Another autumn

So I’ve passed the biggest milestone I’ve set myself. The Master’s is finished and I’m moved back home. So what now? Literally, what now?

I’m sitting in the park as I write, as I always do this time of year. The leaves are changing from green to gold, as they always do, and the air is turning cool, as it always does. And like last year, I feel myself filling with excitement. The unknown that lies ahead isn’t quite as terrifying as I thought it might be. I’m feeling daring. I want to keep pushing myself.

The dark figure hasn’t shown himself for a while. His long lanky limbs and blurred face don’t hover behind me as they used to. He doesn’t sit quietly in my bedroom waiting for me to wake. And I think I may even be missing him.

I can feel the pull back to the city and I’m sure I’ll be commuting again, and life will speed up as it always does. But for now, I want to enjoy the changing colours of the leaves and the warm afternoon sun before autumn gives way to the cold and damp of winter.

New beginnings in autumn

So, I’ve moved to a new city and abandoned the life of trains and pre-dawn starts. It’s amazing.

My studies are incredible. I’m surrounded  by old stone walls and creaking wooden staircases. Huge lecture theatres fill with hundreds of students. And it’s autumn, my favourite time of year. The leaves are burning orange and brown. They fall in flurries over the cobbled roads and narrow streets. 

I can’t quite believe how different my life is now. I refused to consider returning to study before. Let alone start over in a new city. But I’m here, and I feel alive. 

– Saffron

Dream: sand, heat and insects

I’m stuck between two worlds: Home and England. It’s the same school, I recognise the red brickwork and the dull 1980s style corridors. A teacher drifts past in a wheelchair. I’m walking between classes, between worlds.

I consider stopping by my teacher’s office. But decide to keep on going Home. The dust thickens on the corridor floors until it turns to sand. Sun streams through windows and bathes the building in yellow. I turn the corner and enter the classroom. Inside, the sand is alive with insects, brown cacti grow around the edge of the room. At Home there are no whiteboards, no desks, no books. There is just the sand, the heat and the insects.

– Saffron