A rebel without a clue.

That feels like the end of Christmas for me. Andy Stoney didn't have his Christmas jumpers on... And he didn't acknowledge me. Lola to my right and Archie too my left... The fire on. A warm bath... Peace. Peaceful. I won't be long going to Lalaland... 29th December. Can you be more loved?  *** Good night's sleep, minor issue in that Lola fell out of the bed... That's never happened before. She must've been in a dream running away and wriggled to the border land of Mattress and Space? Today I want another peaceful day. I have it inside, but it struggles to get heard amongst the frenetic pace of Christmas; where everything is noisy, busy, extremely bad for my sanity - although it's in me to forgive. *** Andy had his Christmas jumper on again yesterday. I saw him across the street after I'd been shopping for New Year's Eve supper... Great food. Laurel and Hardy. Easy... I heard no fireworks. Lola went out around 2 and around 4 and around 6. Probably all...

Christmas Day. A bit of gurgling from young Archie, but it was well passed 6am. As I switched on the smartphone it's already 6:45! Finally I slept in ... The wind has subsided, for today and tomorrow, before the next autumn storm rolls in on from the Atlantic on Wednesday. Where's winter? It's lost in the far north and is keeping away. There is a fallen tree across the footpath which runs passed the allotment, and covering a portion of the space where kale was growing. Spent yesterday sober. Bad night's sleep on Saturday. Thought that Archie would wake me during the evening to ask me to take him for a crap. Stupidly I didn't get him out in the evening before I went to bed, after watching Wayne's World... Breakfast television. toast for breakfast. Banal magazine fill on the box. Fat people preparing food for more fat people who haven't eaten this week ... The number of people wedged into the pubs as I walked down to the overflowing river with Lola for her sol...

Monday morning. Seems windy, but still dry. Good walk from Roundhay Park to Wetherby, over the original bridge crossing the Wharfe, via Shadwell, Wike, East Keswick and Collingham. Tuesday morning... Less to say. Still windy yesterday but a bit sunny in spells. Meh. Nothing to say. Uninspired. Oh dear. Cuddled up with Lola pre six am. She decided she wanted to get up... I just hope mother stays asleep until 7... Otherwise tensions will arise? *** Relocated to Caffé Nero on the Market Place in Wby. Which opens at 6:30am. There you go. The girl is at work by 5:30am. I am an early bird too. Had one half in BarTurd (barthree) and three Bavarian beers in The Meh (The Mews) and returned to mothers' as she went shopping for a little while. This meant I could eat my pasta bake in peace - sharing garlic, onions and the chipolatas which were in it with Lola. *** Thursday morning. Just awaiting the all clear from Archie's paw-rents. They're heading to Kaiserslautern for Christmas. It...

Monday morning. Awake early so decided to wash my bed linen. Should be coming back this way this evening as Lola will be at my mum's and she says there is too much mess for me to sleep on the floor with Lola nestled in alongside me. But that's the way of my mother. To accept her... That's all I need. My cousin Robert, and his son Eddie, had the best news possible. He's cured of the terrible disease (cholesteatoma) he'd had growing into his brain from his ear for years. With laser treatment it appears all of the bad cells have been zapped away(hurrah)! *** On my quest I have been searching for some Truth which is an Ultimate final/thing which will set me free. The thing at the core of all the many layers which are aspects of untruth in my experience and in my mind? But I think I've realised it's a goal I can't possibly reach; and perhaps it's out of reach of beings so incomplete as homo sapiens? And I have to let go of this desperate search? *** From ...

After the big exhale when I departed from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the 4th October, I am now, finally, about to breath in once more as I return home for the winter season. It's been quite a while in which I've been away. The longest since Lola was a puppy ... As she's crossed over into senior dog, and now no longer needs those long adventures we once shared (which is so sad), I know I can leave her content on mother's sofa. But they're the same beautiful eyes I see into when I am by her side. There is no malice in them. There are times when I get so lonely on el Camino, as I always get lonely in Blighty, when I wish she was by my side: but she's always been a bit of a provocative bitch so that it's not sensible for her the keep coming across local farm dogs and those chained up protecting 'property' if she were by my side. Those few dogs I saw on the Camino Frances were pretty easy going: especially Jacob the Mastiff... Queued up for the emptying o...

So back to bed? The gentleman(Korean, Japanese or an other) who is in the bed next to me is away walking for the day, but coming back here later, so I've a chance to unwind a couple of hours prior to the cleaning of the albergue? The weather is back to inclement. Yesterday was an illusion. It's winter on the Atlantic Ocean coast. The room I am in faces the garden at the back of the house, so it's sufficiently quiet for another night here - at the front the revellers pass by. And I got being a tourist out of my system. But the blinking cat is not going to let me chill, with its broken meow out in the corridor (poor mite wants something I can't give it) ... Time to resurrect and discover a Delta café? Stepped out into more rain. But I have a coffee. Once I return to the Albergue I doubt I will leave it again ... Freshly squeezed orange juice and a cheese toastie this morning. They're cleaning up the albergue. They let me stay again and I can go to the room once they h...

Needed to leave the warmth of Ideas Peregrinas Albergue for the warmth of the Cafe attached below and a large mug of Tilla tea, oat biscuit and chestnut cake. Three substances I know provoke sleepiness. I was a bit restless even in the comfortable bottom bunk in room 204. Hops also do that don't they. A hop pillow ... My only concern is whether my boots will have dried by the morning. The rain was running rivers everywhere. Newspaper... In the 21st century these are less common than the ubiquity they were prior to the digital age? Annoyed with the weather. Tui is a nice city, perched on the top of a hill, overlooking the Minho river...but I didn't make it all the way on foot! I feel a bit of 'guilt' because I caught a train. But I am not a fool. I recall the downpour which kept me in Óbidos in 2021 - around about the same time of year too. The gentleman behind the counter in the Eco-Café suggests tomorrow will same. Perhaps I stay put, chill out and then catch the bus o...