| A personal story of inexplicable unhappiness. | | | | city; we set out, once more, for the airport. |
| | | | |
| Several years ago my husband and I left New | | | | But that sense of loss and discomfort had |
| Zealand, to travel through several States of | | | | grown much stronger and I struggled to |
| North America and Mexico. | | | | identify its cause. I was becoming seriously |
| | | | depressed, even though I was on a wonderful |
| The flight left in the early evening, flying | | | | holiday. Whatever could be wrong? I'd slept |
| straight out from Auckland, leaving behind | | | | comfortably; so it couldn't be jetlag. I was |
| myriads of twinkling lights and dark blue | | | | luxuriously accommodated, so it wasn't |
| velvet seas. Approximately twelve hours | | | | discomfort either. |
| later, our aircraft descended at Los Angeles, | | | | |
| through a sickly soup of greyish-yellow fog. | | | | We moved on, flying from Cleveland to |
| It bumped down on the tarmac, to the kind of | | | | Chicago, Illinois, where we stopped |
| depressing pollution for which Los Angeles is | | | | overnight, before travelling up next |
| famous. | | | | afternoon, to Milwaukee by railroad. During |
| | | | the morning, we visited the Chicago Art |
| Not wishing to venture outside, we collected | | | | Museum and I was fascinated to spy a family |
| our things and scurried to transfer on to an | | | | of grey squirrels, frolicking among the |
| earlier flight to Atlanta, Georgia. Once | | | | frosty, bare-branched azalea bushes in the |
| clear of Los Angeles, it was a beautiful | | | | garden, fronting the Gallery, on Madison |
| experience flying across the United States, | | | | Avenue. |
| viewing from the windows of our plane, the | | | | |
| moving geography of a mighty country in all | | | | Next morning, as the train passed through the |
| its beautiful colors. | | | | Wisconsin countryside, we marvelled at the |
| | | | magnificent German-inspired architecture of |
| We crossed the mountains, their tops gleaming | | | | farm homesteads. The spring thaw was just |
| with the last of the winter's snow and flew | | | | beginning and what grass we could see, still |
| over the chequered plains beyond. Below us, | | | | had that lifeless, straw-colored look, we'd |
| we saw the mighty Mississippi River, with its | | | | noticed at all our previous stopovers. |
| many boats scurrying up and down that mighty | | | | Although a pale sun filtered across the |
| waterway like ants carrying cargoes and | | | | landscape, it was still far too cold for the |
| building their nest. After sitting for a | | | | bare trees to sprout leaves. |
| while in a holding pattern, over Georgia, we | | | | |
| eventually landed in Atlanta, an airport | | | | On arrival at Milwaukee, we were greeted by |
| about four times the size of Sydney airport. | | | | the same sepia tinted landscape, as we drove |
| | | | to the hotel, and I felt again, the grip of |
| Apart from the shopping, our stay in Atlanta | | | | unfamiliar unease and depression. Determined |
| was relatively uneventful - I did the usual | | | | to get the most out of this trip, I tried to |
| tours and shopped, while my husband attended | | | | ignore these unhappy feelings. To combat |
| a conference. Two days later, with heavier | | | | them, I set about being busy, in an |
| bags, we headed north on a flight to Buffalo | | | | unfamiliar city. |
| - en route to Niagara Falls, Canada. | | | | |
| | | | The next day, on our return to the Phister |
| Circling Buffalo airport five times, | | | | hotel from a tour of Milwaukee, the doors of |
| (something that is considered exceptional | | | | our hotel lift sprang apart and a large group |
| over there), during which, there were several | | | | of women, carrying prized tiny poinsettia |
| emergencies with defective landing gear, the | | | | plants, spilled out into the hotel foyer. |
| crew eventually put the plane down on to the | | | | |
| tarmac. As we slewed round to a halt on the | | | | Memories of my healthy ten-foot high |
| snow-covered runway, the relieved American | | | | poinsettia bush, growing at the front doorway |
| travellers, more aware of the emergency than | | | | of my home flooded back and I felt homesick |
| we were, showered the crew with tumultuous | | | | for the first time in my life. Try as I |
| applause. | | | | might, I couldn't shake off the depression |
| | | | and sense of loss, I felt. |
| By this time, it was dark and we shivered, as | | | | |
| we emerged from the plane, to the wintry | | | | Shopping till we dropped, after seeing the |
| chill of minus fourteen degrees. Warmed by | | | | sights, we finally pushed our trolleys |
| hot coffee from the airport café, we began | | | | through the airport, towards our plane to |
| the twenty-two mile drive from Buffalo to | | | | Mexico City. Once in the air, we enjoyed the |
| Niagara Falls in a cab. It was the beginning | | | | flight down the path of the mighty |
| of March, just around the time of the spring | | | | Mississippi River, which wound its way south, |
| thaw, although to us it felt like being in | | | | to the Gulf of Mexico. For a while, the deep |
| the middle of a hard winter in Queenstown, | | | | feelings of unease subsided, as our minds |
| New Zealand. | | | | concentrated on the view below us. |
| | | | |
| The cab driver, a New York State man - born | | | | Five hours later, we landed at Mexico's |
| in the Bronx - and his non-stop humorous | | | | airport, soaring down through a blanket of |
| patter, kept us entertained on the long, cold | | | | thick smog that enshrouded that mighty city, |
| drive to the Falls. Fortunately, my husband | | | | home at that time, to eighteen million |
| had the presence of mind, to tape the | | | | people. |
| conversation, so we have since enjoyed | | | | |
| reliving that ride, many times over. | | | | Finally emerging through the gates, we were |
| | | | swept into a Combi Van, in the guise of a |
| On entering Niagara Falls and before being | | | | taxi, to begin the ride of our lives. In and |
| dropped to our hotel, on the Canadian side, | | | | out of an unending flood of traffic, our |
| we called to see the tail end of the Niagara | | | | driver wove his van, hooting and screaming |
| Falls evening illuminations. | | | | indecipherable oaths at other drivers, as he |
| | | | went. Memories of the song `Tijuana Taxi' |
| Although slabs of ice, crashing onto the | | | | were vividly recalled, as we hurtled forward |
| river below, seemed enchanting, the colors | | | | - accelerator - brake, swerve, accelerator - |
| playing on the cascading water and | | | | brake, swerve, towards our hotel, a former |
| illuminating the fine misty spray, which rose | | | | Mexican palace. |
| several hundred feet into the air above the | | | | |
| river, left us breathless. We were entranced | | | | As our tortured vehicle squealed round a |
| to see frozen spray dropping down on to the | | | | corner on the Zocalo; the largest - and |
| trees below, to form perfect icicles. At that | | | | busiest - highway in the world; I saw a sight |
| moment, were in wonderland. But, oh it was so | | | | that brought tears to my eyes. |
| cold! | | | | |
| | | | On a traffic island, in the middle of this |
| Next morning, we awoke to temperatures of | | | | amazingly busy highway, stood a tree. A tree, |
| minus eight degrees, which quickly plummeted | | | | so green, it brought a lump to my throat. At |
| to minus twelve. Weak rays of pale sunshine, | | | | that sight, I cried like a baby. That tree |
| valiantly tried to warm the frozen landscape, | | | | revealed the answer to my distress. |
| through which we toured the famous sights | | | | |
| around the falls. | | | | Green! An absence of green from my life had |
| | | | deeply disturbed my happy disposition. |
| Looking out at the frozen spectacle was like | | | | |
| stepping back in time. I was reminded of my | | | | I'd travelled this huge distance, to find out |
| mother's battered photo album with its many | | | | how important is one of the most basic |
| sepia-toned photographs. | | | | influences on my life. Green! It is a color |
| | | | deeply embedded in my psyche. The |
| The trees in North America are deciduous, | | | | surroundings of my lifetime were peppered |
| losing their leaves in autumn, before the | | | | with green, as the dominant flora of New |
| bitter winter's chill attacks them. The sepia | | | | Zealand is made up of evergreen trees. |
| colors I was encountering in that wintry | | | | |
| panorama seemed the same as in the album. | | | | During my childhood, many of my spare hours |
| | | | were spent happily climbing the trees |
| Two days later, we left again for Buffalo, to | | | | surrounding my home, a place of exquisitely |
| fly on to Cleveland in Ohio. A sharp frost | | | | green lawns and clipped hedges. In |
| had left an icy terrain in its wake and, as | | | | flashbacks, I remembered my adolescence, when |
| we drove to Buffalo, through miles of | | | | I'd tramped through miles of mountain beech |
| snow-covered landscape, I began to feel a | | | | forests, without ever realising, what a vital |
| decided unease that I blamed on jetlag. I was | | | | part they played. And now, an adult, I'd |
| depressed; although depression is not | | | | created luxuriant gardens, featuring lush |
| something I have previously suffered. | | | | green ferns and evergreen trees. |
| | | | |
| Our stay in Cleveland was unusual; we arrived | | | | Yet, for more than forty years, I'd taken |
| for St Patrick's Day and witnessed a huge St | | | | those important and fertile surroundings for |
| Patrick's parade, where thousands of genuine | | | | granted - until that moment. |
| (and would-be), Irishmen, turned out for the | | | | |
| celebration. It was interesting to see dyed | | | | In that instant, when I saw that tree, I knew |
| green hair and to drink green beer. | | | | my life could never be complete without the |
| Everything that day was Irish! | | | | healing and relaxing shades of green; the |
| | | | color of Mother Nature herself. I'll never |
| A day later, after exploring the tourist | | | | forget how important a part the color green |
| haunts and Art Galleries of Cleveland, | | | | plays in my life. It is the source of my |
| tempered overnight, by a whiteout blizzard, | | | | happiness and inspiration. |
| which dumped deep snowdrifts on the cheerless | | | | |