credit: Victorian Web
For the first time in ages I sat at my computer and relaxed during my lunch break. And for the first time in ages I just cried.
I pottered over the BBC News website and saw this audio slide show about the restoration of Worcester Cathedral (pronounced Wooster, for my American reader...yes it's where the sauce comes from).
It is remarkably similar in superficial appearance to the Cathedral in my home town, and I found the views of Worcester and its surrounding countryside really moving.
I left home 18 years ago, and I emigrated 12 years ago. And I've gone back less and less frequently, and I am so fucking homesick it's unreal.
I don't think I could live there easily anymore, accustomed as I am to the freedoms I now enjoy, and I really consider myself an Anglo-American as opposed to a true Anglo-Saxon (I know that's a silly semantic difference).
but the weight of history is breathtaking. My home city now has plenty of history as long as you count recent history...birthplace of Elvis Presley and rock and roll, death of Martin Luther King and so on. But it's so recent. My country is only 234 years old for crying out loud! And that youth undergirds many American idioms.
The church in my home town, not the Cathedral, but the local church was founded in 98 AD for crying out loud! My local pub is at least twice as old than the country I now live in.
"Ye Olde Fighting Cocks", the oldest pub in England
So I watched the slide show and looked at those views, across a green & pleasant land, and I cried my eyes out. It's been 534 days since I was last back, and it's been too long.
9 comments:
I feel your pain ... I haven't seen any of my family for a year and saw some photos of the land far, far away yesterday and just wanted to cry. Unfortunately, I'm caught up in applying for a green card right now so there won't be any trips home this year :(
I've been in US over nine years now. I grew up in the West Midlands, where all my family still lives. I used to go clubbing in Worcester! I get to visit more than I did when I was a grad student, but not as often as I would like. I got my boss to pay for me to go to a conference in Scotland last summer, which was a bonus! Not sure if I will stay in the US, not sure if I will return to the UK. Still I'd love to be able to travel more.
Glad you stopped by to comment; I thought this one would just get "ur the ghey" comments.
The freedom of my F1 student visa made travel a LOT easier. Now I can't afford the airfare or the time off work to hit up the embassy for a new stamp.
@drG I figured out I was staying (all things being equal) about year 3 or 4 of grad school. But I've plenty of mates who still know how permanent this 'trip' is
Poor TL. When do you think you might get to go back?
Ooop, too slow.
Tidelair. Harden up Buttercup!
That's better. Everybody go about your business.
-antipodean
@Dr.G: my last sentence is missing a "don't"!
@MXX: maybe next year. I should get my labor certification and travel permit for my Green Card in late summer, but semester has started by then and it's too expensive to travel at Xmas.
@antipodean: :p cheers mate.
Thanks for the comment on Natureza!
I take it you´re another expat in the Americas? - I can sympathise with your thoughts on Worcester.
You are, of course, bookmarked too!
Dave
Sorry dude. Those moments hit us all at some point. I know it sounds silly, but for me it's usually around the football and rugby world cups; I get drunken phone calls from pubs and houses all over England, from big groups of my friends all watching the game together.
@Macaco Verde: Thanks for stopping by! I am indeed an import to this great & strange land
@Cath: The World Cup is gonna be a doozy! I'm investing in shares in Kleenex right now...
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