Monday 9 July 2007

Admiring the view

I bumped into some friends yesterday whilst walking little dog. They are about to move away from the beautiful place we live (a city that can have you in the countryside in ten minutes) to a city which is , well, a city. Maybe an interesting city, but it is a (fairly large and very urban) city nevertheless. They said they were just out for a walk enjoying the sunshine and they realised that they're going to miss the scenery. They hadn't really noticed it before and taken it for granted, but now they're about to leave they can see what they have here. Another one of my friends quite regularly tells me that they don't notice the scenery either - it takes a visit from their parents who comment on the amazing views from the Castle (walking, this is 5 minutes from my house), to remind them how lucky they are.

I don't understand this at all. I am always aware of the view, the scenery, the history and how lucky I am to live here, of the facts that I can have the convenience of town/city living, manage pretty well without a car or driving licence, and take little dog for a walk well away from the traffic and never be too far from home. I often tell geographically distant family and friends that they should visit here to see the historic places or just to enjoy the scenery.

I guess what I'm saying is, look at the place where you live. If you're lucky enough to like where you live, make sure you appreciate what you've got, while you've got it. It's too late when you have to move away. I already know I'll be sad to leave, whenever that might be.

6 comments:

C Merry said...

I live in the East Village, NYC and sometimes I don't look around. When I do I am always glad
:)
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment.
:)
TLLT

jo(e) said...

I live in a really beautiful place, and I am always amazed at how many people here have no idea how beautiful it is ....

Autumn Song said...

Thank you for your comments Jo(e) and happy lol day. Let's hope more people start to be aware of the lovely things around them!

Anonymous said...

i know the feeling. i was gutted when i left and am counting the days until i come 'home' - may not have been born there but i remember driving to your city the first time back in'98 and thinking 'this is where i belong.' just one more year and i can come back :=)

Autumn Song said...

Will be nice to have you back!

ThePhDLitChick said...

I was recently struck by this feeling about my own city. I'd always thought it was a fantastic city but I hadn't realise quite how beautiful it was, how architecturally breathtaking it can be, until I visited a 'new' city whose architecture was all very boxy and plain. That particular city's beauty came from places other than its buildings. But the point is that I didn't really notice quite how lucky I was until I was away from my home city!