A Little Piece of Abroad

It's been awhile since I posted, but I have an excuse this time. I was traveling!!! I did, however, manage to write this post for another blog last week, so thought I might just copy and paste in an attempt to re-jump-start my territory. After all, it's not plagiarism if it's your own work :)

A Little Piece of Abroad

It's been three weeks since my return from England and Scotland. People keep asking me what the highlight of the holiday was, what moment stood out amongst them all to be The One, the Shining, the Most Awesome. I have to say, it has been a very hard question to answer. There were so many moments that I loved! Catching an Atlantic Salmon in the Scottish Highlands; Whiskey bar hopping (and subsequent tasting) in Edinburgh; Watching The Phantom of The Opera from the balcony at Her Majesty's Theatre in London; Visiting the Jane Austin museum in Bath, and also her grave site in Winchester; Sunset at Stonehenge; Seeing buildings that Kings walked in; Sitting in rooms where Mary Queen of Scotts fought verbal battles with John Knox; Walking through the ruins of historical clergy; Visiting side streets and train stations and school yards where the Harry Potter books were envisioned and created; Slumming it in SoHo; Attending the Highland Games just in time to see the hammer throwing and kilt-clad wrestling; Becoming an actual Lady; Sniffing the little Greyling fish that I caught to try catch a whiff of thyme (I was told they smell of the herb) and fly fishing in the rain alongside wild swans, pheasants and my fabulous Husband...

And of course a legendary shopping trip down Oxford and Regent streets in the fashion district, resulting in a very particular pair of Jimmy Choos...

They were all such amazing moments!

But now that I'm home, it's all calmed down, the jet lag is long gone, South African Cape Town winter is settling in and I am no longer 'getting back into the swing of things', I have had the chance to just be. And today it finally hit me: My highlight was the bluebells!

The glorious bluebells! Of course they were the best! They mesmerized me with their scent, so much so that I went into every soap and fragrance shop I saw to try find a bottle of bluebell-smell. No one sold anything bluebell at all and I was devastated. But still, everywhere I went, the bluebells were growing in clumps and were anointing me with the most heavenly scent, so beautiful and unique it was quite a striking theme. You see, I noticed all kinds of spring blossoms everywhere, from Winchester down south, all the way up to the highest parts of northern Scotland that we visited. Timeous, given that it was meant to be spring, but spring had not so much 'sprung' as had slithered forward, and so had it not been for the blossoming trees and bushes and lawns everywhere, I would not have believed there had been a Spring at all! But there they were, the blossoms, and my most favorite of them…the bluebells.

When I got home to Cape Town, I took myself off to Jo Malone at the V&A Waterfront in one last attempt to catch hold of this bluebell-scented memory of mine, and lo, they had it! I parted with a staggering R600 for one bluebell candle, and it is now next to my bed, a little piece of Abroad here at home for me to treasure and remember :) Happy!

Love, lust and fairy-star-dust

Lady Cherry Blossom