2002 02 18

Many people who spend their lives living in the city, begin to crave the open spaces and freshness of country living. They long to be away from the noises, the people, and the cramped up buildings that crowd in and crowd you down.

For me, living in the city is a necessity. Because of my vision, I'm completely dependant on public transport (or the good graces of a friend) should I wish to sally forth upon the world to some place that's more than comfortable walking distance away.

While I don't doubt the ease and healing ability of country life, I have to admit that I would feel trapped if I weren't within walking distance of a bus stop; and I mean a bus stop for a bus that travels more than once a day in each direction.

It's not necessarily that I need to go somewhere, but more than I need to know I have the choice and the ability.

There is, as you know, no substitute for - and nothing quite like - freedom.

In many ways I do crave the noise of city living. Perhaps it is simply more that I need it. Living a relatively solitary life, means that the activity that is the constant background to any urban dweller, is comforting to me. I find being deprived of it somehow depressing. Rather, the silence without it, is deafening.

It gives me the sense, somehow, that I am not quite so alone.