Posts

feeling odd

Forgetting names: Names of people I rarely see. Is there a finite memory bank for names of people who I don't think of for most of the time? Rory.  So what is the Glastonbury Fesy about in the 21st century? Is it just another place for the commonplace to get commoner? Or is a place to still find the outliers it must've once been ... Have you ever walked down Glastonbury high street and seen how phony it is? I have, twice, and it's plain pointless. Obviously this is where all the leylines intersect... Somewhere totally banal and bland. Perhaps the universe and it's creator are very boring drab and obsessed by crystals... The world I inhabit is getting louder and louder. For instance there is a person talking to another person on the bus and another person has text alerts switches on. And in the flat yesterday I had the sounds of sirens, alarms, reversing signals, the dismantling of scaffolding, bird song, hard dance music played by the operatives working on the flat, har...

Piece Hall

An evening of firsts and lasts. Came along to the War on Drugs concert at the Piece Hall, in Halifax, with Nick (as he thought I'd like it)? On another occasion it would be interesting to view the hall and also the part of Halifax we came through in the taxi, wiith its large 'Stray-like' common and the Georgian/Victorian houses pouring down into the Calder valley and into the focal point of the minster and hall. But the sheer number of people in the venue for the 'gig', and the rigid security which I have no experience of previously, as all my live music visits were in another era, more than a decade ago, when the threat of acts of violence weren't a constant fear. So I went and got Nick his drinks during the first few songs, and kept trying to locate him amongst the throng - which I eventually did in my head when knew where he was on relation to the others in his sector. As the music got louder, and the crowd were screaming their joy, I saw that Nick has a true...

smells fishy

All I can smell is fish being cooked somewhere this morning. I am sure my flat doesn't smell like fish! Over sensitive! This morning I've turned my attention (that's laughable) to filling in the ADHD questionnaire which I found on my doorstep last night, after I had stumbled in a sleep haze from the long day journeying back from the way between Arras and Rouen in Amiens, which I need never visit again? Next time I fly to Beauvais it will be to head West, from Rouen, on, hopefully, a better (accommodation and distance) part of the Chemin Mont-Saint-Michel. Back ten minutes and I am on the defensive and attack constantly, but I keep observing myself doing it which is good? It's West Yorkshire?

leaving bloody Tillé

Where it all began. The airport. A brief visit to Compiegne for lunch as it's only €1 each way on the local bus network. Was going to head for a Coq Hardi at Café Les Halles, opposite to where the Marche is in Beauvais is held, but on a Monday it is closed so walked up to the airport, picking up a fresh Tradi baguette, and now sit waiting for the time to pass before back to Leeds. People whittering in which ever language they use to whitter and I had to have a beer before I explode. Cheapest option was way too expensive 1664. The bar on T2 is almost €12 a pint. The exclusivity of airports and the profiteering which goes on beggars belief! I will manage on just the baguette, and perhaps the sardines in the tin I've had since the first day, but it's just boredom which does it - eating. Something to distract me from a few hours facing the back of someone's seat and seeing if any of the aircrew are actually nice... ... I have not seen a soul for days now every fucker is goi...

back to Beauvais.

A great night's sleep. Meandering along the towpath, and through the Les Hortillonnages, towards the Quai Belu where I was last Friday ready to clock out.  The same disinterested service, from the millennials running Green Corner, meant I followed my feet onwards after two 25cls. Found the Airbnb soon after, close to to Eglise Saint-Jacques, which is a bit like an unattended hostel (as it had four rooms, and communal facilities) leaving Sunday opiated faces for a deep shower and a rapid clothes wash. I was in Lalaland with a thunderstorm coming and going overhead before nine. Eight days walking from Saturday until Sunday, Friday the day off to head to Arras from Rouen. Next time, enroute to Mont-Saint-Michel, it's Rouen West? This time I forgot my credentials for staying in pilgrim digs so had a few issues around accommodation. But once I discovered Airbnb can be paid with using PayPal I was laughing. Hotels and Chambre D'hotes are too expensive, with inflation the way it i...

La Somme

Rain and mosquitoes Drunk angler at the 35 kilometres stage moves me forward for another 3.5. Beer at the rural arts cafe/bar And a large ramkin of GORP To keep me going. And I really must smell. Me, the bag and the clothes. Even the bum bag Like a vagrant Or a tramp. There is a washing machine at the end of the way Today. God she's gorgeous! Jardin, canal, la Somme!

albert

Albert famous for being central to years of mass suicide in the form of ww1. War is chosen. All the many reasons mean there was simply no reason: I received a 1st at university for the essay which I presented, complete and consistent throughout, on the causes of Great War (only one of two - the other related to Dickens and his portrayal of London during his lifespan) I argued all the causes were excuses used in hindsight to justify the simple idiotic gallantry of the opening days of the war, which would be over by Christmas, but just became dirtier and dirtier(with cavalry charge against machine gun and heavy field artillery) until a stalemate was reached in the race to the channel! And then so many pointless attempts were made to breakout of the web spun by both sides to the advantage of neither that, by the end, all nations were on the brink of revolution/civil war/starvation/chaos ... It was such a meaningless waste of lives human, bovine, porcine, equine, canine and the billions of...