everyday post| Farewell to London

"I've had a splendid time,

and I feel that it marks an epoch in my life.

But the best of it all was the coming home." 

 ~ Anne Shirley, Anne of Greeb Gables by L. M. Montgomery

There is always something melancholic about going back to home. I remember that every year when I was leaving Italy after a little holiday that I spent there with my family, I was always kind of sad, even though I was looking forward to see our beloved dog and my friends, as well as coming back to my lovely room with all of my favourite things. It was like the camp that we were living in somehow became my home too. And it was difficult to part with it, even if I knew that I was going to come back again the next year...

When I was leaving London, it was a little bit different because I spent there a whole year. And in the begining of the year, I hadn't even known whether I was ever going back home. I moved there on my own in order to start a new life. I wanted to be independent, speak English, work with books and find my own place to stay. And I did all of it. I had had everything I wanted, but it never made me happy. Because after a while I realized that home is something irreplacable. And the longing feeling inside my chest told me that I had one already. My home is and always will be in the Czech Republic...

One thing I know for sure. Before I moved abroad, I always wanted more and more, but London made me want less (however contradictory it sounds). Not that I would have lost my ambitions. No. I still have loads of plans and wishes for the future. It's just that I finaly became content and satisfied with what I've got. I just don't need anything more to be happy in my life. And I think that this is actually the reason people have to go abroad - to try firsthand how difficult it is to live there to be able to see how amazing a place their home is.

I don't think I am going to miss something in particular about London. I mean, of course I will always miss all of those awesome bookshops and antiquarian shops, especially the one I worked in, as well as some of the beautiful places, like Waterloo, Covent Garden and so on. But I will definitely not be missing London as a city to live in, you know. I am and always will be very greatful for all the experiences and chances that living in there provided to me, but then again I don't think that London and I had ever belonged together...