I get up early this morning with a lump in my throat. Paul and I drive to the airport in relative silence. It is a dark, grey morning in Manchester – the kind that I’ve dreamt of for years. A dreamy city with its feet firmly entrenched in reality that seems all too foreign to me. A city with a lengthy list of problems and complaints, and a country with a collective middle finger raised to the rest of the continent and to the world.
Another chance to make my imprint on the city – gone. It is now when I think of my own legacy in Manchester and if I’ve been able to make any sort of positive impact on the people that I love and admire here. This was my home away from home before I’d ever been. It is my xanadu, my Shangri-La. It still is.
Shaun Wright-Phillips, the former Manchester City star who everybody simply refers to as Shaun, has finally come home again to resume his career at the club that propelled him to stardom. This happened during my stay, and I attended his first match back in City Blue. Only the Gallagher brothers could get a louder, wilder reception in Manchester. He is possibly the most likeable footballers in the world, standing at under 5’4” and looking not a day older than 17 years.
I think of Shaun while I am at the airport and I think of how he must feel to be back. And I think about my time in Manchester and, even with the prospect of three long flights looming ahead of me, and my first day back on the job tomorrow, I feel happy to be alive and well and to be part of the city and the pulse that it generates.
I play a small part, but even that satisfies my craving to be a cog in the machine. At last, to have a role: that of the wide eyed American who can’t escape his roots and the strange rumblings underneath the surface that urge the drive along; the drive of needing involvement. Of fitting in, of playing a part.
The whole of Manchester City Football Club is at Manchester Airport today. They are outside my gate. For some reason I am not surprised. I walk by Robinho and Kompany and Jo. And Shaun is there, and at one point we walk right by each other. When we meet each other's glances we are both smiling, for not altogether different reasons.
Peace, Love, and Bananas,
TJH
tyler j hinds
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2 comments:
Ty, I'm awaiting to hear about your trip home. You have left us hanging. Did you have a layover on the way home, did you get on the plane or did you stay there???? Did you get abducted by little people who were on the wings of the plane??? Please Please Please tell us.
To anonymous:
I figured there's no way I could have possibly ended this better than seeing SWP at the airport. I thought that was the logical end to this whole thing. I made it back home safe and on time, just so you know.
TJH
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