TraceyDoxey

Last week, we talked about needing to see the sea and the big sky of a coastline and to feel the open elements. We have been feeling land-locked. So, we talked about the nearest coastal place to travel to by train and came up with Cleethorpes. Which is how we arrived here today on a whim, through a brief five minute conversation, a thought, an idea - a choice. Cleethorpes is all new to me. And, the surprise on exiting the small train station, crossing the road, walking straight onto the long expanse of barren beach, faced by 4 old donkeys, a pier, the sea in the distance and a long long horizon against a porcelain blus sky poured great joy into me and I knew instantly the day was going to be good. May I ... read more

cycling home from town, unable to whistle or sing the words of ‘Sophia’ that repeatedly bump around like a needle in a stuck record, I hum – like my granddad letting the sounds spill over and over the handle bars relaxing into knowing what feels good. because for weeks, I have wondered why I am back here, and looking at this city, you would also wonder - but life is slowly falling into the cracks of some kind of belonging. I have become a mongrel of place, really at home nowhere. a week can start from quiet tears and forced activity trying to fit in to turning upside down ending with laura marling standing taut like a thin column exposing everyone of us to her unassuming, gentle, powerful all consuming singing right here in Sheffield. everything ... read more

i will always have a 'return to' home in China - a place i can always stay. but here, at last, i'm really home - after almost three years away. I finally moved back just over one month ago. it's not all been easy. it's changed, i've changed, i've changed it. on day one, hanging the old silk lanterns in the lilac tree in my garden made me warm and sad splitting my thoughts between Suzhou and Sheffield. placing the oil painting from the Beijing market on the mantle and the photographs of snap shots from over 600 days in China in frames only made me long for those places again. now, the simple joys are that i talk with pj every day and i'm happy. i listen to jd telling me about his job at ... read more

In 2006 I travelled across China into Tibet and over the border into Nepal, on a truck along with 23 other people, two crew members, a Chinese translator and then in Tibet, a Tibetan translator. Since then, I’ve sporadically kept in touch with Dave and Nola from Canada, who were on that same trip and next week we’re meeting up in London - after nearly five years. The six week trip across 2 countries (if you count Tibet as China’s) was the start of my major wander lust which I’ve never lost. And, whilst in my dad’s garage yesterday, I dug through my boxes to find my diary from that trip. At the same time as traveling, I was in love with a boy and we kept in touch whilst he was cycling across Europe and ... read more

For the whole of November, I worked at Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance and left Austria in snowy conditions. The flight home to London was cancelled due to Gatwick being closed so I flew to Frankfurt hoping to get to Heathrow but the connection was missed due to the blizzard across Germany. I slept on the floor of Frankfurt airport on the night of the 1st December. When I eventually arrived at Heathrow late on the 2nd December, deep snow still covered England I flew out to Shanghai on the 5th December and went to my Chinese hometown of Suzhou on the 6th. On the 7th, it snowed: faintly. As I watched the dusty snow falling on the 7th December, I realized that during that past week, I had seen it snowing in Austria, Germany, England ... read more