I almost forgot…but it has really been 25 years.
I was negotiating Blackfriars bridge on my high hills last night on the way to a function when it dawned on me… I have been living abroad for a quarter of a century.
On September 19th, 1983, my father packed his old Citroën with my boxes and drove me to Austria where I was to begin my studies at the University of Innsbruck.
I remember falling asleep immediately after we left the house and waking up when we were already deep into the Alps.
That’s when I realised that I was living home and my old life for good.
The thought didn’t frighten me. I felt the mountains embracing me and lifting me up. I knew they would be looking after me.
Innsbruck is so beautiful in the spring.
A fellow student from Nigeria used to say that when you walk by the river Inn, the beauty of the mountains overwhelms you and you feel your heart bursting.
It is pictures like this that were going through my mind last night on Blackfriars bridge.
An overwhelming collection of faces, words, sunsets, snowfall, books, planes, hugs, etc. that have made up the past 25 years. They have all morphed into a body of memories and ultimately into who I am today.
The interesting thing is that even the less happy memories (like all the times I have been called a foreigner….) have been swallowed by that body and transformed into something I would have never wanted to miss.
And guess what… the sun is shining today in London, same as that day in the Alps.
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