Author: alanburdettillustration

You know those beautiful moments you have when your whole body gets goose bumps and for a short time you’re immersed in joy…

Just an hour ago I was on the way back from Canvey Island on the bus on a very familiar and scenic route home. I spent so much of my childhood on Canvey for the beach, or the old fair, boy Scouts (which is called Beavers when you’re young), the Yacht club and my dads boat. The new buses have giant windows, it’s like a fish-bowl on wheels. In the distance I could see Essex country park stretching along the Thames Estuary (which is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful Estuaries in the world, John Constable use to paint it), in the foreground there were the masts of boats, flowers and loads of birds on the RSPB grounds. BOOM the goose bumps hit me like a warm wave of water, I was in an oragasm of nostalgia. For the first time since leaving for university in the year 2000 I KNEW I was home. I pictured my feet in the soft grassy ground and I was so happy, I think this is what you call Grace.

I am home, and though I know I will be off travelling around the world one day this WILL ALWAYS be my home, with my family and my friends and I will always return here because it is where my heart is.