The Strange City

Today we made an early-ish start for the University Hospital 

which lies on the other side of the city from us.

It was a glorious morning of brilliant sunshine after a nippy night

that had seemed to be the first whispers of autumn already.

We took the bus to avoid the hassle of trying to find parking space

at the hospital and as we wound through the streets 

I had that same feeling that comes when you are

in a strange city.

Perhaps you know what I mean?

The buildings look curious and interesting. 

We passed the other side of this, Coventry University Libraries.

The early shadows are sharp and dramatic.

Suddenly it seems if as every person 

going about their ordinary lives is

a cause to wonder.

What sort of life is it they are going about? 

Is it so different from our own?

What sort of home have they left? 

What sort of day awaits them?...

I was pondering whether this feeling of seeing with fresh eyes

was because I've mostly been at home for so many weeks

following my op. when hubby leaned near and said,

"Do you know,

I feel as if we are on holiday in a new place,

looking for our hotel somewhere that we've never been before."

Taken by surprised I wondered what made us both catch that 
sense of strangeness
at the same moment?

?????

This week's Zentangles Challenge from 

/http://iamthedivaczt.blogspot.com/

(click  on and have a go),

is to design a tile within a tile, and thus make a frame.

and here's my attempt

Come to think of it

perhaps it was the framing

of what we were looking at out of the bus window

this morning that had somehow slipped

to affect the way we saw things.

We usually go on holiday in the late autumn 

so maybe something in  the light of this nearly-September sunshine

had triggered a hidden Pavlovian response.

The simple truth is we do really need a holiday,

and the wish was probably father to the thought.

Whatever the cause it made the day, 

(even the visit to the hospital)

feel special.

This fountain is in the Bull Yard, Coventry

On our return trip we stopped off in town to shop,

and sat for a few minutes on the rim of the fountain

in the city centre sipping a drink.

Still wearing my "holiday specs" 

I looked around at the milling crowds, 

with the sounds of their voices 

and snatches of music melding 

with the continuous rush

of the waters behind me,

and simply felt grateful.

God Bless