This Week’s Bit of String: This Week’s Bit of String: Cinnamon and wintergreen, train whistles and toll bridges
Have you noticed how, if you only visit a place on certain occasions, it seems time stands still there?
Admittedly, I’ve been through Heathrow Airport more than usual in the past year, since my family’s had a lot going on. But 3.5 months passed since my last trip home, yet when I checked in for my flight back to New England yesterday, it felt as if I’d just been there.
I know pretty well what to expect in Terminal 3 now. The bathrooms smell like Tiger Balm, a mix of cinnamon and wintergreen. I think it’s their air freshener spray or something. I could see it swirling beneath the light, murmurations of vapour droplets.
On the other side of the Atlantic, I checked into a hotel after my late night flight. Here, the elevator and corridors smelled inexplicably like Vaseline, or hot tarmac. But there’s AC and ice machines, mini-fridges and not one but 2 queen beds in my room. It wasn’t quiet, staying near the industrial harbour outside Boston. I could hear train whistles fret through the night, and the chatter of a soap opera playing in the next room.
I told myself it was like staying over at my Grammy and Grandpa’s house, in a railway town, and fell asleep for 4 whole hours.
At 5:30 in the morning I set off, walking to the bay. Little rabbits grazed on park land and the water reflected the sky in a beautiful shade of metallic blue. I had time to take in the rocks on the shore, the smokestacks rosy in the sunrise, the impressive expanse of the Tobin Bridge plunging into the middle of Boston’s towers, opposite.
I needed the reminder that I love exploring new places and trying new things. With my family moving, I’ve been anxious and my longing for the familiar has prevailed, plus being downright busy. After this morning’s jaunt, I feel renewed and ready for a mix of new and old, and to view the familiar from different angles in a new place, just like this morning I framed Boston in the distance beyond the sand-coloured posts of the Bridge.
Luggage-Free
So this morning I had time, plus my bags were all at the hotel. Since the school year finally ended on Friday, I have relished taking walks without the LL Bean backpack I bump along to work with every day. Without that load, relief has eased my neck and shoulders.
The night before I left the UK, with my massive list of cleaning tasks nearly complete, I went for a walk with a friend, to catch up before my flight. We stopped at a bridge over the local stream and stared into the shallow water as we talked. Spires of bindweed rose on the riverbank, the layers of heart-shaped leaves reminding me of dribble castles on an ocean shore.
We saw a rat wriggle downstream, and dragonfly zipped along. A vole kept creeping out from the foliage at the base of the bridge wall, then retreating, then scampering forth again.
What a treat to just observe. I haven’t been doing enough of that lately. It’s such fun to write descriptions of these settings in my daily scribbles rather than accounts of Year 10 shenanigans.
Big Plans
The summer will be busy. My family have worked so hard emptying not one but two houses, and moving into a new one. There’s still a lot of sorting out to help with, and then my kiddo’s wedding.
I’ll have five critiques to do for other writers, one story of my own that needs finishing, one that needs editing, and a new one to write, plus submitting my novel to a few more agents and if possible, working on my current novel-in-progress. There are miles to hike (partly to burn off the root beer and Dunkin Donuts), and lakes to swim.
But I hope that sometimes I can just sit and observe. What about you?
So, a benediction for summer:
May your hikes be baggage-free
May the wildlife cavort in front of you as if you were a Disney princess
May your hotel pools be empty, and your airplane or other transport seatmates be entertaining
May your water bottles stay chilled
May your characterisations be kind and your descriptions sharp.