Autumn Lights

The dazzling view from our new flat, as pictured below, seems to have shifted my perspective on the season.

Frozen fireworks
Blurred blaze
Colours caught in their fiery spray

Blackened branches
Charcoal haze
Embers clutching the flickering flames

Spitting sparks
Dazzling rays
Moment showered in a golden daze

Autumnal Haze

Sun's breath driven back by icy winds

Coldness claws, warmth rescinds

Mid-October. The sharp edges of the changed season jut out from the thinning remnants of Summer. [Photo (c) MJ Photography, found strawberry-lane.blogspot.com]

Green blood drains, leaves leaves

Choking crimson, gasping shades

Dried veins wither, disintegrate

Crumbling carcass, falls, fades

There's a sorrowful beauty to this phase - the wispy aura of a pale, aged woman with diamond eyes. Yet there is a stronger sense of longing; an oxygen shortage, the smell of steel. The world is wide awake while sleeping; we drift through a transluscent dream.

Westward Home

I found this 'Westward House' door on a cute terrace at the North Norfolk Coast in early May, shortly after I 'stepped Westward'.

I use this image as an attempt to explain that, while this blog was a useful way to express my perspective leading up to my move, now that I've made this Westward place my home, I feel this blog has become redundant.

Neil and I have a shared travel blog at www.neilandcarla.wordpress.com which makes this one unnecessary.

So, with great affection I am signing off for the last time -- at least until I see a need for this place in future.

In the meantime, please visit my current blog www.neilandcarla.wordpress.com for photos and brief updates of my adventures.

Cheers,

Carla

La ville de la Paris

What a magical adventure Paris was! Extravagant in architecture and history, while subtle in language and cuisine. Gorgeous hot days lingered into balmy bright nights. The Parisiens humoured us with our flakey French conversation and charmingly offered snippets of tuition. We indulged in light, interesting meals that lulled our tastebuds into strange new dances. The Mona Lisa, the Moulin Rouge, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and so much more. So much to see - it was almost overwhelming - until the faint outline of the Eiffel Tower in the distance, or the calm sparkle of the Seine, lifted us again. Tres beau! And all just a train ride away.

The Curious Case of Carla

My brain malfunctions when I try to imagine my life if I were still in Brisbane.

It seems to utterly 'right' that we are living this phase in this time in this place. There is something about Norwich that breeds expectancy. The promise of continuous, reachable adventures waiting to be had.

Precisely because I don't see this as my home forever, I have no desire to leave and every urge to soak up its offerings while I can.

A book reviewed in this weekend's Guardian suggests that keeping curious could be the factor that brings ongoing life satisfaction. The book's author suggests that even if we create exciting circumstances for ourselves, the thrill naturally wears off with familiarity. If we can train ourselves to search for newness in the midst of the mediocre, we will continually experience the satisfaction of "finding and creating meaning".

Let the curiousity continue!

Cambridge

A few words to capture Cambridge in lieu of photographs:

light
clip clops off cobblestone
stretching the stony alleys
the buildings bulge, edges glowing
glory
peeps through weeping willow leaves
wraps the river in reflection
ghosts
tip tapping on the cobblestone
grand curiosity in their airy eyes
peaceful pride
alumni
illuminaters

whirlwind

The last two or three weeks have been a blur of new faces and places, as well as piles of paperwork and endless errands.

Our first weekend here was a blast as Neil's workmates plunged us into their social circles and we gallivanted nonstop around town enjoying ourselves.

The next week we knuckled down and focused on finding a place to rent. After viewing a selection of locations including a run-down flat, a retirement unit and a charming but cold terraced house, we opted for a nice flat near town. The flat itself is new but built inside the old hospital building which is quite stately with it's turrets and high ceilings. We moved in that weekend and, while Neil started work the following week, I kept busy assembling furniture, washing new linen and crockery, running errands and so on. The 'home duties' label given to me by the bank was proven true.

Last weekend our great friends from Australia came to visit us after their 2-month tour of Europe. Seeing them was brilliant fun, and brought the mixed feeling of missing Australia yet being inspired by their time on the continent.

This week Neil is of course at work, while I focus my energies on finding a job of my own. This has proven to be quite a marathon of an obstacle course. When it comes to seeking work as a teacher, I'm continually jumping through hoops, dodging projectiles and taking detours at the sight of big signs which read "British-trained European Union citizens only". As far as non-teaching work goes, I find I can barely focus on finding it, since teaching is a higher priority at this time when positions become vacant for September. And yet, can we really wait til September for me to contribute an income? And so sometimes I feel like I'm running a cross-country that has no finish line.

However, I am really enjoying life in this town. There are plenty of interesting, provocative and entertaining events here yet the 'small town' feel is very obvious. The people we hang out with are easy and enjoyable company, and the places we've visited around the county and beyond have been delightful. Neil and I are enjoying life together and, living so close to town, have access to so many people and places. Yes, as the welcome sign asserts, Norwich truly is a fine city.

Westward

Europe. I didn't even have to leave the airport at Amsterdam to be reminded why I'm making this trip: the lure of the unfamiliar.

Walking through the calmly chaotic airport, I felt like a piece of dry white bread, dunked into a delicious soup. People's clothes, mannerisms, faces and skin were warm juices and their constant uttering of foreign phrases was like a subtle mix of herbs to enliven the brew. Dutch, German, French. Patisseries, Beethoven, cathedrals, wine.

And now I sit in Norwich. Finally, here. Though the seed has barely sent off a shoot, it has been planted. The new phase of my life has begun.

in transit

Brisbane to Singapore: good; fine. Uneventful, almost.

As when hunger is so prolonged that eating is about easing the pangs rather than savouring the texture and taste; so I seemed somewhat desensitised to my departure. "Finally. Really? Yes."

Tonight, however, I leave Singapore after a relaxing break. This time I fly to Amsterdam and then to Norwich. Tomorrow I will be in my new hometown. A little savouring seems possible tonight.

sweet sorrow

I won't have time to post an entry before I fly out tomorrow. So here is how I envision my departure, through the words of William Wordsworth:

Where lies the Land to which yon Ship must go?
Fresh as a lark mounting at break of day,
Festively she puts forth in trim array;
Is she for tropic suns, or polar snow?
What boots the inquiry? Let her travel where she may,
She finds familiar names, a beaten way
Ever before her, and a wind to blow.
Yet still I ask, what haven is her mark?
And, almost as it was when ships were rare,
(From time to time, like Pilgrims, here and there
Crossing the waters) doubt, and something dark,
Of the old Sea some reverential fear,
Is with me at thy farewell, joyous Bark!

the chasm

I'm on an island at a busy intersection

I can't go forward, I can't turn back

Can't see the future; it's getting away from me

I just watch the tail lights glowing

One step closer to knowing

One step closer to knowing

-- From One Step Closer by U2

Here I am in this numb timelessness between the warm goodbye and a crisp hello. This landscape is littered with boxes and stray belongings; a desert governed by lists.

One step closer to going. One step closer to going.

So near yet so far

I feel close enough that I can almost envisage the life awaiting me across the globe. Or is it only a collection of my imaginings - nothing like the reality that lies ahead?

Image: Norseman by Shaun Tan, brilliant artist/writer/picture book author and illustrator

20 days 'til take-off

My visa has arrived! One week to go at work. Two weeks left in our unit. Three weeks 'til we're soaring above the Middle East, on our way to Amsterdam. Feels just a little like this fabulous vid.

What am I thinking?

[Image: Effervescence by Sarah B Hansen]

For the past 24 hours it's been bubbling up inside me - as though a packet of sherbet's been injected into my pancreas.

In little more than 5 weeks I will wake up in England, in some odd town; jobless, homeless, friendless and most likely cold.

What am I thinking?

Finally the "scary" part of "It's scary but exciting" is fizzing its way to the surface.

This is really happening!

viva la visa

Tomorrow - 30 days after applying for my visa - I can officially phone the British Embassy in Canberra to check my visa's status. However, the website already tells me that "a decision will usually be made 12 weeks after the application is received".

This would be fine, except for the ridiculous fact that the Embassy doesn't accept applications more than 3 months before one's estimated date of arrival. Last time I checked, 12 weeks was only a few days less than 3 months. Seems to be cutting it a little fine, considering this ticket into the country cost hours of my time and $1300. And did I mention I had to send my actual passport?

On a lighter note, I'm hoping my application isn't hindered by my embarrassing misunderstanding at the Brisbane office, where I had my "biometrics" taken. On arrival, all I knew was that the procedure involved the scanning of applicants' fingerprints and eyes. Weird, I thought - but we are living in "a post 9/11 world".

So there I sat, in the "biometrics" room. After pressing multiple finger combinations into a small screen, I was told to look at the lens on my left. Time for the eyes, I thought. I fixed my sight on the lens, widened my eyelids, and stared, frozen, ready for my eyeballs to be scanned.

*Flash*

Turns out the "eye scan" was actually a photograph - one that no doubt makes me look like a frightened freak. How embarrassment!

Stepping Westward - by William Wordsworth

"What, you are stepping westward?" -- "Yea."

'Twould be a wildish destiny

If we who thus together roam

In a strange land and far from home,

Were in this place the guests of Chance :

Yet who would stop, or fear to advance,

Though home or shelter he had none,

With such a sky to lead him on ?

The dewy ground was dark and cold ;

Behind, all gloomy to behold ;

And stepping westward seemed to be

A kind of heavenly destiny :

I liked the greeting ; 'twas a sound

Of something without place or bound ;

And seemed to give me spiritual right

To travel through that region bright.

The voice was soft, and she who spake

Was walking by her native lake :

The salutation had to me

The very sound of courtesy :

Its power was felt ; and while my eye
Was fixed upon the glowing Sky,

The echo of the voice enwrought

A human sweetness with the thought

Of travelling through the world that lay

Before me in my endless way.

(Photo: Wings in the Wind by A. E. Marty)

Words of Worth

Last night one of the units in our complex caught on fire. Nobody was hurt, and the damage was minimal, but it had me considering which of my possessions were worth rescuing.

The only thing I could think of? My little old book of Wordsworth's poetry. Published somewhere between the late 1800s and the mid 1900s, and written circa 1790-1845, I bought it for $2 at a Lifeline Bookfest and it's now one of my dearest companions.

It really hit me that most of our "stuff" is so meaningless and unnecessary. All I need is Neil and a few lines of verse, and the world is mine.

Wings have we -- and as far as we can go
We may find pleasure : wilderness and wood,
Blank ocean and mere sky, support that mood
Which with the lofty sanctifies the low.
Dreams, books, are each a world; and books, we know
Are a substantial world, both pure and good:
Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood,
Our pastime and our happiness grow.
-- From 'Personal Talk' by William Wordsworth

Beautiful Brisbane

"The true journey of discovery exists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust

I took these photos last year when my sister Emily and I decided to be 'tourists' in our own town - to see Brisbane with new eyes. Today as I wandered along the river with my mother I felt a similar sense of grasping Brisbane in a fresh way.

This post is dedicated to the bits of Brisbane that make us love it. The buzz of Southbank; the bohemian chill of West End; the wired vibe of the Valley. Not to mention the sprawling 'burbs with their old Queenslanders and big backyards - with Hills Hoist, sprinkler and trampoline.

As a way of welcoming new blog readers, I'd invite you to comment to this post with a brief description of the things that, through your eyes, make little Brizzy great. If you're on facebook, just click over to the real blog here at http://carla-steppingwestward.blogspot.com/ and share your view. Thanks!

Winter Wonderland

Sitting in the 30+ degree Queensland moisture, it's hard to imagine that the town I'm about to move to is currently frosted over.

This story-book photo of Norwich was taken by a local this month.

Two months 'til take-off

Such a strange concoction: the thrill of upcoming adventure mixed with the burden of organisation; the ache to clear out but the inability to do so -- yet the excitement of knowing that barriers to our exit will soon be removed.

Two months today 'til we hand back the keys to this then-empty unit, and say goodbye to our home of almost five years.

Two months 'til the roaming begins.