"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you, yourself,
have altered."
~ Nelson Mandela ~
Ain't that the truth. Nelson always was good with words, I think it's because he had all that time in solitude on Robben Island to think...
Now, I can't compare myself to Nelson Mandela, no of course not, that would be silly beyond belief, but I can and do identify with the quote he said above. There's nothing quite like returning to a place that largely remains unchanged to recognize the ways that you have changed since last you were there. I experience that every time I move back to a place I've been - Toronto, Halifax, Peterborough. I sometimes experience this surreal, out-of-body type feeling when I step off a plane and walk down the streets of the new city I've been transported to. The sights, sounds, smells and sentations of the place I left behind are still so real to me, that to replace them with a whole new set seems strange. (We call what I just did alliteration. I'm quite proud of it). Sometimes, I can look at a photograph and the scene in it is still alive in my senses and I can't seem to comprehend the fact that I'm actually hundreds of miles away (or sometimes thousands) from where it was taken.
I'm back living in Peterborough now. I haven't lived here for about 3 years or so, and as I walk the streets I'm trying to access a mental map of the city that I created when I was 20 years old. The problem is, the map seems difficult to remember. It's like when you're learning a new language, and before you are able to come up with the word you're looking for in the new language, your mind processes through all of the languages in which you already know how to speak that word: "friend," "ami," "amigo," "padi," until finally you filter through to the right choice. My mental map of Peterborough is like that. It is superimposed on top of all of the other cities I have lived in (unfortunately all which seem to have similar street names...damn those Brits and their ubiquitousness). So, if you see me wondering aimlessly, don't be alarmed. I'm just trying to sort through my map and get a grip on where I'm really going.
No, I don't want to pick a city guide up from the convenience store.
But thanks for the suggestion.
4 comments:
I'm going to go out on a limb and assume there's a King or Queen St. in Ptbo...oh...and one mustn't forget Main St. (god forbid a town not have one of those) :)
Nicely alliterated.
I was reading the opening to a book by Ryszard Kapuscinski yesterday and he was writing about the way in which, for centuries, travelers had time to adjust to the temperature because a slow progress by foot took them from cold to cool to warm to hot.
Then there comes these modern forms of transportation and one starts the day in winter and end it in the tropics!
Maybe if you had walked back to Peterborough you'd experience the change differently. Who knows? Your feet would probably be sore though!
I can compare myself to Nelson Mandela. Not favourably. But I could still do it.
Rui, there's definitely a King Street, probably a Queen too, but I'm not sure where...and a negative on a Main street.
Cam, if only I could have walked from Sierra Leone to Canada. Or at least sailed. The next time I travel to Africa I'll look into a cargo boat. Even if it takes 6 months.
Mike, you're ridiculous. That is all.
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