Out of my element

I was nervous all day yesterday. I was finally going to Alaska. I had been talking about it for a long time and it always sounded so exotic as the name escaped my mouth. Alaska....For resaons known only to United Airlines, I had to fly from Seattle through Denver to get to Anchorage. That would sort of be like flying from Sydney to Alice Springs to get to Melbourne! So a journey that could have taken me about two hours took the whole day. Never mind. I dont mind airports and being in transit gives me space to read and write to people and email. But sitting for a few hours in Denver airport as the snow fell outside and flight after flight was delayed gave me time to think about my destination - Alaska. It gave me pause to think that if it was cold here in Denver then it was going to be even colder in Anchorage, and colder still in Fairbanks where I will spend 2 weeks. I started to worry that it would be so cold it might actually hurt. What if the whole experience, instead of being exotic and wonderful was just a painful epic of frozen nose hair and numb toes? And as we taxied out in our plane and they de-iced the wings with something that looked decidedly environmentally unfriendly, I thought 'Oh my God, there's a possiblilty that the wings could freeze and we could crash!' I NEVER have those thoughts when I fly. I'm a good flyer. Then miraculously we took off, didn't crash and in fact made it safely all the way to Anchorage. I realised at some point during the flight that the reason I was so nervous all of a sudden was that snow and cold are really not my element. In fact if you consider that the desert is my element then Alaska is about as far away from my element as I can get. Then I realised another crucial thing, people in the Northern hemisphere live like this all the time. They live in this cold, and much colder. They have to de-ice planes on a regular basis. They live and work and drive and go shopping in snow for half the year. And what do you know, I arrived in Anchorage, walked outside to catch a taxi and my nose hair did not, in fact, freeze. It was cold but the taxi driver was celebrating the fact they had had 5 consecutive days without snow fall. Alaskans are celebrating the arrival of Spring. I needn't worry.

Northern Exposure

Those of you who know me well will know how much I love the TV show Northern Exposure. Imagine then my excitement when given the chance to 'visit' Cicely, Alaska?! The show was filmed in small town outside of Seattle caled Roslyn. My friends Kyrie and Nate were kind enough to take me to visit and I was so excited I was literally skipping down the main street. The fantastic thing is that the makers of the show basically used the street scape as it existed so most of the buildings are still there - The Brick, Ruth Anne's store, Joel's office and the Roslyn Cafe mural. I went into Joel's office, which is now a giftstore for all things Northern Exposure, and in some strange twist of something the store owner was watching Crocodle Dundee!

Still like the desert

I am missing the desert. I miss the space and the stillness and the quiet. I feel closed in and crowded and deafened by the city. I sat in a park today near the hospital, telling myself I was doing some reading for my course, but in reality most of the time I was just sitting. For the first time in a while I carved out a little patch of grass and enjoyed the grass and the sky and the wind. But unfortunately even in the lovely gardens of East Melbourne, the city eventually reinforces it's presence upon you and the cars and ambulances and helicoptors break your reverie.
I met a man recently and was immediately attracted to him. There's nothing immediately obvious about why I would be attracted to him. I haven't exchanged more than 20 words with him. I think it is his quiet that I find appealing. He seems still and uncluttered. He feels like the desert. The desert that has been my constant companion for so many years.
I wonder if I will ever feel that same sense of longing for the city?