I left Joburg on a glorious sunny day and just about instantly felt as if I were in Europe - the Gautrain rocks... So yes, all the way from our wonderful home in Parkview, Johannesburg - where we are planting a brand new garden... Iceberg roses, Lavender... and a whole lot of other plants whose names I can't remember - the air is filled with the smell of Spring and the promise of Summer... The lanes and avenues of our little suburb about to burst with Jacaranda blossoms creating rivers of purple petals. But me I am off to Florence for my fourth winter in a row. Yes, from Parkview to Rosebank, the Gautrain to OR Tambo Airport to Frankfurt to Vienna and finally Florence... a long journey of trains planes and busses which eventually brought me to the little apartment I now share with Vika the Dane, Freya the Norwegian clown and Giulio the Italian yogi. My room is light bright small and happy. Even though the winter rain is settling in - I have a view of trees... an inner city park whose secrets I have not yet explored, but will - soon... I shall pull on my loud orange wellington boots and open my black polka dot umbrella and walk.
Year two has began - and I am delighted that this time it did not start with a couple of hours spent beneath a Mother Mary and Jesus painting on the corner of some road in a city I do not know, crying, waiting to be robbed. Lost. And alone. How much happens in just one year. And thank heavens for Blackberry Messenger! Rock on.
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| The brand new massive aeroplane that flew me back to winter. |
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| On the run way in Frankfurt after my long and awkward attempt at sleep on the plastic airport chairs. |
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| Flying over the Alps... now a somewhat familiar sight. |
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