This morning, I took a short walk out into Hither Green to buy some flowers. I can’t be sure, but it felt like the first time I’ve ever bought flowers for myself since I don’t actually own a vase. Well, I didn’t until recently. And that is the only reason why I got some flowers today.
A few months ago, mum messaged tai che, ee che and I to ask if there were anything in one of her glass cabinets we wanted to keep. The cabinet was coming apart, and she wanted to throw it out. One of the items in that cabinet was a beautiful vase I bought for her in 2003 on my one and only trip to Venice. It was the only item in there that had a story for me, so I said I’ll take it back to London with me.
The story goes back to when I was a young boy – maybe 11 or 12 years old – and it was the school holidays. My cousin Kevin had come to spend the day together, and as kids being kids, I knocked over a beautiful Venetian vase my mother had bought on her first trip to Europe (I think) decades ago. I remember the moment vividly, it still plays in my head in slow motion. Two young boys having knocked over something, and tried to reach out for it, but failed.
I don’t remember mum being too upset with me (maybe because a cousin was there) but I felt guilty for a long time. So, when I finally decided to visit Italy, I knew that I just had to go to Venice so I could replace the vase for her. I couldn’t find one that looked similar, and so I got this new one, which was hand-blown. She never used it – it’s sat in that cabinet on display all this time.
Over two-decades on, mum was ready to say bye to it (alongside the many things she’s been giving away/throwing out/recycling over the past few years). So now, it lives in my not-so-new-anymore flat and today, it has finally served its purpose: there are flowers in it now. T
he picture above shows the vase and the flowers I got, but what I thought was interesting was to share this artwork my friend Sean gifted me as a housewarming gift of a street in Hither Green. On the left side of the picture you can see You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, the cute little florist and coffee shop close to where I live where I bought the flowers from.
I tried to look for a picture from my Venice trip to include in this post, but then realised that in 2003, I don’t know if I even had a digital camera. I’ll have to dig out a physical copy sometime to get it scanned. It would explain why it hasn’t shown up in this little Tumblr I have on my travel memories, although I haven’t uploaded it in years.