Lake District
Beata, myself, the boys, and our friend Magda have just returned from a week in the Lake District. Friends in Bowness very kindly allowed us to use their beautiful log cabin which is situated in the Langdale Valley (thank you Ann and Rod). During the week that we were away, we experienced real Cumbrian weather, with days of torrential rain, although this didn’t manage to dampen our spirits as the primary reason for going to the Lakes was to visit friends.
Every time I head back to Cumbria I feel as though I’ve arrived back home, it’s a part of the world where I feel I belong. I moved to Cumbria when I was a small child, and so all my childhood memories are of this beautiful part of the world. The trouble is that when you live in a location such as the Lake District, you tend to take the lakes and fells for granted, and it is only when you move away that you realise just how much you miss the place. Beata and I do enjoy living in Walsall, and love being part of St Martin’s, but I miss the countryside and space that you find in the north of England. Every time we go back to the Lake District it seems to get even more beautiful.
Most of the week was spent visiting friends in Bowness, and on Sunday we were able to go to our former church of St Martin’s in Bowness (http://www.stmartin.org.uk/). It was a strange experience being back there, because on one hand it didn’t particularly feel as though we’d left (everything is still so familiar), yet on the other hand it did feel different - I think we’ve got so used to the people and style of worship at St Martin’s in Walsall
(www.walsallstmartins.2day.ws) that we realise how much we now feel part of this community, and how much we value it. One of the strangest things about being back in Bowness was to see someone else living in our old house (the new Curate and his family), which I suppose made us realise more than ever before that Bowness is no longer our home. Although for Beata these feelings are not so strong because she lived in Bowness for a shorter time than I did, and the way I feel about Cumbria is the way that Beata feels about her home city of Torun in Poland. Just as I imagine that Cumbria will always be ‘home’ for me, even if I never live there again, so Torun for Beata is ‘home’ for her.
Every time I head back to Cumbria I feel as though I’ve arrived back home, it’s a part of the world where I feel I belong. I moved to Cumbria when I was a small child, and so all my childhood memories are of this beautiful part of the world. The trouble is that when you live in a location such as the Lake District, you tend to take the lakes and fells for granted, and it is only when you move away that you realise just how much you miss the place. Beata and I do enjoy living in Walsall, and love being part of St Martin’s, but I miss the countryside and space that you find in the north of England. Every time we go back to the Lake District it seems to get even more beautiful.
Most of the week was spent visiting friends in Bowness, and on Sunday we were able to go to our former church of St Martin’s in Bowness (http://www.stmartin.org.uk/). It was a strange experience being back there, because on one hand it didn’t particularly feel as though we’d left (everything is still so familiar), yet on the other hand it did feel different - I think we’ve got so used to the people and style of worship at St Martin’s in Walsall
(www.walsallstmartins.2day.ws) that we realise how much we now feel part of this community, and how much we value it. One of the strangest things about being back in Bowness was to see someone else living in our old house (the new Curate and his family), which I suppose made us realise more than ever before that Bowness is no longer our home. Although for Beata these feelings are not so strong because she lived in Bowness for a shorter time than I did, and the way I feel about Cumbria is the way that Beata feels about her home city of Torun in Poland. Just as I imagine that Cumbria will always be ‘home’ for me, even if I never live there again, so Torun for Beata is ‘home’ for her.
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