What's Occurring?

Homesickness. Is it even possible when you don't really feel like you have a home anymore? The difficulty in moving away is that you create more homes for yourself than one person can keep up with. It's like having more than one email address. In reality, you only need one, but you find over the years you've let certain elements of your life become compartmentalised and so in order to experience the whole you must constantly move between points and deal with the inevitable nostalgia for those you have left behind.

Last night I went for a walk in the bitter coldness. As I walked along the banks of the river Po I was amused to see a flock of about 100 seagulls all huddled together on a sort of mud flat in the middle of it. Obviously I surprised them a bit as they flew off in unison and began the most bizarre display of avian aeronautics I've ever seen. Circling round and round in an enormous amalgamation of feathers they flew up and down the river several times before eventually settling back down again in precisely the same spot as before, but it seemed to me as if they thought it was somewhere new and different!

Perhaps this is what we do then, when we find new homes. We travel back and forth endlessly feeling like jet-setters of the very best variety, failing to notice that in fact where we end up is essentially the same. Yes the yoghurt may taste different, people may drive on the wrong side and the shops may be closed on Sundays, but where you live is not important. If you live with people you love, it doesn't matter where you are. Besides, you can always go back to your 1st home. And that, is precisely what I am doing on the 6th February. I need to come home and buy some books you can't get here, and was only planning to stay a week, but due to St Valentines Day extortion tax, it's cheaper to fly a bit later. So I'm actually staying for two. And you know what. I bet I'll miss Italy. I've not even been shopping yet!