I got an advert in my email today to “tour the lands of Charles Dickens.” Talk about dreamy. Granted, I am not in love with Dickens—and I definitely can’t imagine the draw of visiting the slums he so often wrote about—but the idea of actually seeing some of the places I’ve read about, dreamed about, is just heavenly.
If I had the time and the funds, I would go to:
- Great Britain: Although I’d like to visit London, I am actually more interested in the English countryside. I long to visit the villages of Jane Austen, the Brontës, and George Eliot, to tour Bath, Haworth, and Middlemarch. I would take tea (herbal, of course) in Midsomer Worthy—and hopefully avoid being murdered—drop by Miss Marple’s house for scones, and then trot over to Scotland and find my lover, Hamish Macbeth, in the Highlands.
- Australia: I read all of my mother’s Lucy Walker books as a teenager and started dreaming of the Australian outback. I have it planned perfectly—I will fall in love with a station manager who is the strong, silent type. He will love me deeply, but it will take many years, and many tears, for him to admit this love. I've also dreamed of Miles Franklin's Australia (at least the part with Harry Beecham) after watching and reading My Brilliant Career. Even now, it breaks my heart that Sybylla rejected Harry. I would take him in a moment. Sigh.
- Prince Edward Island: More than anywhere else, I have longed for Prince Edward Island. I want to see the Lake of Shining Waters, Lover’s Lane, and Green Gables. Deep down, though, I fear visiting PEI. I have such high expectations, such a deep love for the province, and I do not want those dreams shattered. What if PEI isn’t as green and as charming as I imagine? What if Gilbert Blythe isn’t waiting for my arrival?
Clearly, reading has ruined me. It has made me long for distant lands—and impossible leading men.
1 comment:
I have to add a comment about Australia. In the early 1980s, I watched Bryan Brown, a real live Australian, play the leading man in Nevil Shute's A Town Like Alice. I never have quite got over being in love with him. However, you will notice that I have forgotten what the character's name was. (Thanks to imdb.com I can tell you it was Joe Harman). I am not sure I am ready to go to a cattle station in Austrailia, but I long to see the area of Scotland that my favorite author D.E. Stevenson wrote about so often. Close to Dumfries. However, I don't fish, so maybe I am better off just walking on the beach at Del Mar.
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