view

Reflections on a view

Posted on by Cathy Penman

99

I’m looking to move house and am having great difficult deciding where to go.

One of many factors is what the immediate area is like, and might there be a better view from the windows, or at least a view nearby you could go and look at repeatedly. For example, should I go to a seaside town so that I can sit and look at a view of the sea?

The above photo shows a view from my hotel balcony, on a little trip I went on last year.  (I’ll leave you to guess where it is.)

This view taught me something about views!  Namely, they may be nice and impressive and interesting the first time, or the first few times.  But after you’ve been looking at the same view for a week, it just becomes boring, like a looking at a picture – doesn’t it?

So if I buy a house by the sea, for the view – won’t I quickly get bored with it?  I don’t know the answer.

 

Sightseeing cow

Posted on by Cathy Penman

IMG_3698

I so loved this cow, standing on a viewing platform high above Interlaken in the Swiss Alps, looking down at the town and the lakes.  And once you know it’s there, you can see it from down below, a tiny speck in the distance.  The sign affixed to it also made me laugh – in English but not quite the right translation.  ‘Do not go up the cow!’

 

View from hotel window

Posted on by Cathy Penman

IMG_3595

I recently re-visited a hotel I worked at in Switzerland many years ago.  Having worked as a waitress back then, I’d always wanted to go back as a paying guest.  This is the view from the window of my room.  It rained quite a lot and I sat there with the window open, listening to and smelling the rain.  There were goats grazing on the hillside, you could hear their bells clanging.  A very special atmosphere and a special place for me.