Travels with old friends

Two weekends and two chances to catch up with those we met on the roads of South America.

First weekend and after some cutting it fine antics from Nick we jumped on Megabus bound for Poole in the south west of England. My first time to the coast of England and a chance to catch up with Alex and Emile, whom we met in Barlioche, Argentina – we also climbed a volcano, swam in natural hot springs and ate out in Santiago Chile together. Amazing to hear of their travels on the road, they managed 18 months on the road non-stop. They really impressed me with the way they approached travel, albeit a little less of the Nick and Lucas “lets see how close to death/being arrested” style of travel but no less full of adventure and a willingness to suffer discomfort in pursuit of adventure. They came through those 18 months travelling South America, New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh and India such well seasoned travellers, a great couple and will be getting married next year at the same beach Nick and I threw caution to comfort and jumped into the English channel on a blustery Saturday afternoon. Not quite the “Channel Kings” but we did get wet….

I give top marks to the English country side being beautiful and hence nothing like London… Expanses of green rolling hills and little village after little village. Thanks guys for letting us experience an escape from the endless grey city, which is London.

Slap a week of work in the middle, sprinkle an interesting intro lesson to Arabic, a grumpy dinner with Farah and her American friend (oh yes Grumpy Lucas does come around still from time to time, sorry babe ;-), some gym sessions and we were off again… This time to my home land and a chance to meet another travel friend and also celebrate the one year anniversary of the fight of the century, or alternatively Nick’s 26th birthday!

We brought Pat an old college friend of Nick’s along and were picked up at the airport by Edwin, our man of Rio and Santiago fame a.k.a Tall Blonde blue eyed Dutchman or the lady killer of Chile! We dragged Edwin away from his uni books and managed to experience both the Dutch countryside of his upbringing and then the night life of Edwin’s more mature years in Amsterdam the night later. Result: I realise that Dutch people are cool, relaxed and really know how to have a good time… well adjusted and at ease with themselves. This in contrast to some of the desperate tourists (particularly English, Australian or American) trying so hard to take enough drugs and see enough stripteases in a vain attempt to “get it”. I could have told them before they wasted their money; There is nothing to “get”. The Dutch don’t live like this, 95% of people that go to the coffee shops and strip bars in Amsterdam are tourists. You legalise something and people get it and get over it…. Maybe that is what the tourists could take away from it…. Censurship does not work…

Anyways the Dutch leave me with this impression: Smart! They managed to turn a flooded low land into a world class country, society and economy…. Not bad for a place with no natural resources (blonde well proportioned women on bicycles not withstanding ;-) Holland strikes me clearly as the most sustainable country of the west I have seen thus far. From a bicycle orientated culture (due to sensible high taxes on cars and petrol) to a less is more attitude to urban development (the Dutch appear to value smaller “homes” instead of larger status orientated “McMansions” which dominate many other western urban landscapes). I vote one for the Dutch way of life. Liberal attitudes to sex and drugs (thank God there are some Governments whom have faith in their citizens to make sensible choices), sound sustainable and efficient town planning methods, smaller standard drinks in pubs (250ml vs 568ml pints), and generally happier people… Oh and did I mention that they were smart enough to all learn English yet not lose their culture or language in the process, didn’t you ever look next door France???? Only problem about Holland is they have pretty similar weather to England i.e. crap…. See if only you educated all Australians enough we could create a perfect world i.e. perfect society AND Geography… Hmmmm….. Well beyond any radical social engineering I will continue to search for my perfect place. Off to Canada soon and then Norway… I wonder how they stack up to the Dutch?

Thanks for an awesome weekend Edwin! I have to say you have a great country… South America was cool but I wouldn’t give up on your homeland just yet… But then again I think it is the adventure of travel you’re addicted to, not really the place on the planet travel takes you. It is the change we love my friend… The driver of everything in the universe.. Evolution (change/growth)… We avoid inertia as only when we move do we experience stimulation to our minds as our lives expand and experience more… Can we ever find this stimulation in the cardboard cut out 9 – 5 life that society continually attempts to force upon us? This is a question I have yet to be able to answer, maybe you have some ideas on this?

Best of luck with your studies mate and I am sure we will see each other on the road once more….

Please check new photos: http://lucas.intercate.net/gallery/Holland

The Master Plan

The Master Plan is something I always heard Phil, Adrian’s brother refer to as I grew up. He always brought is up when something fortunate happened to him… he said it was “All part of The Master Plan (MP)”. Well I guess we all have a MP for our lives, something that if we could have it all our way would be our future lives (in a realistic sense – I mean being the world’s fastest 100m sprinter or Fabio are not really realistic MPs, although Nick would disagree about point one and Phil about point two ;-). Well I won’t go into the obvious problems that come with living for a plan in the future whilst neglecting the circumstances of the now, but rest assured that there is some value in the “delay of gratification” idea and planning for the future is generally a positive step towards successful life management.

So I have been thinking a lot about what I want to be when I begin to start “living in” my MP, as I know that I am currently preparing for my MP – hmmm guess it is all part of the MP – I am just in a given phase of my MP. Well I have realised that I am totally convinced that the world has about fifty years left before things start going nuts. I say “nuts” referring to when Oil starts getting so expensive and rare that wars break out and massive economic shocks are felt (note irony about the fact that this has already happened – a number of times!… Maybe twenty rather than fifty years hey??). When pollution starts getting so bad that even George W Bush puts on the green cap (although I dare say he would be dead by then, which is pretty much why he doesn’t care about the environment at all – although I note his children will probably still be alive then, provided their coke addictions haven’t killed them off). When water is so hard to find that dams are attacked by countries down stream and when mental illness rates get so high that it will be strange not to have had several mental problems by the time you leave school… So basically I figure there is about fifty (twenty) years before civilisation starts to fall apart at the seams.

So what would the best thing for me to do? Well, use the skills I have to stop this from happening of course. Pretty big ask I think, but we should all do our bit. So my MP is to do all I can to help humans survive … i.e. help the human race find a sustainable way to exist on this planet. Sustainable means F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Funny when you think about it. I mean looking at the world today I don’t think anyone could say they see the human race surviving more than a thousand years. Why have we become so short sited? Have we always been this way? I would say yes…. And with the death of grand schemes such as communism and the rise of the individualistic “-ism” of the capital based society we have become even more myopic as hyper-capitalism and consumerism take hold.

So I will aim at human’s use of energy and other essential resources as my first target as this will be the first domino to fall when the shite hits the fan… From installations in people’s houses that make it clear how much energy and water they use – backed up with the relevant education programs to make people care and conserve – or make them PAY if this fails; Information on purchased goods in stores detailing CO2 that were made to produce given product. Amount of water to produce your steak at your local restaurant etc and of course Taxes and other relevant incentives to actually get the positive outcomes as we all know people don’t really care about anything but money and their immediate family… My list is long but I will be working on it and hopefully I will be able to get into being part of the solution. After all we in the west are the biggest part of the problem and aside from all dropping the ball of our lifestyle and downshifting, which ideally we would do but realistically won’t happen, taking practical steps to reduce our impact on the planet is the beginning of becoming a sustainable species on this planet. If we don’t then I guess it is too bad for us… We will be gone and in a few million years all our remnants will be gone too…

Oh besides above said Rant; Just got a great guitar…Taylor – Steel string acoustic - finally invested in something of high quality… wonder how much CO2 was released into the atmosphere to make it? ;-)

Oh yeah and also started Arabic lessons, hopefully by the end of my time in Dubai I will be fluent and will be chin waging with good old Osama in the hills of Northern Afghanistan about the pros and cons of state sponsored terrorism (i.e. US Army) vs. stateless terrorist organisations… My answer to him would be: “Hezbollah!”

Dubai

Talk about something I never expected when I got my ten millionth call from a recruitment agency nine months ago. I mean anyone who has done the working holiday thing in the UK would know that when a recruitment agency calls you just smile, hold back the sarcasm and say you're available to work right away… Well that was my job at Visa sorted (after many false starts and empty promises from three separate agencies)… And nine months later I sign a contract with Visa to work in Dubai for a year. It still has yet to sink in, but in three months I will be living and working in the Middle East… This is all so nuts and like something out of a dream.

So yes plans have changed and travel has been delayed but sometimes you have to grab what God offers you with two hands and make the most of it. I mean how many times will I be offered a contract to work for an international business (that funnily enough is also at not for profit, well for the moment anyways, so I am not really selling out to big business), in a far out there region that involves travelling to one of the most hard to get to countries on earth (Saudi Arabia!!!!!) and the rest of the Middle East… as well as the possibility of travel to Africa, Russia and Central and Eastern Europe… Could you really say no? Plus throw into that a tax free life in one of the international hotspots for finance and investment and the deal was sealed. All this from a foot in the door and a simple £14ph contractor job….

A tough week....

Well the past week was something that will never be forgotten easily..... I don't thing I need even write a single word in my journal in addition to "Tough Week" to help bring into my mind the memories (and in some cases the lack there of) of what happened over the past seven days....

I don't think I dare even go into the details of what transpired during those seven days.... I am not sure it is worth it.. Rest assured I caused two people pain (Farah and myself) and those two people are now over this pain and everything has been sorted... Only permanent damage is:

(1) My mobile, which is now at the bottom of a London canal somewhere, along with all it's numbers and about £25 of credit;
(2) My leg has what appears to be a hole in it... pretty sure that will gradually heal itself over the coming weeks-months-years;
(3) Some public and private property... not too much I hope but if one day when I am fifty five someone pulls a few of the plants in my front garden out and maybe kicks my car... well lets just say I will be able to smile and be satisfied that the laws of Karma still operate effectively in this dimension;
(4) Some brain cells (well I mean what you going to do about this one? I figure (besides the fact that the brain ceases to create new brain cells post 21 years of age... I will believe I am an exception to this rule..) heavy drinking encourages natural selection in the brain, whereby the weak brain cells are killed of allowing more room for the stronger cells to breed and multiply... an idea anyways); and
(5) In general some self respect....

Lessons learnt are large and I figure this is the key and what makes mistakes (provided no real damage is done, and as can be seen from above, all is pretty much right now) so important in life. The lessons learnt are:

(1) Don't go to "The Church" ever again... http://www.thechurch.co.uk/beginning.htm Eye opening, sure to say... but once is surely enough... the costs were too high...
(2) Don't give you mobile phone to anyone.. esp. when drunk; OR
(3) Even better, when planning on getting wasted, inform your loved one and then switch mobile phone off... maybe leave it at home;
(4) Drink with friends who will keep their "eye" on you... there should be a designated "sane" person in every drinking party.. drinking less than 20 standard drinks should be sufficient to gain this title;
(5) When you know more about an issue than your girlfriend trust your instincts and don't listen to her demands... no matter how much you love her; and
(6) There are lovely caring people here in London, many from the middle east and sub-continent... but rarely are they taxi drivers ;-p.

A fun week... mainly driven my a day/night out on Sunday 30th April at the Church and Saturday 6th May at "the end" ( http://www.endclub.com/news/index.php ). Took me all week to recover from last sunday... emotionally and physically... and I feel okay now post Saturday... Amazing what we do in search of an experience.... thanks be to God that I am smart enough to learn from all my lessons... and thanks also be to friends and strangers who help you in your moments of need... and thanks be for the forgiveness you get from those you hurt but who love you enough to understand we all get a little crazy sometimes :-)