What Makes a Place Special

A year ago I had never written any pieces of substantial length and so I set out to do just that.  Now it seems, I am unable to write anything with brevity.  No matter what idea I set out to put down on paper, one thought leads to another and another.  The conclusion is always just out of reach.  

It is with this in mind, the desire to bring brevity to the palm of my hand and the ability to use it at will, that I have returned to the blog.  There is something of value in short and sweet even something rough and imperfect.  With limited time to write however I find that I do not pick up pen and paper to write about whatever in the same way that I used to. I feel that I must sit down to work on the larger piece and not get sidetracked with the smaller. However, just as we need a break from work, time to give our souls a rest, time to fill our experiences with something out of the ordinary, so too I must do this when it comes to my writing. 

I have recently been on holiday.  I use the term holiday as I have been recently watching Happy Valley, a Netflix series which takes place in Ireland.  After immersing myself in the language and culture of other lands in this way, I find that the language seeps into my vernacular and into my thoughts.  'Bullocks', 'bloke', 'sod' and 'holiday' are in the current mix.  After watching Narcos, another Netflix series about Pablo Escobar, the words, 'Nunca, nunca', 'presidente','plano o platos',  'puta madre' and the like populated my thought stream.   The holiday had been to Austin, TX.  When I was planning the trip, there were just a few people I was intent on seeing but after touch down and going to the find a bit to eat something happened.  I was sitting at an outdoor picnic table at the Yellow Jacket Social Club in the middle of December, no gas fired heater required, underneath a string of round globe lighted oak trees and a herd of motorcycles in the parking lot when I suddenly thought of all the people I knew in Austin, and I wished to reunite with them all.  It was like the environment of the place was seeping into my pores and I wanted to soak up as much of it as possible.  I wanted to blanket myself in the experience that is Austin.  What makes a place what it is if it isn't the people you know and love?