Feeling Sentimental

This morning I opened the Marmite sandwich case that has waited on my desk since I unpacked my bags last Christmas. There isn't anything valuable inside, but for me those little thing are precious. Because of the memories they hold.

Inside there's a chestnut I picked on my first day to work in London, and an acorn I took with me on the second day. A quirky bottle cap I found during my lunch break from that little park-like area behind the cafeteria. Various pebbles I picked for various reasons during those three months in that city. A piece of glass from a broken bottle from the bus stop I saved just because it looked so beautiful in the car lights. And lots of seashells from Brighton beach. Bigger ones, and then small pieces that look more like pebbles than seashells, as they are smoothed and eaten by the sea. I remember how my boyfriend laughed when I had my pockets full of them. I remember the wind in my hair and the salty splashes on my face. Those little things still smell like the sea and when I hold them in my hand I remember that precious day in that little funky town with the boy I love. It was probably one of the best days during my time in the UK. And after that memory come all the other ones, and I can't push them back to where they came from. I feel happy and sad at the same time when I remember things. And I don't want to close that little sandwich case anytime soon, because those pebbles in my hand have a meaning.

The same thing happens when I open the conditioner bottle in the shower and that smell of hops takes me back to the crappy bathroom with a smelly carpet and a cold bath tub under my feet. Or the taste of cherry coke, that reminds me of that long sunny Saturday when I got lost between Govent Garden and Leicester Square and walked for ages until I found a place I recognized. It might have been one of the best adventures I had in London, getting lost in the middle of the city on an average day.

I miss those times. I miss that city.

I wanna go back even though I know it wouldn't be the same for me anymore.