Dido’s “Sand in My Shoes” addresses the common dream to live on vacation while acknowledging that to do so isn’t possible –

I know we said goodbye / anything else would have been confused. 

The life she longs for, that she claims she can’t have, is one in which she can

watch the sun set / and take my time / take all my time.

While we cannot have sand in our shoes, we can see sunsets everywhere. We can take our time.

(Especially in urban environments in which we don’t have to spend time cleaning sand out of our shoes).

If those simple things are what we long for in vacations, why don’t we appreciate them back home?

—
Two weeks away feels like the whole world should have changed,
But I’m home now, and things still look the same.
I think I’ll leave it ’til tomorrow to unpack,
Try to forget for one night that I’m back in my flat.
On the road where the cars never stop going through the night,
To a life where I can’t watch the sun set.
I don’t have time.
I don’t have time.

I’ve still got sand in my shoes,
And I can’t shake the thought of you.
I should get on, forget you.
But why would I want to?
I know we said goodbye,
Anything else would have been confused.
But I want to see you again.

Tomorrow’s back to work and down to sanity,
Should run a bath and then clear up the mess i made before i left here.
Try to remind myself that i was happy here,
Before I knew that I could get on a plane and fly away,
From the road where the cars never stop going through the night,
To a life where I can watch the sun set,
And take my time.
Take all my time.

I’ve still got sand in my shoes,
And I can’t shake the thought of you.
I should get on, forget you.
But why would I want to?
I know we said goodbye,
Anything else would have been confused.
But I want to see you again.

Two weeks away,
All it takes,
To change and turn me around,
I’ve fallen.
I walked away,
And never said,
That I wanted to see you,
Again.

I’ve still got sand in my shoes,
And I can’t shake the thought of you.
I should get on, forget you.
But why would I want to?
I know we said goodbye,
Anything else would have been confused.
But I want to see you again.

I’ve still got sand in my shoes,
And I can’t shake the thought of you.
I should get on, forget you.
But why would I want to?
I know we said goodbye,
Anything else would have been confused.
But I want to see you again.

I’ve still got sand in my shoes,
And I can’t shake the thought of you.
I should get on, forget you.
But why would I want to?
I know we said goodbye,
Anything else would have been confused.
But I want to see you again.
I want to see you again.
I want to see you again.