I don't wanta go...

 

Today's Free Write was under an umbrella providing cool shade from the heat behind the village bakery. D-L and Rick ate their pastries as Sherlock captured the attention of a woman drinking espresso. 

Julia had another commitment but sent her Free Write later in the day. 

Her autobiographical approach is great in a Free Write. One can make it completly true or add bits and bobs that we wish had been there the first time. 

Free Write is exactly what it says. Writing free of restraint.

"I don't want to go to New York. Or France." was today's prompt from Megan Howrey's They're Going to Love You.

Julia's Free Write

"I don't want to go to New York. Or France"

My first reaction upon reading this in a book "neither do I want to go to New York. But France?"

What's the reason for linking these two?

New York? Been there, more than "done that".

France - a tad more difficult as I live literally 4 miles (5km) from the border. Although I'm a firm believer in spending my money where I eat, there is the odd item in my local French store, such as cat food, cat litter deodarizer, my favorite salty butter and the package of three small splits of champagne that I favor!

Also going through my corner of France cuts a good 30 miles (50 km) off the total driving distance to some of my favorite Swiss places - along the lake through small towns at a much more leisurely pace than the motorway.

OK, not interested in going to Paris, but that's an exception.

So I'll reserve my opinion: not go to New York 

-easy; not go to France
- simply not doable.

"Santé"

D-L'S Free Write

I don't want to go to New York. Or France. 

I don't want to leave my house. I've had enough of airports and hotels.

I know Paris well. I met Peter in that city, and we lived there the first two years of our marriage.

I'm happy with my colonial house in Lexington, despite the tourists walking by on the way to the battlefield.

"We'll go the south of France," Peter says. "We'll fly into Toulouse, only having to transfer at Charles de Gaulle."

As a journalist I spent too many years running through airports to the next tragedy, war, flood. I was tired of covering meetings that were half torture watching politicians accomplish little.

I don't want to get on an airplane where the manufacturer ignored safety.

Peter doesn't know I haven't left the house in three months. He sees the cabinets well-stocked with food which I had delivered. He worries that the work I've done painting the old walls takes me away from the book I'm writing.

I'm only writing in my head as I clean, paint, arrange.

I can't tell him when I go out the front door, walk down the brick sidewalk surrounded by roses and I reach the gate that I can't go any further.

I rush back to the safety of my house.

Rick's Free Write

Andrew had spent his entire life within one hour or so of London, except of course for holidays and business trips. He had gone to the right public schools and then Cambridge University, and built a comfortable career in finance at a firm in the Docklands area.

Attractive, supportive wife with her own side gig as a bookshop owner. One boy, a teenager, and one pre-teen girl.

Membership in the Wimbledon tennis club with prime seats for the final match.

But much to his chagrin, Andrew’s boss made him an offer that, on paper, seemed too good to refuse. An overseas director post, leading either their New York or Paris office.

Katherine would not be pleased. Not everything was about money. “All our friends are here. My shop. The kids’ school mates. And people in New York and France are vile; you said so yourself when you visited those places.”

Andrew’s boss wanted a quick answer, within a fortnight.

It wasn’t that difficult a decision. Andrew simply started his own firm. And kept his seats for the tennis final.

Julia has written and taken photos all her life and loves syncing up with friends.  Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/ 

D-L has had 17 fiction and non fiction books published. Check out her website at: https://dlnelsonwriter.com

 

Rick is an aviation journalist and professional communicator. See his weekly newsletter at https://aviationvoices.com