Familiarity

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."

Alen Cohen


In travelling and exploring and learning about the world, there is comfort in returning to familiarity. Oh sure, "been there, done that, bought that t-shirt". So why revisit it all over again?


Christmas, 2002 (London Eye)

I'm eluding to London and the UK, the place I called home for 6 wonderful years and the destination for this Christmas and New Year. And, like 6 previous Christmases and New Years, I'm am overjoyed and filled with child-like excitement at the very thought of it.

So why continue to return there if it's all been done before? What is it that maintains it's meaningfulness, when there is so much more to explore, see and do? The buildings don't change, nor do the exuberant prices or the dreary weather. The trains still run late and the traffic remains a nightmare. All reasons why just about every Londoner wants rid of the place and would give their all to swap for an Aussie summer next to the barbecue. But, it's precisely because of these reasons that I love being there, especially at Christmas.


Christmas, 2004 (Post-Christmas Europe holiday)

London has a 'feel'. It has a different feel depending on the season. It has a spring feel when the days get longer, the colours return and the ice melts away. It has a summer feel, on warm and humid evenings when it's still light at 10pm, the cool breeze drifts in through the open windows. It has an autumn feel, as the days become cooler and a red/orange tinge envelopes the trees- the leaves fall making a mess. And then there's the winter. The dread of all the locals as the sun goes AWOL almost permanently for 3 or 4 months. The nights are bitter and the days are grey and gloomy. Nothing ever dries and puddles on the ground alternate between ice and sludge. My school is greeted by headlights as the staff arrive for the day. It is farewelled by tail lights in the afternoon, such are the limits of the afternoon sunlight. The icy arctic wind blows straight through your bones. The eyes fill with tears as they struggle to cope with the cold air. It's a living hell for many people fed up with their lot in an English winter. As they long for the sun and sand of a Mediterranean beach, I wouldn't rather be anywhere else.

But maybe I should be "embracing the new". And since I'm not, what exactly is making yet another English Christmas "meaningful"?


Christmas, 2006 (London, with the Hughes Family)

All of the above, for a start. It has so much meaning. It has been such a huge part of my life and will always be my 'second home'. It is this familiarity that gives it it's meaning, but it's more than the physical structures of the city. It's where experiences were lived, lives changed and memories forged.

At the heart of Christmas is, of course, the people that make it so special. Being on the other side of the planet at a time where families are supposed to be together, is difficult to cope with to say the least. As I embark on my seventh Christmas away from my family, it doesn't get any easier. There is a false belief held by many that one gets used to it; detached. That somehow you become immune to the feelings of isolation and distance. Not so. If anything, it becomes harder as your awareness becomes heightened that, as another year draws to a close, life is indeed finite. Each special moment missed is one such experience never to be had again.

For me, the meaningfulness of being in such a familiar place as London at any time, let alone Christmas, is drawn from the experiences and the comfort of being with friends and extended families, who so warmly welcome us as their own. The opportunities for work and travel that life has made available doesn't come without it's drawbacks. Distance and time are immovable barriers standing in the way of being at home with family at special times of year.

I can't have my home and family at Christmas, but I'm blessed to have some much appreciated familiarity!

Merry Christmas.

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