London

The 9 hour bus journey passed relatively quickly. i got my first bit of excitement about the whole trip when in a motorway service station. After arriving at Victoria Bus Station I found it relatively easy to get to my friend Davit's house in Brixton. Myself and Davit chatted until about midnight then crashed out on the couch. the following day I went on a 13 mile walk round London, stopping for the occasional pint on the way. My preconceptions about London certainly don't bare much truth. The traffic congestion wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated, the prices were much cheaper than I thought they'd be and people here have been friendly and helpful. Although nobody has initiated conversation with me everyone's been friendly whenever I've talked to them. I had an architectural tour of Westminster, the riverfront, Piccadilly and to the city then went to Southwark and had a pint. I got chatting to a great bunch of guys who all work with each other in a software firm. It was a really good laugh. The guy on the right (Sam) was in China 10 years ago and had really good stories to tell.

Day two's been eventful. I decided to take it easy through the daytime as my sciatic nerve was feeling a bit tight. I went for a walk in the afternoon to Brixton market, got two t-shirts for a fiver doubling my t-shirt count to grand whopping total of 4 (I left my flat with 3 but lost one). Brixton market's pretty cool. loads of rastas selling reggae CD's, various different food stalls and Caribbean fast food. It's full of hot women. Unfortunately they were all pushing prams. I reckon the average age for becoming a mum here is significantly lower than in wealthier parts of the city.

In the evening I decided to walk to Soho to meet my old friend from primary school Jenny. I really like the drinking culture here. Everyone just drinks on the street outside the pub. Central London seems to be void of chavs and you don't see many people getting in a drunken mess. Of the thousands of revellers I came across I only saw one. We were in a blues bar, it was really packed and he was dancing and bumping into people. A hot girl in front of us pushed him after he bumped into her and he fell over. He got up and after a minute or so I was chatting away to jenny and he smacked me in the face. He got a couple more digs in before he was taken to the ground then the bouncers whisked him away. Everyone was really kind, loads of people asked me if I was alright and were really helpful to me, a girl gave me a plaster and I was complimented by people for dealing with it well. working at Alpha School certainly helped me in dealing with it calmly. I was more bothered about losing my £4 whisky than anything else and my glasses aren't broken so thats the main thing. After a couple more Laphroaigs we went to a tapas bar. The sly bastards gave us a cheeseboard and ham board that cost £13.50 and £22.50 respectively. That was the worst part of the night.

The things I've learned tonight are that Sociology is merely empirical gossip and if I'm in a room with 100 people and 99 are sound, the arsehole will go for me. However, the most important thing I've learned is that no matter which bar in London I go to, someone will always have a better afro than me. I guess I'll just have to live with that. 

On the way home I chatted to some homeless dudes who were camping outside the houses of parliament. I stayed there for half an hour then when nearly at brixton I noticed I had a text from Jenny asking me if I want a pre-asia mojito. I walked for ages and still couldn't find it. I ended up doing a huge walk round south London before eventually getting back to Davit's at approximately 5am.

I haven't left Davit's flat today, just having a chill day. Iv'e made paths on google earth of where I've walked. Not including my walk to Brixton market I've done over 26 miles in 2 days. I was going to be getting up early to go to the British Museum today, never mind, my feet need a rest. I think we may have a meal at a Eritrean restaurant once he finishes work. That's all for now folks. Here's a pic of me with my shiny black eye wearing my sexy $2.50 t-shirt so that you can all laugh at me!

Final Night In Scotland

Well well, it's been good.

Spent two nights at my Uncle Willie and Auntie Sandra's farm near Mostodloch. I've spent a substantial amount of time playing football with their acrobatic sheepdog scarra. My cigarette breaks normally only last a couple of minutes but they've probably lasted ten whilst staying at the farm. We arrived on saturday evening just as my cousin Mhairi was leaving to play with her band at a wedding. it was at a castle in the middle of nowhere and she got lost. my auntie was in a right panic so i dealt with the situation. basic skills for google maps sorted the situation out. watched my cousin john play the fiddle with his band on sunday, he's only 16 but showed that its not only his sister who has musical talent within the family.

Mhairi was either playing gigs or working most of the weekend. In the few hours that she was free we went out for a meal. she had just finished work so needed to get changed. we parked outside the church that she would have been going to had i not been there. A few people she knew saw me in the passenger side and assumed i was her date!!!! I really enjoyed the meal we had, the food was good and it was a really good laugh.

My mum,dad and granny joined us on the sunday. whilst speaking to my mum, my auntie sandra gave me 101 compliments about 101 different things. She's one of those thoroughly decent persons.

Following our meal my, mum dad, granny and myself headed off to the guest house they were staying in then went to inverness (to meet up with my auntie and uncle from near glasgow who were taking me down south). my mum got a bit emotional as she said goodbye to me. since my parents moved to uganda it's been normal to go 6 months without seeing each other but i guess since we don't know when we'll next see each other it got to her a bit more. Having worked with psycho kids in the past i'm not one to dwell on things, (got to get on with it). I love my parents to bits but won't get too worked up about it.

once we got on our way down south i was fine. it was a long drive to the shores of loch lomond,  when we got home we were locked out. my cousin sarah had gone to hte cinema in glasgow and we had no way of getting in. after 10 minutes of pottering about we decided to go to the pub. unplanned nights are always the best. my auntie ruth, uncle alec and cousin david headed off to the pub and made my last night in scotland a memorable one. if we hadnt been locked out i reckon we would have got our laptops out and had interspersed conversation  as people do these days. it was definitely a stroke of luck.

I'm off to my bed, its an early bus tomorrow (11am) then thats me saying goodbye to scotland. happy but sad times. adieu.

I'm offski

Hola. I'm currently at my Auntie and Uncles house in Drymen by the shores of Loch Lomond. I've had a nice chilled out day. I've spent most of the day on my computer (adventurous stuff), interspersed with conversation and went for a sunset walk around the loch with my cousin and auntie. Off to spend time with my mum, dad and granny tomorrow then head down to London on tuesday (26.07.11). I'll be staying with Davit and I'm also meeting old primary school friend Jenny while I'm down. Should be good.

Its been fairly laid back the past month or so considering that moving house is meant to be the most stressful thing there is apart from grieving. Moving house to become homeless is probably more stressful than just moving, who knows. I've felt pretty unemotional through it all. My sciatica has gradually improved and although I've still spent a lot of time in bed, it's not too daunting. My mobility is decent enough but it will still have to improve, especially by the time i'm in rural china.

Leaving Peterhead hasn't been that difficult for me, it's been my home for 20 years and it's not a bad place but other than saying goodbye to my best mate Ian it was a piece of cake. I very much doubt i'll be coming back to Scotland but even if i do it won't be Peterhead. the last week was pretty hectic, I was visiting people every night and also doing the usual stuff, packing, getting stuff sorted etc. I had a really good night with all my mates a week before leaving. I left my wee flat for the last time on the friday before my brother's wedding and spent the bus journey chatting to a Nigerian dude who has done business in china in the past. He told me its a great place for an investor to be and gave me some good advice should i wish to do business there. I've got his email address but can't imagine i'll get back to him.

My first weekend as a mad wee jakie was quality. Mum, dad, their 3 kids and granny all staying in a stunning location in rural Aberdeenshire. The banter was good and the wedding on Sunday was a magic laugh. it was good meeting johns in laws as well, they're a nice bunch and good cooks. We were all ready to leave for Glasgow on the Tuesday when i got a phone call to say i'd left my passport in Peterhead. What a tube. I'd scanned my passport at my mate Scotts house on the Friday and emailed it to myself so that if i ever lost all my possessions i'd still have i.d. i left the passport in his scanner. Bell end.

I went round to carries on Monday night before having a night out with my old college buddy Chris. My dad was going to hang about outside then drop me off at Chris's but he got invited in and the three of us had a coffee and a yap for a good 45 minutes. glad I went. I would have regretted not visiting her before I left, she has been a big part of my life for a number of years. The night out with Chris was good, I can't say I enjoyed the bus trip the following day from Aberdeen to Peterhead and back then off to Glasgow but it's better to realise I didn't have my passport whilst i was only 30 odd miles away than in London or somewhere. I could have got a lift down to Glasgow with the Family but spent £37 on bus fares instead. Before I left Peterhead a few friends gave me weird looks and said I'd return to Phd in no time when I told them I was heading off to China then I'd travel about for sometime then emigrate somewhere. looks like they were right!

The past couple of days has been nothing like I'd anticipated my first week as a homeless crustacean to  have been like. Had I not got sciatica I'd have been sleeping on the side of the roads, washing my clothes in streams as I cycled across Europe. I'd probably be in Crieff or Callander by now. In a way I'm disappointed that it's not as epic as I had planned but I can't forget that I'm a lucky as hell man. I'm off to China on the 10th of August for 5 months then the world is my oxster. In the history of every human being that's ever lived I'm surely in the luckiest 0.00000001%. I know where my next meals coming from and I can go anywhere I want other than Somalia, Bhutan and North Korea. Besides, as much as I'd love to be seeing Europe in an epic manner, it's good to spend time with zee familia while I can, and the warm showers aren't that bad I suppose.

Hopefully my creative writing skills will have improved by the time i write my next wee blog.

Off to get my next meal then head off to my sack. Ciao for now.