Wednesday, May 23, 2007

If Time Were The Essence of Travellin'

I love to travel. Venus in Sagittarius and 9th house Jupiter, near midheaven may describe this part of my nature.

I enjoy the actual process of travelling, by every means other than by water. Travel by water brings out the coward in me! I've yet to work out where this phobia appears in my chart. The other important part of travel's adventure is in trying to identify and experience the "essence" of places or cities visited. The essence usually lies in the past, I find. Perhaps my natal Cancer ascendant has something to do with this. The zodiac sign of Cancer is connected with an interest in history and the past.

I spent some time in Rome, Italy in the early 1960s (photo on right). I used to wish frequently that I could turn back time; not all the way back to the days of the Roman Empire, but far enough to allow me to experience the Eternal City without so many tourists and so much traffic. A decade or so before my visits, only very wealthy travellers had access to Rome. I imagined with envy what it must have been like to wander the ancient sites and sights, free of horrendous traffic, noise and fumes. I used to frequent cobbled back streets, away from tourist areas. Occasionally I'd feel that I did catch a glimpse and a feel of how it used to be. I'm luckier than most, though. At least I saw the city before worse pollution and even heavier traffic took its toll.

If only we could, in a Time Travel Bubble, visit fabled destinations at a personal choice in time! Of course, not everyone's choice would be the same. But for now that's the stuff of science fiction stories

Here, in Oklahoma and nearby Texas, as we drive through tiny, semi- abandoned townships, I wish to be able to see them as they used to be. I close my eyes and see horse drawn buggies in a muddy street, hear the sound of a piano from an old saloon. And on the open prairie, I'll see, in my mind's eye, a huge herd of cattle being driven by dusty cowboys for hundreds of miles, or a wagon train slowly and painfully making its way, with courageous pioneers travelling far, hoping to find a better life.


I've never been to New Orleans, another fabled city. Hurricane Katrina may have temporarily diminished the city's ability to shine, but I feel sure it will bounce back. I guess the best period for time travel to "The Big Easy" would be almost any time in the 20th century, until Katrina hit. HeWhoKnows tells me that he visited the city during the 1980s. He reckons the best time for New Orleans is "whenever you're there". I think I understand.

Another famous, or in this case infamous, city I've been lucky enough to visit is Tangier, in Morocco, North Africa. I won a two-week vacation for two in the city - a competition prize - back in 1974. That was during one of my Jupiter Returns !

Tangier's heyday, was, I suppose, the years surrounding World War 2. Think Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca".
Protected by a Time Travel Bubble, that would be my optimum time for re-visiting Tangier.

In 1974 the streets were filled with children begging from tourists - a sad sight. The kids were happy enough though. One of my favourite memories of my late partner is of him finding a real soccer ball in a shop, buying it and presenting it to Mohammed (with me in the photo), one of the little boys who insisted following us around. From our hotel window, we'd watch Mohammed, proud as a king, leading his pals down to the beach each morning to play soccer, carrying that ball.

For many Americans London is a favourite destination. I'm not a fan of "the great metrollups" as a friend of mine used to call Britain's capital city. I can understand why Americans flock there though.

I spent a few weeks working in London's Bloomsbury area in the early 1990s. That tickled my imagination a little, as I recall. Bloomsbury is an area of elegant formal squares with trees, greenery, Georgian and Victorian architecture. From the early 1900s, it was the home ground of the Bloomsbury Set, bohemians, artists, writers, including Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, T.S. Eliot, Lytton Strachey.
Those two decades of the 20th century must have been a fascinating time in Bloomsbury. That's when Pluto was in Gemini - very appropriate. Oh for that Time Travel Bubble!

If a Time Travel Bubble could move forward as well as backward, and we travelled to the year 2207, would we encounter someone wishing for the opportunity to visit -------- in 2007, before..........happened? (Fill in the blanks) Now there's a thought!

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