Thursday 23 May 2013

What did you do in Venice?

What did you do in Venice?

I got lost.

What do you mean, lost?

Indeed - what do I mean, lost? As a child was taught that 'lost' is something terrible. It means someone nasty might take you away. That storms would rage and winds would howl and there'd be no gingerbread house for me, oh no, I'd be cold and wet and what's more nobody would love me.

But lost, I've learned, can be many things - rarely starkly good, or bad - rather it can be uncomfortable, or inconvenient, occasionally alarming. And it can also be an opportunity. Lost is the place where we find the unexepected. It is the place where we can look up and see the sky is a different blue, the buildings a strange shape, the people with smiles you don't recognise.

Some years ago I was Hue, in Vietnam, for the Chinese New Year. I was studying a map - useless, when all the street names were in a different script - when a man came and used his one sentence of English: What is your name? He led me to his home, to his frail parents and his gentle wife and his sister and three children who bounced around my knees. The children knew we didn't need words. I spent the day with them. I have no idea what was going on, what I ate, nor what sense they made of me. It was a wonderful, 'lost', opportunity.

I didn't meet unexpected families in Venice. But I wandered into a church and found a picture by Tintoretto. I was tempted by tiny passageways that led to a courtyard where the sun shone on flaking pink walls and tiny white flowers shimmered. And I sat in the sun, in my lostness, and watched tourists studying maps.

29 comments:

  1. What a lovely perspective, Jo. I, too, got 'lost' in Venice about 15 years ago - I followed my nose and went where it and my eyes led me. We should get lost more often shouldn't we

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    1. Indeed we should - the best things can happen when we're lost!

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  2. We're usually too busy getting somewhere to enjoy getting lost. It's wonderful to have time to get lost.

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    1. Ah time ... maybe we should leave our watches behind sometimes.

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  4. When I get lost I get panicky. I like your approach better.

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    1. It's so hard to shake of that belief - drummed into us as children - that being lost is scary. It need not be!

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  5. Lost is fine, and even fun, as long as there is no pressure to be somewhere. I remember in my early days here that Koos and I got almost deliberately lost on many occasions. I love your Vietnam story. That was beautiful!

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    1. Isn't it hard to get lost when that's what you're trying to do!! You keep finding landmarks that tell you where you are!

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    2. Haha, Jo, it's no trouble if you're half blind and even more easily distracted. We are very good at it…especially in Belgium. Hmmm, I think I should write a post about that... *thinks*….

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  6. Really nice post, Jo. I get lost in John Lewis, so not much chance for me in beautiful Venice. You're obviously the sort of person people warm to, which is such great trait.

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    1. I got lost in Wallmart, in America - and in a few huge shopping malls. Much less fun than getting lost in Venice!

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  7. Being lost in the moment is indeed a wonderful thing....and it's lovely to hear about you being lost!

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  8. Ah - being lost can mean different things, can't it. And it's not always about geography!

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  9. We get lost in Venice regularly, and what gems we find!! Glad you had a good trip....now for the pics........

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  10. Ok, my hair is now standing on end at the thought of you going off with a strange man in Vietnam. Please promise that you won't do that in Venice... or ever again with any strange man!

    I loved getting lost in Venice because you can always find your way to the canal and get on a vapareto.

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    1. The Vietnamese family were lovely, Ros - not at all strange!

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  11. What an exciting life you lead! I've never thought of a 'good' lost before, like you I was brought up thinking lost was bad. Your experience with the Vietnamese family sounds like an unforgettable experience : )

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    1. I'm very lucky, Amanda (and Ros thinks I'm foolhardy!!)

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