A Seagull or a Swallow over the water...

Morning in Mount's Bay

Despite the beautiful weather, the swallows are beginning to fall silent, and I can no longer hear that joyful shrill call they make as the skim between the buildings here in the city centre, flying in formation on the warm air currents of summer evenings. They're still swooping and flitting over the surface of the water along the canal however, so they seem to be warding off the arrival of autumn. Nevertheless the blackberries, rose hips and poppy drums and spent seed pods all point to a change of season and a return to more sedentary evenings, to be spent indoors. Once the temperature changes, the swallows themselves will leave for milder climates, drawn by that migratory instinct to fly over the waters, far away. I wonder where they consider their real 'home' to be... What is abroad? What is foreign? What is familiar?

Penzance Promenade

Going back to England always seems to be a return 'home', though with the years it seems more difficult to define in words, yet more apparent on an instinctive level each time. Home, however, is here in France, I suppose; it certainly is in every functional respect. They say 'Home is where the heart is', but what of the feelings for a place itself? Then there is the particularity of all ex-patriots; at home in two places, but no longer fully belonging to either one... 

View across the bay to Penzance

Nevertheless an instinctive drive would always lead me to Cornwall, even if I can't fly over the water like the swallow or soar in the skies as the seagull does...

Towards Marazion at dawn

As corny as it sounds, just walking along the coastline in the morning gives me the wings to fly. The play of light and colour on the vast skies above and beyond, and the expanse of water stretching out to the horizon could never leave me unaffected...

To finish, here's a Kate Bush track - Night of the Swallow - which has no real relation to the contents of this post, except the reference to swallows, of course. The song itself is beautiful, as is the video, so any excuse will do!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQFubdGmQ4U&feature=player_embedded (by Sky Vibes)