Friday 27 September 2013

A Return to England II

John Lewis Leicester
It was cold & raining as the plane landed at Stansted but, as we 
journeyed towards Melton Mowbray, the rain
stopped and the sun managed to put in an appearance.
As the English countryside became more familiar 
the closer we got to our destination, the thought suddenly
hit me, "I don't belong here any more".

Don't get me wrong, I miss my family & friends so much and it
hurts like hell when I can't just hop in the car & take off to the 
next village or an hour down the road to see our son or daughter 
when they need me.  But this was the first time I didn't actually 
feel that a return to England was 'coming home'; 
this time I had left home behind in Italy, not just hubby, 
but 'home' - that place where one feels safe & secure, 
a haven from the rest of the world.

It was after my last trip to the UK, 10 months ago now, 
that Il Sogno finally felt like home. On all my
previous trips I'd missed hubby terribly but not
the house particularly. This time I missed everything -
I struggled with even queueing for bag drop at
Naples airport; I was close to tears before I
even had to say goodbye to hubby.

I loved my 'flying visit' - knowing you only have one week
to do stuff in makes you cram so much in; every spare
moment possible was spent with the grandchildren. Saturday 
morning was spent in Leicester town centre - I do miss
'mooching' around the shops & department stores more
than I care to admit to. The afternoon was spent babysitting
the grandchildren so my 'yummy mummy' daughter-in-law could 
visit the hairdressers.
Sunday was spent leisurely at my
Dad's - reading the Sunday Times (which I used to
hate when hubby bought it every weekend),
listening to Radio 2 whilst having lunch & 
then watching the Rugby highlights on ITV4 in the
evening - after an afternoon spent with the grandchildren,
of course.

Weekdays were spent in the office but Monday evening I met up
with our daughter & her BF for dinner at Carluccio's - it's
my 'little bit of Italy' when I'm away from home.
Tuesday evening I had dinner with my friend Viv, whose
daughter Jenni was born the same day as our daughter Flik.
And then Wednesday was a late dinner with Dad as I
needed to bid my farewells to the grandchildren -
our son & daughter-in-law were jetting off to
Portugal early on Thursday morning.
After dinner I did most of my packing, so that I could
spend a couple of hours in the office on Thursday
before Viv very kindly ran me back to Stansted.

And the feeling as I hugged my Dad & bid him goodbye was one of
absolute delight at the prospect of flying back to Naples & coming
home to Il Sogno. My heart belongs here now, and 'home is
where the heart is'.

Home




1 comment:

  1. I've heard it said that it's about year 7 that you really "decide" not to go back or you go back because you can't stand it here any more.
    But, I'm a bit like you. It was about a year after I moved here that I felt the UK was no longer my "home". I miss Herefordshire but I don't think I would choose to live there again. Then again, who knows what will happen?

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