I recently got asked what my default go-to place is. I shrugged and said I go to a new place each time I must go someplace. Yes the mountains, but a new mountain. Yes, the sea, but new sands. You know. New places, like new toys. New things to see. New people to meet. New food to eat. Yada yada. I realised later in the evening that I'd lied. I do have a default place to go to. It's called 'home'. I've lived away from 'home' for a good fifteen years now. Or maybe eighteen years. Home has always been where Maa is. And this is where she's been all these years. This lush little piece of heaven. This is the pathway outside our house where Bumblebee goes walking four times a day, come rain, sun, or winter. In the winters the lush green fades to a bare rust-green. In spring the pathway is lined with flowers. In the summers it is a brighter, lighter green. But it's always home. Always peaceful. Always welcoming. Always mine. Always familiar. In the far distance stands an ambulance. This too is familiar. Our first car was actually an ambulance. There's always been an ambulance somewhere there where home has been. Peace, quiet, comfort un-jarringly juxtaposed with the urgency of life-saving. The word urgent must have been born in an hospital. As must have the word calm. Most of my growing-up years, I've lived in, on, around hospitals. Like in this home in this picture too, this one that I go back to. So then it can be said that my default go-to place is a hospital. Who needs a beach. Or the mountains. When you can have a hospital. 😂