Thames River woodland in England : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fee%2F31%2Feb6ac85849f887f3f2f5892d2b35%2Ffarflungpostcard-en.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/1920x1080+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fee%2F31%2Feb6ac85849f887f3f2f5892d2b35%2Ffarflungpostcard-en.jpg" class="img" alt="FarFlungPostcard_EN.jpg" fetchpriority="high"/>

Esme Nicholson, Jakie Lay /NPR Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly sequence by which NPR's worldwide staff shares moments from their lives and work around the globe.

If I would had my microphone with me, you'd hear the intense coloratura of willow warblers and chiffchaffs, the resonant mezzo counterpoint of blackbirds, the mushy rustling of leaves within the breeze and the odd jumbo coming in to land at Heathrow — the sounds of the Thames valley and the reassuringly acquainted soundtrack to my childhood summer time afternoons, minus the roar of Concorde jets.

This peaceable setting is a mature woodland within the making, tucked upriver away from the fray of the capital. It is usually a burial floor, the place interred ashes fertilize the soil by which younger oak and beech bushes develop. Sitting at this bench, I've been considering the place house is after years of residing abroad — a query that many worldwide reporters ask themselves after a beat or two.

The reply isn't quick, however it strikes me how having the ability to return to see household is the privilege of peace, even as soon as they've handed. It's the privilege of having the ability to take depart of family members and afford them dignity. As colleagues — far braver than I'm — witness how the horrors of struggle take many hundreds of lives and deprive households of having the ability to mark their deaths correctly, I'm conscious of how fortunate I'm to have this bench beneath a cathedral-like cover of bushes to which I can return time and again.

See extra images from around the globe:

Greetings from Guhagar, India, the place newly hatched turtles get some assist into the seaGreetings from the Negev desert, the place traces stay of a vanished historic civilizationGreetings from the Dubai airport, the place a protracted layover may also be a destinationGreetings from Paris, the place you may swim within the Seine for the primary time in a centuryGreetings from Gujarat, India, the place a banyan tree is a spot for relaxation, prayers and playGreetings from Khartoum, Sudan, the place these with the least supply their visitors the mostGreetings from Moscow, Russia, the place Lenin's tomb attracts a brand new surge of visitorsGreetings from New Delhi, India, the place performing monkeys spark delight — and ambivalenceGreetings from Damascus, Syria, the place a crowded bar welcomed post-Assad revelersGreetings from Alishan, Taiwan, whose purple cypress forests supply timeless beautyGreetings from Odesa, Ukraine, the place a Black Sea seashore provides respite from warGreetings from Shenyang, China, the place employees kind AI knowledge in 'Severance'-like waysGreetings from Palmyra, Syria, with its once-grand lodge named for a warrior queenGreetings from Mexico Metropolis, the place these canine journey a bus to and from schoolGreetings from the Galápagos Islands, the place the blue-footed booby exhibits its colorsGreetings from Afrin, Syria, the place Kurds danced their hearts out to have a good time springGreetings from Dharamshala, India, the place these Tibetan youngsters had been having the very best time [ad_2] Source link