The discontinuation of Hel part II: City girl
- helpupina
- Aug 27, 2018
- 3 min read
I am a city girl. You won't know by demeanour in nature. I can walk, climb, swim, follow a map or a compass as well as the next person. I don't love insects, but I can keep my cool when a bee comes to check the content of my sandwich... I feel quite at ease in the great outdoors. But there are two facts that will give me away: fact one, if there's an animal I have to pet it ; fact two, if there's a berry I have to pick it.
This is how you know: a country person, someone more used to being near farm animals or seeing wild animals around, does not lose their stuff the way I do whenever there's the possibility of interaction with, say, a horse, a cow, a squirrel... you know, the kind of animal that's not likely to kill you. I have to go near it and try to have it acknowlegde my existence in any respectful way I can think of, be it petting it, feeding it, talking nonsense to it, or just being near enough so that there's no mistake about my intention: can I play with you, do you wanna be my friend?
Another very clear indicator is the passion for berry-picking. The city girl in me just can't get over these beautiful little edible things so shiny and bright, like jewels, and the fact that you can just reach out, take one and eat it at zero cost... I get greedy about it, I like picking lots and, later, figure out how to invest the bounty while rubbing my hands in delight: cake? Pie? Jam? Ahhhh! So many possibilities?
So, that's basically what the song City Girl, second in the album The Tick Collector, is about. I was on holiday in this tiny village in the mountain range Picos de Europa, Spain, and it was just indescribably beautiful, specially a canoe trip on a river that ran through the mountains, so clear that it really looked like the water wasn't even there... "only light and fish from the keel to the bottom". When you find such unspoilt beauty around you, it's easy to forget that the world is actually in the middle of an environmental crisis which only seems to be getting worse...
Sliding across a chunk of glass / Water / Only light and fish from the keel to the bottom/ Green everywhere / Sight, touch and smell / Peace everywhere / I just don’t dare speak / Busy hands / One supports my chin and the other / Racks the surface and gives away my heat / To the water / Rowing ahead of the herd has its advantage Soon they’ll be here with their loud talk and packed lunches / Spend the day picking berries and feeding horses 7 Not bad for a city girl with no training Stare at the blue sky /Let it fill me up / Let it quench a thirst I didn’t know I had / Seas rising, skies closing in/ But from this mountain It doesn’t seem that the Earth is dying Is it? / Really? / Sliding across a chunk of glass / Water
I find it difficult to grasp how desperate the situation is, but it all seems to be pointing at "really serious". I try my best to do what I know is useful to minimise my impact on the planet. I try not to give in to rage when faced with the reality that so much more can be done and needs to be done by the ones making the big decisions in this huge round rock we call planet Earth, and it just isn't happening or, at least it isn't happening fast enough!
I really hope two or three generations from now berry-picking and lama-petting still fills city people with this awe I feel about nature, and inspires them to protect it in any way they can. I hope there's still something to protect!
Comments