February 02, 2013

A Canterbury Tale

Greyfriars Garden
Wandering around cities is what I do. If I can pick up a waif or stray to join me then so be it, but more often than not, I tread paths alone, winding my way around the streets and stopping to gaze at things that capture my attention for no mere reason other than impulse. There is no method but simply a desire to walk and see.
The River Stour
Canterbury for me is a city  that I could tread with my eyes closed, so familiar are the paths and weaves. When I trot along the cobbled streets, I move in no direction other than where my heart pulls me. It often leads me to familiar places, the creature of habit that I am. I stop to look at spots where moments past have befallen.
Greyfriars Garden
That bench by the church where he told me he'd never love me. Or that shallow part of the river into which I fell, intoxicated by cider on my 20th birthday.
Greyfriar's Garden
That corner where I wanted to kiss you but couldn't find the courage makes me happy that finally we did, in exactly the same place just days later. These memories come back to me fleetingly and fill me with little surges of pleasure and sometimes, a bittersweet sense of sorrow.
The Chaucer Bookshop

When I come to love a city, I fill my heart with fragments of my life there, lending each and every nook an ambience. The streets fill up with whispers of our history and a light that is all our own: burning embers, a slow licking flame or a roaring fire of feelings. Entwined with the lights of lives past and those that burn in our presence, a city is a master storyteller. If you take the time to wander its streets, it'll tell you a tale or two.

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4 comments

  1. I've only ever visited Canterbury maybe twice, three times but I did like it very much. I am so draw in by history and architecture and energy to places, I can't quite explain it. I know some people can call home wherever they lay their hat but that is not me. I currently live in a place where I feel my soul is being sapped, I was hoping it would be short term but we have been here 10 years (yes 10 long years)and with a combination of factors we haven't yet been able to escape but I know I will one day, I owe it to my soul. In the meantime I find all the nooks and crannies of other towns and cities which enchant me. I love this post Sally, the part were you said "he told me he would never love me" made me gulp.

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  2. <3 <3 When I visited Canterbury we sat on the bench by the little canal too, probably the one you sat on! :\ xx

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  3. I feel nostalgic about so many places...

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