My UK Five City Tour has come to an end. Based in Kettering, I radiated to Bristol, Cambridge, Leicester, Manchester and Milton Keynes – the newest city. It was great to catch up with family and friends, to visit an Indian Restaurant, to have a takeaway fish and chip supper (or two), to sample a couple (?!) of English beers, to attend to life admin stuff, and to catch up with my favourite programmes on BBC iplayer.
The journey back to Avren yesterday was flawless – apart from a momentary panic when I thought I had mislaid my passport after checking in my baggage. This is fairly normal for me, especially when having to get up in the early hours to catch the flight. It is always comforting at take-off when the person next to you makes the sign of the cross.
The taxi from Varna airport wended its way through some of the more gloomy and run-down backstreets of the city to avoid the heavy traffic on the main highway. We crossed the Asparuhovo bridge to leave the city behind and enter the municipality of Avren. As we ascended the body of the cobra (see Autumn Comes to Avren), I noticed how the forest has changed over the past month. The autumn foliage has been put away for another year and in its nakedness I could see how sparse some of the areas had become, most likely the result of illegal felling. The thin wisps of mist threaded through the trees became thicker as we approached the head of the rising cobra. The afternoon sky struggled to find any sense of order, random patches of clouds of varying shades of grey playing hide and seek with an insipid sun.
The photo I posted of the house was taken in a different season. Now, everything in the garden looks a bit sadder and bleaker. The grapes and vine leaves have gone. However, our adopted feral cat Jake was pleased to see me back home. Oh, and speaking of feral animals – a recent post on the village Facebook page warned drivers of a group of feral goats blocking the cobra road. That could be the start of a new horror film franchise – or am I being capricious?
Living the kind of yo-yo life I do, flitting between Avren and Kettering, I am often surprised at how easily I seem to slip into the different routines and rhythms associated with each place. I guess “associated” is the key-word because learning theory tells us that environments elicit emotions and behaviours that are specific to them. The physical cues help to shape these patterns, such as where I keep my teapots , cups and tea caddies to start the day with a good cuppa. It is the same outcome but the behaviour is differently executed. It is a bit more difficult to describe the emotional responses. With a nod to Ecclesiastes 3, there is a time to leave and a time to arrive. At least Jake is happy that it is now the latter in Avren.
Psychologist on the Move 