Sunday 12 February 2023
One of myriad ‘best things’ about having spent twelve nights in Delhi is having had a pause from everyday stresses and worries. I’ve been home in Lewisham for less than twelve hours and I’m in the process of unpacking and repacking to go back home to Scottish Borders tomorrow morning. Delhi, London, Scotland; three of my favourite places in the world.
On the flight home yesterday, my sense of end-of-journey was the flat in Lewisham, but where I was looking forward to being was Scotland and having some clean air and wide open spaces. I still feel very much split and I increasingly think my sense of home is around where most of my stuff is and where I picture myself being. Stuff, London. But I am picturing lying in a star shape on the ground above the house in Scotland with nothing but sky, trees, hills – nature – all around me.
I bought us quite a few things for the house in India, including two pairs of curtains, other fabrics, a brass bell for the front door, some pictures for framing and other bits and pieces. All of these things are for the house in Scotland and it’s the house I was picturing when I was looking at stuff.
I suppose all of that is fairly obvious.
Tomorrow, Chris and I will travel back to Scotland on the train, meeting a friend, Carla, who’s coming to stay for two nights. She’ll get a bit caught up in my jetlag and unpacking but we’re both looking forward to having our second visitor. Instead of unpacking and staying around the house on return from London and India, it’ll be good to have some proper long walks as I know Carla will love the countryside around us.
I’m now heading off to meet a friend for an early morning walk (08:00), I’ll finish my packing and sorting, pop to the supermarket and eat more bread and toast, having had no non-Indian (other than one Japanese-style meal) food for two weeks. It’s good to be in London and great to be meeting up with a friend for a walk and to go to the bakery, but I feel I haven’t quite finished my journey yet. I’m really looking forward to returning to the house in Scotland tomorrow … where the water issue seems to be resolved and there is a good chance our water supply is back to normal.