or: Some Things I Miss
Hanging out my washing yesterday it hit me, it’s been roughly ten years since any of my clothes have touched the great Australian invention of the Hills Hoist. That’s a washing line to most people, even Australians.
The thing I miss from this is not the hanging on the line itself, it’s how clothes flap in the breeze while absorbing all the sunshine into it. The smell of line dried clothes is fantastic. It’s this that I miss.
It’s no secret, HK and Tokyo don’t have a lot of space in their apartments for drying things or have rules that you can’t dry on the balcony, so my clothes have only been indoor dried for quite some time. The smell is nowhere near the same.
I miss being so close to the ocean. This has also hit me over this trip after hearing and seeing the ocean where I stayed for a large chunk of time in Cape Town and more recently, in Mauritius where I could hear, see, swim and dive in it.
It’s partly the sea smell (salt, kelp, water and the general freshness of it), partly the calming sounds of waves licking the shore, partly the shells and treasures that wash up, partly how the ocean feels on my skin, both when I’m in it and when drying with the water evaporating to leave a light salt layer – good exfoliation! It’s the freedom of being in the water, the floating, the hanging. It’s the creatures in it, the bizarre and the more standard from the turtles to the nudibranchs, most seem so serene. I even like seeing the sharks but then again, I haven’t seen any killers, maybe my thoughts may change then.
It’s also how temperamental the ocean can be. One moment all calm, serene and peaceful as if on it’s best behaviour and then the flip side, all angry and vengeful like a scorned lover with an axe to grind, changing colour and mood depending on weather. It’s great to watch.
It’s watching boats on it, surfers ride it and beachgoers enjoying it.
It’s the ocean.
Interestingly, most of HK is islands and Japan is a series of islands too so you’d think I would have had regular exposure to the ocean. Not the case. HK ocean rarely has waves and to get to an ocean from Tokyo, it’s quite a hike. I contended myself with the various bays and harbours but it’s not the same.
I miss some of the animals from Australia, only some, not all. Like the kookaburra. If you’ve never heard one, click here. For me, these birds combined with magpies, rosellas, cockatoos and galahs are the bird sounds of Australia. Through in some cicadas and there is the sound of summer and barbecues.
I miss people.
I miss people from everywhere!
There’s no particular reason people is this far down in the list except for general flow of what I was writing. It doesn’t fit neatly after hanging out washing and starting with people doesn’t really give any context. So it’s here. Definitely not a reflection of where missing people is in my Missing List. Not that I have a List but if I did, it wouldn’t be this far down.
Anyway, fortunately I’m mobile and so are many people in my life that I do get to see people a little more regularly than I hang out my washing outdoors. Interestingly, the more I travel, the more new people I meet and the more people I have to miss. It’s a bittersweet thing and gives me a great excuse to return to some countries and to visit others where people move to after I’ve met them. In the meantime, missing people is lessened somewhat thanks to technology – Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype are great!
And of course, Smiths Salt n Vinegar Chips.
* Thanks to Dave Graney and the Coral Snakes for the title to this post. It’s partly a tribute to seeing sea snakes for my first time while diving in Mauritius.