How do we write about place?
Is it novelty or familiarity that create the best setting?
How do we build a relationship to setting?
Inspired by
’s recent post about her holiday in Spain, I have been thinking quite a lot about what taking a break means. Her thoughts on how being a stranger somewhere allows us to think differently struck me in particular:
London has become a second home to me since 2018
Shortly after I moved to Berlin, a dear friend had a health scare on a flight from LA to London and I flew over on short notice to help with a project he’d started in London. The health scare resolved, thankfully, but by then I was invested in the project and it was less expensive to fly me from Berlin to London than other people to come from LA and help.
Over the course of a year, I spent over two months in London and now have as many friends here as I do in Berlin, and even one family member. Even so, it is not home and I get all the benefits of the new slant of light, as Katherine calls it, each time I come here.
The familiar vs. the unknown
Every so often, I crave a change of scenery. I get jaded to Berlin’s charms after being home for months at a time, and it helps to go elsewhere so my heart can grow fonder. However, in summer, the heat makes me sluggish and I lack the ability to manage something entirely new. So my choices are: somewhere with colder weather, or somewhere familiar.
London has become my comfort spot in much the way a favorite book is an excellent comfort re-read. There are a bazillion flights between Berlin and London, so unlike somewhere not so much further, like Dublin, it’s a more affordable choice, especially given that my friends are kind enough to go out of town from time to time and let me watch their houses and pets.