Steph visiting was like a fresh perspective of my mental state. It went from “I’m doing great being alone this is fine” to, “I met a chicken today she seems cool” to, “I made friends with this chicken she is all I have we braided our hair and swapped secrets and I love her” to “a human friend came and we ate my other friend” to “I hope I don’t meet anyone else this could get weird”. Continue reading “Week 17 – In One Year & Out the Other”
It’s been seven hours and fifteen days, since I’ve seen the outside of this tower. Not really, but if I can’t work a Sinéad O’Connor lyric in somehow then what is anything even about. It rained for five days straight rendering my daily walks impossible. I tried going out with a raincoat but it was so unpleasant and when I got back things took so long to dry it just wasn’t worth it. So I locked myself in to wait it out, daring the skies to maintain their bad mood. Continue reading “Week 16 – Imprisonment, Freedom, a Blonde Knight & a Very Buon Natale”
I wake up most mornings in the nest I made myself by the fireplace because the wind was still too strong to sleep upstairs. I awake with soot on my face and on the pages of my book. Without even trying I am evolving into Danielle de Barbarac played by Drew Barrymore in the film Ever After: A Cinderella Story starring Drew Barrymore. Except in this version, I don’t end up with a prince I just get the title deed to the castle and a weekly wine delivery subscription. Continue reading “Week 15 – The Boy in the Tower”
My castle has a dungeon which is used as a storage hole and, if I had any, it would be where I would throw my belligerents. It has a viewing window on the lower floor which is where I would watch them beg for mercy while I waited for my spin cycle to finish. Continue reading “Week 14 – The Castle in the Valley”
My last day in Sarajevo I fell victim to the devilled Black Ice. For those unfamiliar, black ice is a patch of thin ice masquerading as a harmless puddle, designed solely to send hapless fools hurtling toward the cold harsh earth. Continue reading “Week 13 – Under the Umbrian Super Moon”
The streets here are littered with divots in the concrete, splashed with red paint and framed. They are the Roses of Sarajevo and they are scars in the ground from the explosions of mortar shells during the war and serve as a monument to the innocent lives that were lost in that spot. As the asphalt of the city gets slowly replaced the roses disappear, but the memory of the very recent war will take much longer to die out. Continue reading “Week 12 – Roses are Red, Violence is Blue”
After I emerged from the bus after 29 hours I felt like a butterfly escaping the cocoon, except more like a moth and even probably more like a prolapsing organ. Continue reading “Week 11 – Eye Heart Sarajevo”
In my last few hours in Amsterdam I checked out one of the most stunning cinemas I’ve ever seen. Entering the foyer I felt unworthy, which is usually the mark of a good establishment. Continue reading “Week 10 – Buses & Saunas & Danish Cocktowers”
So Rachel left and I stuck around Amsterdam for a couple more days to meet up with some friends/sort out my life. My first task was finding somewhere to stay, as the couch I had arranged to surf on had fallen through, and pickings were slim. Continue reading “Week 9 – It’s All Just So Dutch”
This was the last week Rachel and I would be together, for after Amsterdam we split and go our separate ways. Travelling around Europe together for two months seemed a pretty good last hurrah for us both as we start anew. I had to stop prancing about and settle and work. Europe ain’t cheap anymore. Continue reading “Week 8 – Last Week for the Kids”
Actually, Harry 