Sleepless In London
Summer
arrived today, spread her fingers through the skies, tossed her smile across
the city’s dust-filled streets. Bare shouldered, I cycled along the river,
secretly hoping for a breeze, some small relief from the heat. I navigated slowly,
eased my way through the pedestrian sea of board shorts and flip-flops, sun
frocks and designer tank tops. On the grassy verges of the old stone path,
couples lay sprawled at all angles, red-faced picnickers converged, and all
around me, excited laughter ebbed and flowed. “If only, all days could be like
this,” I thought.
When
night fell, I lay quietly in my room, on a bed without sheets. I peered into
the darkness. Would I sleep tonight? Quiet. Be still. Be quiet. Sleep will
come. I waited and listened; listened and waited. Outside, the familiar hum
of traffic in the distance, a muffled lullaby of sirens and car alarms.
A
peculiar smell rose through the open window. “If that’s not the smell of a dead
bull lying at the bottom of a waterfall, then I don’t know what it is,” I
muttered to myself. And then my thoughts drifted to a time of school summer
camps. Memories. I grasped at a handful of childhood dreams. Snapshots
of heady days spent chasing waves, salt and sea whipping over sun-kissed skin. Ice
cream and sticky watermelon fingers.
And
somewhere in the street below, a car door slammed, and I rolled over onto my
back. “What happened to cicadas?” I wondered. “What happened to that?”
A/N: Hi Lovelies, I hope you are all well! I posted this piece earlier today over here on Medium, but wanted to share here too. London has been blessed with some lovely blue skies recently, alas at night, it all gets a little sultry. Have a fab week where ever you are on this beautiful planet! - T xo
I got the cross post and was just going to check out medium to see what your new home was when I saw on blogspot that you'd posted here too. Hope you're doing well! It's hot here too but nights generally cool off- the good thing about living next to the mountains- a 30 degree cool down at night. Maybe a bit of champers would help you sleep at night ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd wasn't Wimbledon exciting! Cheers to Murray!
Wimbledon was wonderful. We are all in LOVE with Andy Murray now -well, I think a few were already. I'm still writing here, don't worry, I shall always keep my blog. Medium is in 'beta' phase and I get the impression people are still feeling out the waters a little. 30 degrees at night, oh boy. You win! Happy summer to you, dear lady. XO
DeleteI love this little post. It is so beautifully written. Thank you for sharing this with us. Hope things get better.
ReplyDeleteMy homepage | Psychologist Doctorate
Thank you for your kind words. I'm fine too. Summer in London has been pretty good thus far.
DeleteGorgeous writing, Talei. Very poetic. Loved it! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stina! Very chuffed you enjoyed it!! ;-)
DeleteAh! There you are...
ReplyDeleteVery good Talei! You have a very nice and lyrical feel to your writing. So nice to see your post, keep on writing!
Ah, bless you Pat! Thank you!! I'll keep trying. ;-)
DeleteHey! Haven't been by in a while. Hope you're doing well.
ReplyDeleteWith how cold it is in South Africa, you're making me want to fly over to London. ;-)
Hey Misha! Long time but I do see you on twitter! :-) Hope all is well with you too. I had no idea S.A was ever cold? XO
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