I've been reading
Little Brown Pen this morning. And it has me deseperately missing cities (and good cheese). I've lived in a few and spent time in many others. I love every one of them that I have lived in. Cities are microcosms of humanity...or something like that.. Full of energy and life, and love and trouble.
For me, there was a common factor to each, and that was how I lived in them. To me cities mean markets and cafe's and art galleries, and music and lazing in parks, and rollerblading. They mean diversity and language, and open minded people. Interested engaged people. Alleys to get lost in, new corners to discover, architecture, sculpture, history and art. All there. They mean inspiration at every corner. Melbourne, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Dubai. These are my cities. I could add Al Ain, and Hilversum, and Oxford and the Gold Coast, the smaller cities where I have also lived and worked.
The Rollerblading thing - I miss it. I miss that country towns are not blading friendly. In Amsterdam and Frankfurt I used to join the night skates, the rollerblading around the city. Dangerous, fast, but amazing. Such a great way to see and experience the city. Through areas you didn't know existed. Pelting down hill in a forested area, where you can hardly see the person skating in front of you is pretty darn exhilerating (and scary). In Melbourne I used to rollerblad to work/uni and home again. 1/2 an hour each way. Frankfurt it was my mode of transport half the time. Dubai it was how I walked the dog.
But more than anything, it is the colour, the vibrancy of cities, that I miss. With all the minutiae of a million 'everdays' for a million and more faces. All those little details. The ways of seeing the world, that's what I miss.
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| Frankfurt sharehouse kitchen |
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| Chinatown, Melbourne |
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| Dubai Fabric Souk |
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| Peeling Paint, Melbourne alley |
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| Sharjah produce market. |
