back to Bristol

flying over England and into Bristol was strangely comforting. I have definitely missed life in the U.K., only I dont think I realized how much until arriving into Bristol in many ways felt like arriving home.

obviously Canada is my home and will be forever, but I havent had much time to really think about my experiences in Bristol because I finished work so quickly and took off to travelling. I think my goodbyes (to my friends and to the city) were so rushed because I knew I was coming back here, but in the back of my mind I always ignored the fact that coming back would only be for a couple of days, and so now Im rushing to do the goodbye thing all over again.

Flying over the channel and circling Britain was wonderful... i remember being in awe of the scenery when flying in at the end of last August, but now the landmarks were all familiar to me. The hedgerows, fields of sheep, little cottages, and villages are all so very British to me and seeing them again on the horizon made me feel relief after a long journey around Europe.

Little things are making me laugh, like being exposed to the Bristle accent again. Getting my haircut today I counted the word "innit" (see old post for definition) around 54 or 55 times, just in waiting for the barber and getting my haircut. It was blissfull.

Anyway, there are lots of things I will be happy to leave behind as I depart back to Canada in a few days, but now more than ever I have realized that I have loved my time in Bristol and that I will really miss it... for all the experiences I have had living her over the past little while.

I supposed leaving Bristol is kind of like leaving Kingston, in that I missed it at first, but not so much because I knew that things were different there and that other friends had left it and that I couldnt go back to the Kingston I remembered. With my housemates moving into different houses and workmates finding new jobs and looking at new opportunities, Bristol has been changing since the day I left to go travelling, and so I cant really miss it in the sense that I could come back to it exactly the same.

However it changes for better or for worse, I think I will always consider it in some part to be a home away from home, because of all the comfort this place has given me in the past eight months or so of my experiences.

Not sure what is coming up next for me, maybe sticking around Canada or finding myself back in the U.K... but I expect that I will continue to update this blog, though maybe not as frequently in order to fulfill the "beyond" part of the title "To Bristol and Beyond..."

- Chris

p.s. the rest of my photos to come soon, just havent had much time to update them. Of course everyone who Ill be seeing in the next month or so will get the pleasure of seeing many more photos as I am currently editing down the thousand or so photos I took over the past six weeks into a nice CD of images. you have been warned!