying his daughter at the fast food kiosk, why that lovely girl is in love with that weird boyfriend, what that tired-looking shop assistant is thinking about right now.
In a city centre street at noon you will feel the immediate and strong pulse of the world. In a quiet street at dusk you can catch your breath among trees in vivid autumn colours and - best of all - hear the birds singing (they do it for you). If you're lucky, you can find a dog to pet.
And even if you are not at the moment in that other city where you long to be, you can take a deep breath and know that in this moment, there is nowhere else you need to be.
3 comments:
ah yes, those walks. Where every blade of grass and scuffed footstep takes on a peculiar significance. Something heartrendingly important yet ever-elusive when you try to pin it down and define it.
the sudden glimpses into the lives of others, rich in both joys and sorrows. Of summer days and solitary dusks and the heady wine of humanity.
your words resonate the bohemian in everytime. write on!
Even your blog comments are poetic! As long as YOU keep writing, I will!
just a case of intense verbal diarrhea.
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