MY RETURN TO STONE AGE

MY RETURN TO STONE AGE

21 October 2016 Off By Naginder Sehmi

BACK TO STONE AGE

Stonehenge has fascinated me since I learnt about it more than half a century ago. I have been near it innumerable times but never saw it. I know that my stretch of life is insignificant in geological terms.

In September 2016 a sudden drop in my activities caused a depressing time vacuum difficult for me to handle. My mind decided to fill the emptiness with a visit to England, with no other mission than meeting people and seeing places – no marriages, no birthdays, no anniversaries or funerals. You might not believe me, my first target attraction was “return” to Stone Age and pay my respects to Stonehenge.

I do not have many years left to undertake such a mission. On Wednesday, 28 September the coach from Victoria in London transported me to the famous site. I spotted the magical stony circle on the gentle hill with the haunting late afternoon sun light pouring across the stones.

The cool breeze did not dampen my excitement. I do not need to describe Stonehenge that draws millions of visitors. Having piously circled around it I frequently turning back to take the last look.

It’s amazing that soon after my visit  I read that a tooth of a pet Alsatian-type dog has been unearthed near Stonehenge. The dog had apparently traveled 250 miles (400 km) from York with its owner some 7000 years ago long before the well-known stone circle was built about 2000 years ago. (BBC, 7 October 2016). Looking back, like the dog’s owner, I would have liked to walk from Switzerland across our concrete jungles and entanglement of roadways. Once back in the coach I regretted: I should have hidden my tooth somewhere there so that the archaeologist (most likely from another planet) would be able to prove proudly in 4016 that I, a human being,  had traveled from Geneva to Stonehenge!

I did not know that the magic of Stonehenge is so potent. It started to work on me the moment I stepped on that  island at Gatwick Airport. It manifested itself on the very first day of my mission. Of course I could not  have associated it with Stonehenge in the beginning. (to continue in the next post).