Through the looking glass...

Arriving back in Perth for Christmas, I always feel a strange sensation of being different yet exactly the same. I think it is because I feel like I have changed in some indiscernible way because I live in Melbourne now and have experienced another city and a whole new range of people.

In Perth, so many of my friends have known me since I was a child. After living in a place where I often have no tangible back story -as in, my history involves places unfamiliar to the new people I meet- it is lovely to come back and be reminded of who I was before I went away. With so many of my friends here in WA, my history is their history and theirs is mine.

I love Perth. As I am on holiday at the moment, coming back to Perth feels like watching a favourite TV show that you haven't seen in a while. You know all the characters and settings, there's lots of sunlight, parties and beautiful scenery (and places like Claremont can seem like the O.C. in terms of their populace). It's comforting, warm and familiar. Yet, some of the plot-lines have advanced rapidly since you last saw an episode: people are getting married, having babies, finishing uni, building or buying houses, getting new jobs and partners.

Anyhow, the photos above (taken through a diamond-shaped, glass paperweight thing I was given as an early Christmas present) reflect the feelings I have when I first step off the plane. They are largely indescribable but involve the affect of me moving to Melbourne on the multiplicity of vision I have when I arrive back in Perth. (does that make sense? It applies to both the way I see and the way people see me). Like stepping into bright sunlight after being indoors, it takes me a little while to readjust to being back. Then the ocean of Perthy goodness washes over me and I get to run around and see all my fantastic friends and relax with my wonderful family.

(So funny - as I'm writing this, I can hear my mum talking to some family friends. She's saying that she wants to come to Melbourne for the first time and "see it through Lizzy's eyes. I want to see what she sees.")

Mood: Dean Martin singing Christmas songs and red and gold tinsel