Bye Bye London - and other articles

What can you say about a city where you spent a part of your life, almost a fifth of it, and where you witnessed the birth of your daughter and three of your grandchildren, and where you experienced the heights of happiness as well as the depths of pain? What can you say about a city where you lived as a student, jostling people on the bus because he couldn't afford a taxi fare, and where you lived as an ambassador, traveling in the most luxurious armored cars? What would you say about a city that witnessed the birth of your first novel and the birth of a number of your poetry collections and books? What would you say about a city where, when you leave it, you leave behind a number of your closest friends, in addition to a significant number of others? Farewells cannot be easy, farewell words cannot be free of contradictory emotions, and your feelings cannot be innocent of an inconsistent mixture of eagerness to stay and longing to leave. Al-Obeikan Publishing