I still experienced that nostalgic glow every time I chanced upon pictures of you and I. I don't mean to keep count but it has been over half a year since that last flight out, that last winter and that solemn goodbye. I guess this is partly a case of "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone", but also this is probably a knee jerk reaction to the trials and tribulations of adjusting to life without you. I guess it is natural to crave for the companionship as a sort of comfort blanket, when thrown in the maelstrom of life.
Having spent the months with you, I've found a number of unusual things I miss about you.
You know about the beer and the cheese (not that I particularly binge on them), then there are the usual suspects of pubs and fish and chips. Once I scratch the superficial surface I notice things that have really come to define what it means to live with you. Its not the blunder of trying to cook homely dishes that brings back warm memories but rather the trotting in the cold, clattering of teeth and freezing of butt just for a dinner night out. I miss those. Damn the cold but nothing beats doing the silly things in winter with you.
Remember looking out from the attic based bedroom and recognising people, the old man on his super charged mobility bike proudly sporting the England Flag (not that he'll need that anymore), the old woman and her daily fish and chips order around 10pm (lets face it, when you get to her age all notions of healthy eating must surely go out of the window - and if she wants to drink a bottle of sherry a night to go with it that's her affair [not that I've seen her with these, she conceals well]), kids being dropped off at school creating a fifteen minute traffic jam.
I miss being called 'love' and 'darling'.
The weekly pilgrimage to the all you can eat (but wished you hadn't) China Buffet!
Then there are the grocery shopping trips. I love them the most. I feel that I got to know you better during those trips. Jamming my trolley pack with English tea bags, Beanfeast packet veggie mince, Quorn, Marmite, Branston Pickle, Marks and Spencer bucks fizz, cheap supermarket wine and Twinnings Blackberry, Nettle herbal tea, Gallexy Chocolate, Yorkshire Tea.
Catching a glimpse of you in the mornings and the chills you give me in the winter when I slipped out of my duvet in my jammies to hit the shower. I miss the morning hearty breakfast I often took for granted.
Your unpredictability weather and arrogant accent. Cloudy in the morning and shinning in the noon - a temperament which I find to be erratic but uniquely you.
I miss the strolls in the park; basking in your ambient of serenity and the occasionally walks by the beach. I also cannot forget the long Sunday lunches.
The people you brought to my life who were simply sincere and genuine inside out. Friends who left their footprints in my life all because of you.
Truth be told my heart still holds you in a special place that I probably will regret leaving you on a Boeing-707...I will give the world to be back in England again.
