Losing heart

June 13th, 2006 by Pia Taylor

‘I left my heart in San Francisco.

High on a hill, it calls to me.
To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars.
The morning fog may chill the air, I don’t care
My love waits there in San Francisco, above the blue and windy sea,
When I come home to you, San Francisco, your golden sun will shine for me.

> (Frank Sinatra)

Sometimes the places we visit, or people we met there, can take hold of us in such a way that we leave a bit of ourselves behind when we eventually have to take our reluctant leave.

In a bizarre story yesterday morning out of New Zealand I read about Whitney Anne Robie, a 23-year-old backpacker who lost her heart there, just not in quite the way one would expect…

> ‘Auckland District Health Board has confirmed that it has lost the heart of an American backpacker who died in Queenstown in May this year.’

> ‘Her heart went missing after it was sent to the DHB’s laboratory, Auckland Pathology LabPlus, for a post-mortem in May.’

> ‘A spokesperson for the board says LabPlus has been unable to find the heart, and has now ended the search. The DHB has begun an investigation into the incident.’

> tvnz.co.nz

Gives Sinatra’s song a rather macabre twist, doesn’t it.

Posted in Destinations, Travel News