Posts

Tuesday 26th

Language is inadequate To describe anything real The words don't pour out As they did before in a flood. But now they're few And far between. Reality is much more That a miniature string, strung, Can ever play out.

On route to London

Down to The Calls, IF... on Call Lane, for a hearty breakfast - it's not too expensive at £11 and you get a good feed here with a lot of attention to detail like home made baked beans, grilled halloumi, a nice veggie sausage and bacon rasher. I don't know anywhere else in Leeds that does such amazing fayre, except Eat Your Greens on Kirkgate: but that's a lunch and dinner venue. It was quite quiet along North Street and Vicar Lane. Passing through Kirkgate Market and alongside the Corn Exchange to a buzzing quarter of Leeds: where all the most lovely/awful happy/angry folks pour out in the early hours of the night before! But on this Wednesday it's tranquility incarnate. There is the dichotomy/dualism of life.  I've not been out at night down here, under the railway bridge, since Everton and Umberto(owners of Hip Menswear) did Ucci night's at the Backroom(it wasn't called that back in 2000/01 and Norman(now no longer called that). Steven and I went to Space...

Day One. getting the right head on!

It's raining, and it's pouring, the old man was snoring. But now I am awake. Morning of Day One - task for today is getting settled in Southwark for the evening before heading out. We must be in Puttenham by Friday, which is a little after Guildford. But I'm not sure whether to get to the Pilgrim's Way directly south, slightly south west or follow the ancient way to Cirencester - Stane Street, which would miss out Dulwich... Google maps suggests Leatherhead is 6 hours walk from Southwark... Dulwich didn't come up with any accommodation and it's just too short a stage for the first day out. If I only walk a couple of hours I'll be so God Damn drunk for walking on Friday we wouldn't get to Puttenham! *** This morning my other head is on my body. Like Wurzel Gumage I have various craniums depending on the particular set of variable I see ahead of myself. Building up to today I was quaking with my worried head, but this morning I am bright and sunny with thi...

The day before.

Penultimate day. Tomorrow London and ten/eleven days away from The North. Really I've been nowhere at all in the UK since Lockdown... Apart from last year's week walking from Bristol to Exmoor... It's definitely been 3 years plus since London when Glenn and I passed briefly through on our way back from Ghent? *** Actually I was last in London in 2019. I passed through on my way back from Dieppe. Such a long time ago: post-COVID and I don't remember it. *** And fear grips me. The thought of the cost of a pilgrimage in the UK when you know no-one and have a low expectations of being helped along The Way . Michael said he'd help with accommodation, but I feel I shouldn't have to rely on anyone to put one foot in front of the other. All my understandings of The Way  fall away in the UK. I am left high and dry by the blank stares I get. No one would stumble over a foreign language here and expect any form of deeper revelation? It's always a test and I guess that...

May Day, May Day, panic.

The beginning of May and a new emphasis for me as I see London approach. From Wednesday I will leave the north for a while to live through a different experience. First stop JC and Euston Road YHA to say hello to that hard working man. Then to Liverpool Street station to collect Mike before over London Bridge we head to Southwark Cathedral.  It's raining, a light rain was falling as I returned for a good night's rest. And I got it. Finally no canine company shifting me to the edge of the bed. Really I should have put Ruby into her crate on Wednesday night, as she's quite happy there to sleep, but I didn't and it was four nights of dog broken sleep followed by a night on the floor after too many beers at the Brewery. Jason and I were going to go out for a long walk this morning, but I couldn't get to Wetherby to set off at 7am... There are no buses until eight, as usual, on a Sunday. Actually I prefer a quiet day - it's Sunday. I will walk Lola then make somethin...

Monday ... 2nd May.

In the mornings, after a comprehensive night's sleep, I am sure that Now is all there is. Being was before and will be after, but is very much at the heart of existence Now. I like Now very much, but I easily forget it and begin searching the past or seeking a future, after the world prises open the box and starts it's way dissecting the moment into history and future. They don't exist, and they never will; there is only the current moment, but my body absolutely requires input to produce an output otherwise it would fail, breakdown and collapse into dust. Why did being get reduced to such a structure, in some kind of desperation, as it manically seeks answers to questions it can never get because I am looking everywhere other than the current point. The single point is the singularity of existence - it begets everything, but never needed to. Now I had these thoughts please can I drop the delusional world I perceive for the much greater reality of presence?

Friday 29th April.

Image
There is something of the world I just can't get my head around. I stare at it uncomprehending... But expecting to understand the inane, meaningless triviality is impossible... Why do I try? How can anyone know the unfathomable? Last night I returned to my breath to concentrate away from the clutter/cluster of images which make me question my sanity. The never ending line of thoughts about the future or past. Hopes, fears, disappointments and regrets. But I do know these images are not real. They are weighs I carry which close my eyes to the present moment. Lola lays asleep in her usual position, between my legs, we're warm before breakfast. Looking outside I can see breaks in the cloud cover and potentially a moment of sunshine prior to her need for sustenance? She appears to have accepted the run up to seven, with me, as there hasn't been a peep from her in the hour we've dwelt here. Yesterday we walked along the Old Railway to the Thorp Arch Trading Estat...