How TIme Flies

How Time Flies
Yes it does , now its October 2007
and I never have started the travelling blog , the trail is long cold

Even though I may not have journeyed too far away from my home these past few months travel I have done , because life is all about traveling through every day experiencing.

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Swan at Verulamium early in the morning june 8





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Wild Baby Bunny Rabbit
St Albans in June 06






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view from a swiss window

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Its been a while since I wrote in my blog
no internet at home makes it very hard

Heres a picture from my travels
its taken at my cousin Kiko and Lolo's home tucked away in a valley in the Jura mountains

a wonderful time a wonderful place with wonderful folk

E.E Cummings poem

o by the by`
o by the by
has anybody seen
little you-i
who stood on a green
hill and threw
his wish at blue

with a swoop and a dart
out flew his wish
(it dived like a fish
but it climbed like a dream)
throbbing like a heart
singing like a flame

blue took it my
far beyond far
and high beyond high
bluer took it your
but bluest took it our
away beyond where

what a wonderful thing
is the end of a string
(murmurs little you-i
as the hill becomes nil)
and will somebody tell
me why people let go

``E.E.Cummings`

A lady I met by chance in scotland sent me this after I sent her an email called purple trees
I liked the poem so am puting it here

no computer and life is still shaky in that I dont know how long I live where I am living and how long my new job will last

ALl my friends are well and family

Half a Shoestring

and a pocketfull of love......

Hello

I am back in Oz, and havent got internet so cant download anything right now about my travels, maybe Ill make a travel blog one day about it.

I travelled through 11 countries in 5 and a half months on half a shoestring and a pocketful of love from friends and family
without whose help I couldn't have done or seen many of the awesome things I got to experience


some tips for low budget travellers

Accomodation

Couchsurfing I got to know about on my travels from a wonderful American girl I met up in the highlands of scotland

heres a link http://www.couchsurfing.com/ well worth a look if you are planning to go overseas and have regular internet access and can plan ahead. If you havent heard of it already its free and basically you stay or put up friends you meet on the couchsurfing website in your home.

Traveling to places on the cheap in Europe

also there's taxistop http://taxistop.be/ this is great but it helps if you have a mobile phone have access to internet and know some french or dutch or english, most belgians speak a little english.

Theres a also a german equivalent but I havent got that one to hand right now sorry

basically you share rides with people going to destinations and for a fraction of the cost to normal commercial travel. I got to travel to Switzerland from Germany and then afterwards to Belgium for 80 Euro ! A return train from Frankfurt to Switzerland was going to cost me 160 Euro

So for those travelling on a shoestring or half a shoestring check it out and see what you can come up with and what new friends you can make too and places you can discover.

poem written on an edinburgh bus ticket today

lying in the long grass at Arthurs seat
eating my roll
Italian voices calling out 'Car Mia Car Mia!'

they rise and fade....

The wind stirs the flaxen grass
then sighs
like blind mens arms groping in the dark

Hidden in the hoary scrub
two small birds
flirt on the pinnacles of the branches
and pipe out to eachother

the wind rises
melody's thread soars high like a kite
and is lost in the breeze

American accents break open the new void
holding hands
they come into view
looking into eachothers eyes

'Cara mia'

p.s when getting on edinburgh buses always have the exact change....because the bus drivers wont give you any and they wont let you on with less...only more.

I'm heading north today, going to Leeds first for an overnighter with an old friend called Tess who I shared a house with in my Art school days and then on to Newcastle,Tyne and Wier, to see my friend Zoe that I grew up with, the eldest of the three sisters I played with as a child in St Albans. I was also born and spent the first 4 years of my life not far from there..

After a couple of nights , I will be finally heading to Scotland and seeing my Cousin Steven and his family in Edinburgh and from there going further north still to the east side , Aberdeen, Peterhead, Elgin and Forres where lies family from my Father's side , Aunties and Uncles and Cousins I havent seen in years. Im praying I will find work somewhere round the ridges in Scotland because I need to stack up my funds again, hopefully I'll get lucky....

Im sad to leave Yvette , Chris and the Girls , they made me feel like family.
Yvettes mum Wendy is an expert on British Wildflowers and on walks with her on the Pennines and the Chilterns I got to know names and species of wildflowers and plants I never knew existed... it was like having my own personal wildlife flora and fauna guide all to myself

I've been here some time using their home as a base to travel to diifferent places roundabouts.

Its hard to leave , but this trip I guess is all about arriving and leaving and you cant have one without the other.Theres a few threads left in the southlands to pick up so Ill be hoping to meet up with about 4 different folk scattered in four different areas in the South, I just hope I can find the time and funds to see everyone before I head out for Germany, Belgium and maybe Switzerland if the bank balance allows me and time permits also

what will be will be

I haven' t bought any souvenirs, the odd postcard thats about it. I have three lumps of chiltern chalk and a piece of wood thus far plus the odd feather and flower in my backpac

This trip has been all done on half a shoestring with the priceless generosity and goodwill of friends and family along the way, most of whom I am not able to mention

thank you to you all