From close to home and further afield
"Fiction was invented the day Jonah arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale"
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Marquez twists time; bending it back on itself. Future events are told at the start of his stories, and the origins of a tale are recollected on the final pages of a tale. Time in South America is not linear. It circles like a wheel, dragging the world and its people with it, up and around, and back to where they started. Everything is repeated, the days resemble each other, the years even more so. Some people are close to the centre of the wheel, they spin round at an incredible speed, every hour resembles every other hour, but they're not going anywhere. Others are near the outside of the wheel, rubbing shoulders with the tyre; they travel more slowly, but they cover more ground. For them time is still cyclical, but years or decades, rather than hours or days resemble each other. They notice the changing terrain the wheel carries them over, while those spinning in the centre are hardly aware of themselves let alone their surroundings.
Things aren't so different here.
And times they are a changing. From holiday to work, I'm back into the working week, but things are moving forward, I'm getting new projects to do, and fitting the role to myself, rather than just learning the job.
For Hilary there's change too. She started here new job today. Sounds like it is going to be an very interesting place to work. She is going to be managing sustainable building projects, advising on the most environmental solutions for new buildings. I visited her new house on Saturday. It's a nice house, and the house mates seemed really friendly. Leamington Spa. is a great place, and a marked contrast to London.
Things have changed for us too. We're further apart geographically, but I think it'll probably bring us closer together in other ways. I think it's incredibly important that Hilary has an opportunity like this to gain experience that would be very hard to get in London, and help her choice to change direction in the area she wants to work in. It'll also be nice to have a weekend retreat to get away from the hustle and bustle of London.
I can definitely feel the terrain changing, but it feels like a good change. Hopefully I'm not just confused by spinning around at the centre of the wheel!