Chapter 1 is short and based in Sydney, so I’m skipping that and introducing you to Chapter 2… Buenos Aires…
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A little snippet:
Stepping out of the taxi and onto the streets of Buenos Aires I had to pause and double-take. For a second I thought we’d hopped on the wrong flight – was I in South America, or Europe? Images flashed through my mind of my first step onto the streets of Paris, up the metro escalator onto expansive Avenue de Champs-Elysees, looking up to see the Arc de Triomphe and Place de l’Étoile, (the massive round-about where twelve streets meet), and my boyfriend standing there awaiting my arrival. Waiting to tell me that after five years it was over. Paris, the alleged city of love was alas not the city for my love. I trampled down on these thoughts, compressing them back down into the deep pocket of my memory where all hideous experiences and feelings hide, and returning to the present to look around: this was Buenos Aires?
You expect to feel a strong awe when in Paris, but this was South America, the “third world”, and I was not expecting it at all. I felt a sense of grandeur, of rich history and a wealthy past. The street ahead was the widest I’d ever seen, Nueve de Julio Avenue. Literally this means 9th of July, named after Argentina’s Independence Day in 1816. With twelve lanes of traffic and an extra four at each side, it takes five sets of traffic lights to cross the street – and is not something you want to do in a hurry. There are cars everywhere, and the old European-style buildings line the street sport billboard advertisements, graffiti and artworks. It has a raw dirtiness similar to Paris too, everything appears run down and un-maintained, reminding you of the highs and lows that this city has experienced. In its heyday it was as New York, London, Tokyo and Paris are today. I guess every up has a down and even the popular cities of today will one day fall. Maybe this will be sooner than later if the present economy crash and Japanese recession are anything to go by, but I hope not. I wonder which city will be the next New York? Maybe Shanghai or Dubai? Is Sydney still rising or will it crash too?
… please let me know if you have any feedback for me (encouraging or critical), or if you know a good publisher or agent…… thanks!!!
