I am back home, in that haze of cleaning, moving, unpacking, remembering, still carrying on the body the smells of the places I have been to, walking, talking, acting as still on holiday. Having my coffee on the camping stove because why not. I am in this liminal space of "being away" while "being back", neither here nor there, knowing that in about 10 days I will be holding onto another bag and a passport, with the same gipsy heart.
But for now, I am in my living room, looking at all these new books I bought and the pamphlets collected while being covered in my cats who missed me, and making sense of all those 9000+ words of notes. These series of entries will come under the labelling IB in honour of Isabelle Bird [1831 - 1904]: a determined Libran, writer, photographer, naturalist, the first woman to be awarded the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and later the first woman allowed to join the Royal Geographical Society.
This journey saw me in Stonehenge, London and Oxford as part of my Practice-led Master by Research at York St John University. Part of my practical submission is in written form and I have decided to go and write in places which would inspire me and which are connected with my research titled "On Encountering the Divine in the Act of Drawing". Hence, I have chosen Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey, Temple Church, the Ashmolean Museum, the Bodleian Library, and Shelley Memorial.
These entries will go where they decide to take me. The bulk of my academic reflections will, of course, find their rightful place in my submission. Here, the writings instead are about solo travelling, the experience itself, the observations, the [inner] exploration, the discoveries and the personal reactions.
Dates : 19 JUN 2023 - 25 JUN 2023
Journey : car and public transport
Accommodation : Glebe Leisure Campsite, Bicester