Neighborhood Normality...

"...de Maistre's work sprang from a profound and suggestive insight: the notion that the pleasure we derive from a journey may be dependent more on the mind-set we travel with than on the destination we travel to... What then is a traveling mind-set? Receptivity might be said to be its chief characteristic. Receptive, we approach new places with humility. We carry with us no rigid ideas about what is or is not interesting... Home, by contrast, finds us more settled in our experiences. We feel assured that we have discovered everything about our neighborhood, primarily by virtue of having lived there..." (242)

In de Bottom's chapter 'On Habit', I really responded to this section. When I think about my home-life I never think about anything overly  extraordinary. Not to say that where I live in Florida is at all boring or mundane, it is simply my home. Nothing more, nothing less. It is the place where I was raised, the place where my family lives, the place where I went to school and the place where I made friends. Of course, all of that is by no means uninteresting, but after living in the same place for over fifteen years, all of the excitement becomes monotonous; it becomes something of habit. 

Marco Island, Florida

Living in a vacation and tourist frequented spot in Florida, I was always a bit unnerved by the numbers of people that would flood the streets every day. Year after year and day after day, my little hometown of Marco Island would be harassed by tourists from all over. I was frequently baffled at the amounts of people coming to visit. To be honest, there isn't much in Marco. We have a lovely beach and it definitely gives the illusion of a small island feeling but other than that, there really isn't much. So how can all these people, no matter what time of year, constantly be attracted to such a random place? 

After reading this section in de Bottom's book, I realized that more than likely, having grow up on Marco has almost disillusioned me to it's intriguing qualities. My close connection with Marco Island has given me the impression that I have discovered everything it has to offer, therefore, since I have an intimate relationship with my hometown I can't quite understand its attraction to "outsiders" (as we call them on the island). 

It is probably quite a similar situation to Londoners. London, being the well known city that it is, is constantly surrounded by visitors from all over the world. Being a Londoner for all ones life, one probably is quite familiar with the city. And I, being the tourist who is new to this place, can easily find exciting new things, while the Londoner is so used to it all that my excitement is their monotonous. Harrods is just that ridiculously overpriced department store; the London Eye is just that giant monstrosity that is making British Airways thousands of pounds a day; and the underground is just a source of transportation. 

I suppose, after writing this entry, I will have to be more open minded to the idea of tourists visiting my hometown. It is clear that what one person finds dull, another person finds exciting, and therefore we must not shut out the opportunities of excitement even if it is in our own backyards.