Since I left Iona at the end of October, I have been sofa surfing across the UK towards my next destination, France. I am no longer friends with my beast of a suitcase, and on the train yesterday decided of the many things I have learnt, one that shouts louder than the others is to TRAVEL LIGHT. However, my faith in humanity has been strengthened by the extreme kindness of strangers. Men see me hauling The Beast up station stairs one by one, grab the handle and race to the top (even in one case where they weren't going in that direction). They do sometimes give a little grimace when they feel how heavy the bag is.
Coming down stairs isn't as bad, as I have developed a surfing technique - tilt the bag to the angle of the decline and almost let go. Sometimes I nearly dive after it, but generally it works well. The bag is looking rather worse for wear, and I am not sure Marks and Spencer will take it back, when I eventually go to point out the broken zip to them.
The train ride yesterday was interesting. I was reading a bit of PG Wodehouse (Jeeves), and pleasantly immersed in 'merry japes' and the wonderful, elegant English of that era. Behind me sat two men in high visibility jackets, speaking loudly to each other, with every other word being f**k or c**t. I was wrestling with the contrast between what I was reading, and what I was hearing, when a very brave woman approached the men and berated them for swearing in front of her four year old son. 'He'll be swearing himself when he's twenty' the man helpfully said, then added 'we weren't swearing anyway'. She replied, 'you was swearing, you used the c word a lot'. Feeling Jeeves-ish, I wanted to interject and correct her with 'you were swearing'. Fortunately I thought better of it and bit my tongue.
Back to sofa surfin' (sorry, couldn't resist the Beach Boys influence there). I feel amazingly lucky to have such a wonderful family and wonderful friends. Everyone has made me feel very welcome and they have gone out of their way to help. I am feeling warm and fuzzy inside with all the love (there is evidently a strong hippy vibe happening here), and I am now looking forward to the next part of my adventure.
I do enjoy a good train ride, so the prospect of crossing most of France by train is something quite exciting. Last week I realised that although all my thoughts are currently on Europe, I need to start planning for Malawi in January. I had a good chat with the practice nurse about injections, and she was keen to start puncturing my arm then and there. Being a bit of a coward with these things I said I would go back in the new year.
So, I'm off to get my Euros, think about Christmas presents and also have a minor worry about mosquito nets and so on. It's all a bit confusing!
Coming down stairs isn't as bad, as I have developed a surfing technique - tilt the bag to the angle of the decline and almost let go. Sometimes I nearly dive after it, but generally it works well. The bag is looking rather worse for wear, and I am not sure Marks and Spencer will take it back, when I eventually go to point out the broken zip to them.
The train ride yesterday was interesting. I was reading a bit of PG Wodehouse (Jeeves), and pleasantly immersed in 'merry japes' and the wonderful, elegant English of that era. Behind me sat two men in high visibility jackets, speaking loudly to each other, with every other word being f**k or c**t. I was wrestling with the contrast between what I was reading, and what I was hearing, when a very brave woman approached the men and berated them for swearing in front of her four year old son. 'He'll be swearing himself when he's twenty' the man helpfully said, then added 'we weren't swearing anyway'. She replied, 'you was swearing, you used the c word a lot'. Feeling Jeeves-ish, I wanted to interject and correct her with 'you were swearing'. Fortunately I thought better of it and bit my tongue.
Back to sofa surfin' (sorry, couldn't resist the Beach Boys influence there). I feel amazingly lucky to have such a wonderful family and wonderful friends. Everyone has made me feel very welcome and they have gone out of their way to help. I am feeling warm and fuzzy inside with all the love (there is evidently a strong hippy vibe happening here), and I am now looking forward to the next part of my adventure.
I do enjoy a good train ride, so the prospect of crossing most of France by train is something quite exciting. Last week I realised that although all my thoughts are currently on Europe, I need to start planning for Malawi in January. I had a good chat with the practice nurse about injections, and she was keen to start puncturing my arm then and there. Being a bit of a coward with these things I said I would go back in the new year.
So, I'm off to get my Euros, think about Christmas presents and also have a minor worry about mosquito nets and so on. It's all a bit confusing!
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