Wie geht's?
As I was sitting in the dentist waiting room yesterday, my mind wandered. In the hurry to get here after school I'd forgotten to bring a book. Doh!
So my mind wandered.
To England. Oh England.
Where oh where did my love affair start?
Before stepping into those Rochdale streets in 2003 I'd had a sense of belonging generated many many years before.
Let's go back.
When I was four, I took myself off to the football ground that was close to where we lived in Royal Oak.
So that can't be true. Mum must have taken me, right? As if a four year is going to yell out, "Okay mother and father - I'm off to play football now. See ya!"
Mum must have taken me. Probably after I'd shown an interest, because that's unusual for four year olds isn't it?
My only truly distinct memory was trying on the football boots at Seymour Park. They were far too big for my four year old feet. So I needed multi layers of socks.
I was good to go. And set for life.
Before I enter teenage boy fog, one thing leads to another and everything becomes interlaced.
English and Scottish accents at the park. Weekly football magazines from some glamorous land called Fleet Street about teams called Wolves and The Arsenal. Swallows and Amazons. Coronation Street. The Beatles. More and more books, some set in overgrown English gardens. Roy of the Rovers. Look and Learn.
Look and learn indeed - Wozza - an Anglophile from Nu Zild.
Adam posted a very poignant message on his Facebook page:
One year ago today I said BYEBYE to Japan. Every day I think about all the cool stuff I did there and all the people I met and all the horribly awkward and anxiety producing situations I dealt with inside and outside of work. I'm pretty sure Ive thought about my two years there every morning when I wake up and feel lucky that I was able to do it! Sounds tragic but part of my soul feels left behind there.
He's a deep thinker is our Adam. I know how he feels.
All of the photos of Adam when he's in Japan (like the one above) tell a story: one of happiness, fulfillingness, rightness...joy.
I feel exactly the same as he does about when I lived in England. I felt, for the first time in my life, that I belonged somewhere. That sounds like crazy talk. I was born in Auckland New Zealand, lived there until we moved to England in 2004 when I was all grown up. But I've always felt a disconnect with other Kiwis and with NZ.
I often think about that first visit to England and specifically Rochdale in 2003. That overpowering feeling of being comfortable, belonging, being home. It overwhelmed me then and my soul (like Adam's to Japan) connected to the place.
When we settled in Essex that feeling stayed with me until we left at the start of 2007.
I noticed someone on Adam's Facebook message wrote something along the lines of - go back there! But life is not always that easy, is it. For one thing there are other people to consider and for another there are financial considerations (pesky things called 'jobs').
Still...
Love and peace - Adam Lennon Purdy's dad
