604 Balmoral ... here I am
Since
moving to Balmoral two weeks ago, my life has been changing more rapidly than I
had expected. I knew I would miss living at Cremorne Junction … the buses were
right at my doorstep, I mean literally
at my doorstep: When returning from the city and getting off the bus it took
five steps in a direct line from the bus door to my front door, under cover …
in teeming rain not a single drop would hit me.
Just
across Military Rd we had the supermarket, news agent, chemist and post office
… we often went “down to the shops”
three or four times a day. Within a radius of a couple of hundred meters we had
a bunch of cafés, bars, restaurants and the incomparable Cremorne Hayden
Orpheum Picture Palace (cinema, to you).
So when
it became clear we had to move, we knew it meant a major change of life style
and I knew I would miss the convenience factor. Wherever I lived as an adult, I
used to live right in the center of town … in Amsterdam as well as Copenhagen.
In Sydney I always lived a stone’s throw from the city, in North Sydney,
Neutral Bay, Milsons Point, Kirribilli and Cremorne.
So, for
three months now we had been getting ready to move away from the conveniences …
and I knew I would miss them.
Good riddance! OK, shopping now is a car trip ... but in return, to get from my house to the rock in the ocean is a five minute walk; need I say more? What are the changes, then? For a start, hearing the ocean at night instead of Military Rd makes me sleep better. And my set-up at home is different: The office where I'm sitting and writing now is downstairs, through the backyard, far away from the tv set ... as a result I'm not watching much tv anymore.
Today Kaliesha texted she and Koby would come to Balmoral and would I care to join them. This will be a recurring event, hopefully with both daughters, Saskia and Kaliesha and all three grandchildren, JJ, Bodhi and Koby ... Balmoral will be a meeting-hub. Too easy, and sooo good. Can't wait! Sooo looking forward.
A tranquility has entered my life. For the past three years I felt like my options had been narrowing more and more from day to day. I now feel less pressure; since I don't have the overheads of the studio anymore, and since we don't anymore have an unpleasant landlord looming in the not-so-far distance ... I feel the future is more secure and more agreeable.
Balmoral, here I am. I know I will find peace here. I have found a good environment to do my reading, watching, listening ... then thinking ... then writing.