You are my oldest friend. It all began when I was nine and you were ten, and it’s been fifty years. We met at school, back in the days of wine and roses of the Mozambican era, when we lived in paradise but didn’t know it then; those days when we dreamt of knights and damsels, kings and castles, battles, and bravery; those long, hot summer days when we sat for hours in my swimming pool, just enjoying the moment. …
Tag: friend
There is an old song by Neil Sedaka called Solitare. I hadn’t thought about it for years, but the other day, as loneliness invaded me, it came to my mind. I remember listening to this song at a time when I knew nothing about being lonely. I was young, surrounded by people. Too surrounded in fact. As a teenager, I had very little freedom, I was controlled all the time and I so wanted to fly with my …
My dear friend I’m on the plane back home and I realize that only a week ago I was arriving, tears of emotion and excitement blurring my vision of your island, my favorite place in the world. And time went by so fast, so damn fast, slipping through my fingers like grains of sand, that I could no more hold in my hands than all those years ago when my holidays in Madeira were a month long, and even …
It was a spring-like day; one of those February days when the sun shines so bright, the sky is incredibly blue, and you feel warm for the first time after so many months. It makes you wonder if spring has come early this year – and you enjoy it. We sat on the balcony of my friend’s charming apartment in an old building of a traditional Lisbon quarter, on a steep street like so many others that go …
Today I dreamed of him. It happened during those moments when I am neither in deep sleep nor fully awake – I call it the twilight zone. Many creative ideas come to me when I am in that frontier between sleep and wakefulness, but then, if this was a dream – and it was – I must have dozed, for how could I otherwise explain those vivid, too real images that crossed my mind? I almost never …
I sit at the dining table and look out of the window. It’s pitch dark outside. During the day, I can see the blue of the sea, the white surf of the waves, and it’s such a beautiful view that I lose myself for minutes, taking in the beauty of the scenery and feeling grateful for the privilege of having this very special place by the sea where I can find peace. And solitude, too. Many times, in …
I go for my late afternoon walk. I stand over the beach and look at the sea, inhaling its smell. It’s not too strong, here, as in other places by the sea, but it’s unmistakeable. I just stay there, filling myself with so many sensations – the light blue of the sky, the still bright light of the sun, already low on the horizon but still warm; the sea breeze on my face and my hair. The sensation of …
There are moments that linger in your mind for a long, long time, images so strong that time does not erase them. Two girls sitting outside on a terrace on a late April afternoon that felt like summer, eating an ice cream and celebrating a birthday. I often remember that day. I wonder why I consider it so special. After all, it was not a great party or celebration – just the two of us sitting together as we …
I haven’t written this diary for a few days. On the one hand, because I end up repeating myself. Routines are installed, I get up, I eat, I write, I do some exercise at home, I eat again, I write, I eventually go for a walk if the weather permits; which is not the case today, as it’s stormy outside. Once a week I go to the grocery store to buy fruit and vegetables. The boys keep coming …
My friend Nora shares with me a song from a Mexican band, Maná, who have suddenly become quite famous in Spain. The song is called Bendita tu luz (something like “your blessed light”). I listen and immediately take to it. The music is joyful, and the lyrics romantic – the singer says about his new love, a girl with such a special light in her eyes that he calls it “blessed”; and about the blessed moment when they first met, …
