Garden of Simple

Today I had a fever. I felt a little bit cheated to be quite honest. I’d looked so forward to spending every last minute I could making the most of London life - be it in my room playing the guitar or out on the streets meeting folk, walking through the leafy pathways between the  towering skyscrapers, taking the tube or the buses, maybe even a ride on one of the infamous Boris Bikes.

With so little energy I instead looked through my most recent photos from the time I have spent in the UK but out of the city I now call home.  Just last week during the golden jubilee celebrations I decided to celebrate what it is that I most treasure. There’s nothing like spending time with your loved ones and when you get to do this in such a delightful setting its makes for an even more special occasion.

Here you see Foxton Locks. The place did something funny to me, a good type of funny. There was a moment in which I sat amongst buttercups and a few springs wild heather. I was on a slope looking over hill after hill. On some there were cows, on others there were sheep. Some had fields filled with rapeseed the others with wheat. Directly behind me I could hear the laughter of children, the barks of passing dogs most likely in their element as they soaked up the free feeling ambience of the outside. Amongst the nature and the beings were several canal boats making their way up the hill, travelling the country, seeing the world. In this moment when I sat on the hill, with my best friend and her beautiful boyfriend just thirty seconds away from me, I felt pretty happy to be alive. I think once upon a time, I may have looked around in the same spot and thought everyone else has someone but me. Who do I have? The trees have the leaves, the hills have their fields, the cows have their calves and the sheep their lambs, the dogs have their owners and their owners have their lovers, and who do I have with me right now? But I didn’t think so negatively and I don’t think I have for a long time. I get to have this world. I get to see the beauty of life. I have myself and I think I like who I am. Truth is we don’t have to single out what we don’t have because there is so much more that we do. Foxton Locks made me grateful. It made me realise that you don’t have to travel half way across the world to see beauty. Funnily enough it made me realise I may not have even had to travel to Foxton.

My best friend lives in Leicester as does my Grandma. And I’m leaving. I’m not just going to be in London, I’m going to be far. I’m leaving what I believe makes this world a beautiful place. Does that make me stupid? I’m going to choose to say no, because as I said goodbye to Mel, John and my Nanima - it still didn’t feel like I was losing them. Distance has nothing on beauty.  Family, friendship; they are way stronger than a few miles here or there. Some people think by moving further away you are separated but that’s not true. We’re connected – through oceans and seas and land and trees and thoughts and feelings and everything that makes up this world. Foxton made me realise what I have in England I will never lose, because I don’t want to. Knowing this I believe means I’m more ready than ever to explore what more there is to experience on this intriguing little planet. I’m not scared to be excited any more.