A Written Life

Bummed Cigarette

2009-10-17T00:04:27Z

Bummed cigarette

Couple coins

Sir or Mrs

Polite and Humbled

House Red and Meths

Sunburn & Broken skin

Seven socks in Twilight

Drunken and Arguing

Movement & Moving on

Darkness from Boxes

Twenty two tattered
Metro Newspapers

MacDonald’s Toilet seat

House Red and Meths

A stir before dawn

But nothing.

Identity loss... please comment

2009-03-26T22:37:20Z

I have suffered complete identity-loss amnesia. Please fill in the blanks. Tell me who I am! I trust you, my friends, to tell me only the truth and to steer me in the right direction.

[I caught the illness from </a></font></b></a>goblinpaladin. I suspect it may spread. Please be careful.]

Not Stoned Song

2008-12-23T21:50:17Z

There are tiny pigeons in the air,
They do not care for your forgiveness,
Or your harsh derisive moments.
They are forgetful, and forgive quickly,
You should forgive them, for they are pigeons,
They are your bretheren, they are your brothers,
Your mothers and daughters,
They are your mothers uncles nephews son
Whose brother is your only one
They are forgetful, you should forgive them,
They would forgive you, for they are pigeons, in the day.

Locked Inside Tonight (Song Idea)

2008-12-14T15:17:12Z

Esongla (with elondated ´i,´ sounds! YEY!,

Locked inside tonight,
Feel myself breathing
Locked inside tonight
See my heart beating.

The world outside,
is so exciting,
But in my mind
It´s so damn frightning

Locked inside tonight
Caught myself dreaming,
Locked inside tonight
Hear myself screaming, again, to myself.

Hmmm...

2008-11-20T21:18:23Z

Filipa gave me a t-shirt to try on the other day.

I did so, and commented that it looked okay, but that it was a little too tight.

It was an M.

Ze gods.

British Man (song)

2008-11-11T21:27:53Z

The sunlight splinters through the air,
The cold grey sun´s beyond despair,
The dark gray street´s alight,
With orange lamp and traffic light.

The horizontal rain repeats,
It´s thrashing of the crowded streets,
A sea of emptiness,
Of broken hearts, with nothing left.

I dream belated dreams,
The world is nothing like it seems, to be,
I am an British man,
There´s nothing wrong, but nothing right with me.

A once great empire, down the drain,
The sun will never rise again,
A society of sighs,
With nothing left, but to apologise.

A once great nation, now reduced,
To peddling pleasures to its youth,
To strangling free will,
With police force and Ritlin pill.

I dream belated dreams,
The world is nothing like it seems, to be,
I am an British man,
There´s nothing wrong, but nothing right with me.

And where are all the voices when,
Our freedom takes a knock again,
Is it that we don´t care,
Or is it easier, to just sit and stare?

It´s apathetic and absurd,
´Whatever´s´ all that can be heard,
When they come and take the rights,
That are hurried away with each passing night.

I dream belated dreams,
The world is nothing like it seems, to be,
I am an British man,
There´s nothing wrong, but nothing right with me.

(Repeat)

Another New Song Idea

2008-11-11T14:49:47Z

Unkept minds, they´re living in daydreams,
Modern life is nothing like it seems,
Illusion bears the hope of tomorrow,
Consumer soul, unlimited sorrow.

I´m tired of living in the West World,
I´m tired of moving in time,
I´m tired of being in nowhere,
With no-one,
I´m here.

Kids growing up with no solidarity,
It´s a word that´s been lost to the whirl,
Shaping up a fragile identity,
Growing up in a post social World

Lost Ze Mobilities

2008-11-11T14:43:02Z

I have lost my Welsh mobile phone, so I can no longer be contacted, email me instead!

Ta.

Also, new song concept

The sunlight´s splintered through the air,
The cold grey sun´s beyond despair,
THe dark grey streets alight,
With orange lamp and traffic light.

I dream belated dreams,
The world is nothing like it seems, to be,
I am an Englishman,
There´s nothing wrong, but nothing right, with me.

New Song (a work in progress) - (working title) Ecstacy

2008-11-09T15:27:34Z

Melody is melodic. :)

I don´t know what I do,
If I do, when I do,
Something I shouldn´t do,
Out of the blue.

I don´t know what to say,
When you say that I say,
Something I shouldn´t say,
When I´m away.

Feel the smile, see the storm,
Hear the song, being born,
Slip inside, nice and warm,
Don´t get lost, don´t stay long

ISee the night turn to day,
I can see memory,,
Anyone that´d play,
That´d be lovely.

I don´t know how to be,
Being just turns to be,
I have no enemy,
When i´m in ecstacy.

Feel the smile, see the storm,
Hear the song, being born,
Slip inside, nice and warm,
Don´t get lost, don´t stay long

Repeat to fade

Buenas Dias Neighbourito

2008-10-02T19:49:16Z

Well, this is the second day of teaching and it´s fucking awesome.

I have most seriously lucked out! Huzzah!

Teaching English to ESL is a taxing challenge and hence it is fun. I am enjoying myself.

Beer tonight, free from the head of the school, and tapas... mmmm

SHe bought us all a three course lunch the other day too.

I like my job.

Yey!

Conversation

2008-10-01T00:12:11Z

Conversation from today:

Filipa: Babes, are you up for a discussion about marriage?

Me: Oh god, here we go...

F: (laughs) Why is it that they say that the woman´s wedding day is the happiest day of their life, if it´s men who ask women to marry them, why isn´t it a man´s happiest day?

Me: Probably something to do with the sexist, old fashioned, notion that women became true women after their wedding day, that they´d be mothers, and looked after and what not...

F: hmmm.

(pause)

F: I know why it would be their happiest day, well it certainly wouldn´t come afterwards would it.

Me: laughs.

Sexual Hell Test. Not Surprising.

2008-09-24T14:56:48Z

HELL LEVEL 3·

There's a special place in Hell for you: the basement penthouse. You scored the nastiest possible score on the Sexual Hell Test. You have no sexual restraint whatsoever. You'll take pleasure however you can get it, and my guess is you get it a lot. If for some reason you don't right now, you will soon, as people in your category only tend to spiral down ever deeper into the abyss of carnality and delicious sin. Congratulations.

I, personally, think that this category is the best. Paradoxically enough, sexual liberation and indulgence can only bring you closer to purity.

AVOID: all but level 3 hellions like yourself. You wouldn't want to ruin anyone, now would you?

Keep it safe - Song Backup

2008-08-25T03:29:37Z

These are a few songs i´ve been working on, and will continue to be working on, kept here for safety. They don´t really make much sense without the music, but some of them are starting to come along quite nicely.

In related news, depending on how much time I get off for Easter, although it will probably be happening then anyway, I will most likely be making an album in Leeds with a friend of mine at a studio (he knows many a person, musicians, etc. Should be good.

Songs

I´m Here

Unkept minds, they´re living in daydreams.

Modern life is nothing like it seems.

Illusion bears the hope of tomorrow.

Consumer soul, unlimited sorrow.

I´m tired of living in the West World.

I´m tired of moving in time.

I´m tired of being in nowhere, with no one,

I´m here.

Beat

Yesterday I lied,

When I said I loved you babe

And yesterday you cried,

When you saw it in my eyes

What am I to say,

I don´t wanna be this way,

We once were a we,

Now it´s only you and me.

Goodbye my darling,

Goodbye my sweet,

We once were special,

But now we´re beat.

Memoria

It´s been a week, it seems like years.

Thought I´d write you out this song.

When I´m away I think of you.

My memory carries on.

I miss you in the morning-time,

Your tepid breath and your eager smile.

It´s in my arms, I remember you.

And I remember why...

I love you

There were mountain rocks in Springtime.

Electric starlight through the night.

Our words entwined by moonlight

And I remember why...

I love you

You were glowing in the sunshine,

Your hair a fire in the sky,

A snapshot memory of your gorgeousness,

And I remember why....

I love you

You gifted me my freedom, babe,

You gave to me my smile,

My empty heart is filled by you,

And I remember why...

I love you.

Daimiel Blues

(apologies to Johnny Cash)

There is a man named Gilmo,

He is karate kid,

He´s always on the roof,

And he´s never in his bed.

He took them in the forest,

To try to make them cry.

We don´t know why he did it,

He´s just that kind of guy.

Travel Time

Saw you at the bus stop,

Saw you in the rain,

Soaked through, but smilin´

You´re home again.

Your packs on you shoulders,

Your hairs in a bun,

Still rich, thick and writhing,

Bleached gold by the sun.

You are a travelling woman,

I am a travelling man,

Our journeys together, babe,

The world´s in our hands.

Alex´s Song

An old man leaves the pub,

He wanders home alone.

I wonder if he´s loved,

Or if he´s on his own.

He wanders here and there,

In his world without a care.

He argues with himself.

He thinks he´s someone else.

He´s walked this road before,

More times than he´d care to see.

But it don´t bother him,

So it don´t bother me.

He walks an uphill road,

He leads and then he´s led,

By his tired, little, legs,

That take him home to bed.

Caterpillar Blues

I was walking through the garden

And what did I see,

I saw a little caterpillar

Looking up at me, I said,

´Hey Caterpillar, how´d you do?´

He said I´m hung up on a woman and I don´t know what to do.

Í got the caterpillar blues´. x4

Another Way

Chorus:

Gotta make up my mind

You got me in an awkward place

I´m at your side,

I left you in another way

Feel trapped by you,

I´m stuck here in this awful place.

Physical playground,

Emotional wasteland.

Love can´t compare,

To the freedom inside of me.

When you´re not here,

Being just turns to be.

Chorus:

Your martyrdom,

Made me embrace my rebellion.

Don´t need your guilt,

Or your idiotic idioms.

I could not see,

What it is that you do to me.

I am awake,

I´m staying for stayings sake.

Chorus:

Apathetic heart,

Two lives, two worlds apart.

Tomorrow´ is another day,

For us to get to stay this way.

Chorus:

Rain

In the dark night sky,

The rain clouds are calling out,

The lightning strikes,

My minds lost in the sound

The metal roof,

Ten thousand voices in the rain,

I close my eyes,

To never open them again.

It might as well keep raining.

Boy Band Ballad

I think about you every day,

Invite you in when it is raining.

You turn your head and walk away,

Won´t even tell me what your name is.

In the movies, love is blind.

In my dreams, babe, you´d be mine.

Age don´t matter don´t you see,

So I´m forty, you´re fourteen.

I´m a stranger to you,

But you´re not to me,

You´re the prettiest girl,

That I´ve ever seen.

Beauty like yours is so hard to find,

You got your register, I got mine.

Alrighty then, good day everybody.

Update and Bookses

2008-08-20T17:39:11Z

Well Hello.

Things are very slow and boring at the moment as I have finally aquired a new laptop and have decided to become a hermit. It is a pretty laptop, and it goes fast and makes me smile.

Last week I was busy, galavanting around Madrid seeing the various bits and pieces, most of which was free, including the open air world music concerts which were quite good indeed.

Filipa has ventured off down to the South of Portugal with her family so I am alone and renewing my nocturnal exsistance, waking at around 6pm and sleeping at around 9am. I willl have to ween myself off this once again before she returns.

In other news, news fans, I want to read again but am in the not so unique situation of not wanting to carry books around with me when i travel. Hence, I have decided to see if I can find some e-books. If you would like, please can you give me a list of books, fiction and non-fiction, that you think I should have, to read or to use as reference.

Thanking you. :)

Check this out - ita makea me laugh

2008-07-23T13:41:42Z

Salad fingers - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=salad+fingers&search_type=&aq=f

10 True Facts about Madrid

2008-07-03T14:00:35Z

1. The beepers for crossing the road are actually small birds that are electricuted when the little man turns green, and they chirp, albeit pleasantly.*
2. The Madridians know how to do parks.
3. Tax is oh so good. 2%. That´s right. 2%.
4. Madrid has so many different architectural designs and yet the all go together so pleasantly and the roof lines are aboslutely artisitcally beautiful.
5. The light here is very nice.
6. There are poor people in Madrid.
7. Sometimes, perhaps just to confuse foreigners, they change the names of Metro stops depending upon which line you come in on. So, for example, you leave on Embajadores, but you arrive back at Acacias.
8. The police have those little standy-on lean and go two wheel business thingie majobs.
9. It seems that the Madridians live mostly on Jamon (ham) queso (cheese) and pan (bread) washed down with gallons and gallons of vino (wine). (they have Ham Museums for Mohammeds sake).
10. Madid is a fairly clean city.

*This is what i imagine to be true, and only listening observations have been performed, however, this is all a lot of religious people need.

Vivo en Madrid!

2008-07-02T14:27:33Z

So I am finally on my feet!

I arrived here, in Spain on the 23rd, and today I have finally managed to complete everything I needed too.
I have: An NIE (work nubmer) social security number, bank account. A place to live! ' El Rastro (not putting full address here) and a Job! (I am teaching English across a range of ages and levels!)

Madrid is awesome. The arcitecture and layout of the city are cool and it´s a really good place to live, especiallyseems as it is a capital city. The place that we live (El Rastro) is surrounded by important topuristy type places but we are in a quiet street, but its great that everything is within walking distance pretty much, or we can use the Metro, which is excellent and puts British and Australian public transport to shame.

I am a happy bunny. All i need to do now is learn Spanish. Hopefully it will come. I have already started to talk to people '- i talked to the official today at the social security place. I was excited: I said. Buenos dias, Soy Adam, y Soy de Reino Unido, Tengo un trabajo en Berlitz Escuela de Idiomas y nesecito un numero de seguridad social, por favor´. And then i did a fist in the air and said ´´YES! for he understood me.

Filipa is still as lovely as ever and has found our pretty house and we are making it a little home, but as I am away to camp soon we will havbe to wait until I get back before we can start properly making it ours. It is a really nice place, small but big enough for us, and lovely. It has a secret safe under a tile in the closet, which is good, because I AM JAMES BOND.

For now, I must run and let the little woman use the internet. Then we shall go home and drink champagne to celebrate and eat chocolate deserts and pizza (we have our priorities straight you see)

Buenos tardes!

Huzzah

Almost There*

2008-06-22T11:58:23Z

Welllllll, today is my final night living in Wales. Many thigns have been done and finalised, many things packed and organised and arranged, but there are still a few more things needed to be squeezed into my bag and not forgotten.

I am going to do one of these cut things now before Mattemout gets all uppity. :)

Spent the last few days up in Sheffield attending a Wake Boarding competition and drinking beer. It was good. We sat in the sun mostly and drank things and chatted and laughed; it was pleasant. Tell you what else is pleasant - pimms. Pimms is an alcoholic concoction which is usually drunk with lemonade and fruit and things and it is tasty. We also made fires and played drunken rugby at 5am with about 40 people. Someone asked for my number, which has never happened before, also.

Also went to Tenby and Saudersfoot and camped in a little place called Wisemans Bridge. It was excellent and fun and good. We had a fire in a cave (about 30cms from a cliff) and drank beer and played cricket and drug with a spade and flew kites and had curry and chips and icecream and kicked the ball about and went walking and went swimming and nearly froze to death. It was Tenby and Saundersfoot. It was gooood.

In news, news fans, this week I found out that rats laugh. Not only do they laugh, but they laugh at each other. They have a slap stick sense of humour and commonly laugh at very high frequencies when other rats fall over and things. This makes me smile a lot.

Also in the headlines, Water on Mars. Aliems. ALIEMMMMMSS!!!

I have a job as a teacher for when I got to Spain but as yet no where to live, although I should be fine.

This is outside of the cutty thing, for I am finished, Tommorrow I leave to Spain, and then galavant and then work. Huzzah!

I am quite excitable.

Hope you are all well. I kiss you on your brains.

Me.

*keep on target... keep on target...

Trefforest Estate

2008-06-02T15:24:32Z

This week, Trefforest Estates Five Top Places to get mugged and raped. At number one we have the train station. At two, the road heading away from the train station. Three. The hospital. Number four, up a place from five this week, it's 'on a train' and at five this week, but always a top contender, the bus stop.

Filipa

2008-05-30T20:13:01Z

Many people use terms these days without much thought. Burning things, are words, branding things.

Today I learned something that made me smile.

I admire very few people.

I admire my girlfriend.

Who's With The Whats Now?

2008-03-19T21:11:31Z

Hello!

Well, it has certainly been a long while since my last post. So there has been a lot to do, and be and a lot to see and dream about.
The weather has been cold, and wet and generalised for centuries.
It is Welsh weather, the drizzle occasionally changes to rain and back again, the mist turns to thick fog and then to drizzle. What is missing though is the type of refreshing rain that I am used to.
The wind, too, has recently been playing havoc, perhaps you had heard that there were storms in the North. My friend Shane gave a very specific weather report, much to our amusement, so that in the end the results here in Cardiff were disappointing to say the least.
Thankyou to everyone that has helped me, and for the gifts and presents you have given since I have said it to you last. I don't get to speak much due to one thing or another since my move to Cardiff, really; only sporadic emails here and there and the occasional message or phone call. I do apologise for my lack of communication, I should have tried harder, but I was trying hard with other things.
Work has come along nicely. I've managed, I think, to achieve well in these couple of years with the company. I started well and managed to win numerous awards and bonus, never missing sales targets set, i'm also the GI (Home Insurance) Rep. and work on BM, an exclusive team that deals with specailist clients.
Now though, my focus is on teaching and on my move to Spain. I have started, and three quaters finished my Dip. TESOL, and have managed to get stuck in a very nice hole with the last Module!  Applied linguistcs. Nice. Thankyou. Now..... I can't even read the words. Did you know, that there are areas in our mouths that are called different things. No? Well... there are. They have cool names though, names that you'd never really expect to find in day to day, or even once a year usage. I can't remember them at the moment, but they'll come to me once I read the 87 page assignment document again. If any cunning linguists out there have a translator from phonetics to normal language, i'd be most appreciative.

I've also taken up Spanish, a beginners class in the local college. It's quite good, but slow progress; it's not hard to comprehend and even to understand, but I find hearing speech a test and speaking it a goal.

It was Christmas the other day. I went to my Grandma's with FIlipa, who was over from Spain. My aunty and uncle were there too, which was very nice. My uncle Derek, I am coming to understand, is an awesome individual since I have known him in my adulthood. My aunty is great too, quite lovely indeed and they both now live in Abergavenny so can see my grandma regularly, which is good.
New Years was spent at my home here in Trefforest. I spent the evening with a few, though not many drinks and a few friends and enjoyed the evening pleasantly.
There have been many goings on since the start of the year. I went to Barcelona to see Filipa in February, for Valentines day. We went out and had a meal at a flemnco theatre to celebrate the day. The meal was lovely, Pialla and a traditional Catalunian dish, and Sangria, which is most pleasant.
The music itself, and the dancing of course, were amazing. Completely different to what I had expected, very... well, just very... The guitarists there were fantastic too, in an amazing way that only gets more amazing the more you learn about playing guitars.
Speaking of which, my fingers are now in their seventh round of callousing. My fingertips, i'm sure, would not only stop the stick of a pin, but actually enjoy it. Much guitar has been played. In fact, I think that I am playing guitar more now than I ever have before, and since the start of the year, probably more than I ever have altogether.
Tom, of course, plays guitar aswell, but is far more proficient with it, and practices far more regularly than I. He has now bought a DVD of how to play Pink Floyd songs, and is beginning to get the hang of the songs so much now that occasionally, I have to check if there is a stereo on.
We also make a lot of our own music, which has come along a lot recently. Tom's song, which is known as 'Gypsy Woman' until he officially names it, is, i believe very cool. The song sways playfully: heres a few of the lyrics... (i wish you could hear the moelody - that is something i shoulld remedy.

She's my gypsy woman.
Touching me, touching you...
She's my gypsy woman,
touching everything she wants to, (laugh, oh yeah)
See my, gypsy woman,
running naked down London square,
Can't see my gypsy woman cos,
she's run into the bushes
over there.

She's my gypsy woman
Touching me and touching you.
Touching everything she comes into contact with
(that's right) even glue.
See my gypsy woman running naked down london square...
Oh my gypsy woman does even bring her underwear,
I'm telling you, yeah....

there is more but i can't remember it.

It is the first song completely completed. My songs remain ends and beginnings and a very sloppy change. Tom's are better but it's hard to pin point the best way of going about finishing things. We could work together, and of course there are some songs, especially now since Tom got the bass, that work very nicely (mostly my bluesy epilogues), but our styles and how we started to play guitar are very different, although we both are learning. I can even use a plec.

Other than that and my trip to Barcelona, things have mostly been in Cardiff. Ther have been a few parties and a few nights out but saving is as saving does, so my time is usually spent in the woods, or down by teh river or kicking the footy about with Shane and Tom.

There is an abandoned woodyard near us, very big, huge old buildings, quite perfectly safe, that is nice for a game of football and a ramble.

We still have fires up in the woods, and they are good, but it's been so cold recently we've only talked about having fires but never actually done it. I've been working overtime a lot recently, a lot of weekends so the ability to go and collect wood is, to say, limited.

There have been lots of gatherings, in peoples houses or in pubs though. We went out to watch the Grand Slam Match, which Wales won of course, and had a good time, very good atmosphere that night.

The T.V liscence man tells us that he and his army are going to come and be authoritarian. I think there should be a referendum on whether or not there should be a T.V liscence.

With digital channels now what they are (which I can't get but have to pay for), I refuse to understand what BBCs argument is on why I should continue to pay them every year for what I saw last year. I would prefer not to watch T.V than to pander to that.

I understand the arguments for liscencing fees, I also believe that the arguments are invalid with regards to the current state of affairs, though that, is another journal entry, as are many things that are occuring in the community this week.

In news this week, Gordon Brown, after nationalising Northern Rock, a failing bank which invested too heavily in high risk investments and lost a lot of money. Public Property, just like before Thatcher, perhaps a new way of seeing things, a new Labor. Oh no. Wait, now we find out that it isn't actually publicly owned at all, but we own a bit of it. Most of it remains in the hands of a major investor. But still, we gots bits!

So people do what it is people do, they get inquisitive and they use their creativity. Under the laws of this nation, a publically owned building is subject ot the release of information, publically, so as all to see. Gordon Brown, has other ideas.

He states that Northern Rock is not a publically owned company, instead, the government owns it. As it's own entity.

So the government is not a part of the people, it's removing itself from the people. It controls, manipulates and oppresses it's citizens under one, unquestionable leader. Don't even get me started on Bush.

Democratic, bloody, society.  Lets just call it what it is. A Tyranny.

Hello MI6, NSA, CIA, yes, this is me questioning your authority.

In other news, news fans, I'm preparing for my eventual move to Espana (yes I know it has a doobywhack above the n) to live with Filipa, who's name I was going to replace with one of my common renames, but all of which have their own story, which will take too long to understand, Which, for example, would explain why even though she is atheist, and has been all her life, she is still known sometimes as my little half joo.

I am going to take my baby with me, which hopefully willstay safe for the journey. It's name has changed to Baloo, and it's awesome, although bits need to be replaced; the head for example, and the neck piece, and all of the strings, again. It's got a lot of charachter now though, bites and scratches, it's good.

Soon now really, April and May left in work and then a month off galavanting with Tom et al about the countryside, and then off in July. I am thinking of buying some new clothes and a laptop before I go, but we shall see.

The future also sees a trip to Romania. We are off to Bucharest for our One Year Anniversary in May. It will be nice, I am sure. I wanted to galavant about the haunts of Mister. Vlad, but that shall all have to be saved for another trip.

At the moment I am at Shane's typing this on his girlfriends laptop (that made me re-look) and thinking about going honme and going to bed. Tired today, but tommorrow heralds a new day and the dawn of the 4 DAY WEEKEND!

I shall try to update more regularly now, to save myself the RSI, and to tell you all how lovely and pretty you are and how I am learning so much from you now that I am doing things; I am still going to go and spend a hundred pounds on sweets just because I can.

Why is it that I won't do it because it would be a waste of money. Damn my maturity! I'll do it on beer instead! (no, actually I've really cut down on my alcohol intake and frequency)

I'll talk when I can, hope everyone is good.

Talk again another day.

See you soon.

One Day, Any Day, Some Day.

Conversation

2007-12-12T21:19:11Z

Me: Could you assist me?
Tom: Perhaps
Me: Could you use your dexterity?
Tom: I am the chimp with nimble fingers.
Me: You are the nimble fingered chimp... I shall return.

De-nied

2007-08-02T20:39:19Z

They've blocked LJ at work.

I tut at them. Tut at them, I say.

gnomist83 @ 2007-07-26T19:47:00

2007-07-26T18:52:34Z

Meal went well, with three of my collegues, my boss, my bosses boss, my bosses bosses boss, my bosses bosses bosses boss and the partnership rep from BM, her boss, her bosses boss and his boss. His boss is ludicrously rich; my dinner was amazing. two fillet mignon steaks (medium rare) i could have eaten them with a spoon, on a bead of bok choy and with a beautiful gravy for main, sweet and sour duck breast with mango and various other thigns to start and a chocolate and orange mascarpone tart. All in all my meal was about £70, but I also drank about 4 glasses of £30 a bottle wine, 2 beers and a gin and tonic. It was LUSH.

Anyway... the time away...

Friday 6th - Cardiff - London - Luton - Lisbon

Woke up early and caught the train with Loide and Catia to Cardiff, and caught the bus from there onward to London and then to Luton. The trip was quite good, the girls were surprisingly quite okay when travelling, I also met one of their friends, who's name I forget and another one of their friends, who was a chav named Honey, who sang lots and snuggled up to me. She amused me. I have photos.

The flight, as usual, was fine, the lead up, as usual, annoying. I managed to sleep a little, so I was ready for the activities that were to befall me as I arrived in Lisbon, oh, it was to be fun.

Upon arriving, I was picked up by young Ms. Filipa, who greeted me with hugs and kisses, and her friend Jorge, who's a cool guy (more on him later), who refrained from the hugs and kisses. I also told Ipa 'Estas bonita como sempres' which means 'you're as beautiful as always' which I had been learning in the plane. She smiled her lovely big smile and I received kisses. It was nice.

We drove back to her house on a road which is apparently the worst clogged road in Europe. Her house is 'UGE, easily separated into two separate 4 bed 2 bathroom 1 kitchen 1 dining 1 lounge flats, with a very large basement and garage; the house is awesome; and it was there that I met her friends, and ate dinner with them, conversing about various things and drinking a drink called Caiparinha; which is deadly.

Throughout the night we had much enjoyment including drinking lots, playing guitar, being dressed up by the girls in belly dancing costumes and then doing drunken belly dancing with them.

Went to bed with the Lovely Filipa, something that I had been missing for quite some time.

Saturday 7th - Sintra

Waking in the morning was a thing done in stages. The first stage was the drunken pain stage. This involved trying to get out of bed without waking Filipa up, and was successful, and then to waking up Filipa stage, which was also nice, to the SCREECHING NOISE OF A PIPE AND TWO FOOTBALL HOOLIGAN CLACKERS stage of waking up; we were attacked by her sister and her friends, and so we got up, and ventured out into the bright warm day of Portugal.

With her sister, Barbara, Ipa and I went to a place called Sintra, and took a train and bus up to the Moorish Mountain castle and then the palace and gardens. Now, this is definantly a place to go if you like anything to do with history or architecture. A truly amazing place - the castle was huge and etched into the rocky hills, and put other lesser castles (like the Norman ones in Wales) to shame.

Later on in the day, when we arrived home, Ipa was phoned by her friend Raquel, who had free tickets to the new naming of the 7 wonders of the world concert, so after a bit of umming and ahhing (because she wanted to spend time with me, bless her), she went, and I slept.

Later on, when I awoke, I watched the concert on T.V and when Ipa came back, we went to bed. Was a nice day.

Sunday 8th - Sintra

Woke early and played a game called Crazy Daisy. Awesome fun. For this you will require: a hose plugged into a rotating daisy shaped plastic thing, that squirts water everywhere, a few long sponge pieces soaked in soapy water, two Portuguese women in bikinis, and a keen sense of fun. I did indeed beat the hell out of both of them, and it was much enjoyed by all.
One can easily see how this type of game could get seriously out of hand and there be babies.

After Ipa cooked lunch, we went on a trip through the mountains with her friend Raquel and a person she calls her cousin (who was trying to get it on with Raquel) The mountains of Sintra were lovely, there are seven of them, and we travelled around them and up to the top of one to take in the great view of the city, and the coast.

We then dropped down to the coast and enjoyed drinks at a cafe on the Esplanade, before travelling to a mall, where the girls shopped, and we ate chocolate crepes, before returning back home and being joined by Jorge.

Jorge is a funny man. We went out to a pub to drink with him, and it was indeed a fun time. I found a local beer called Super Bock, which I later found to be delicious, 5.6%, and 1,33E for a six pack of 440mL. That's about 85p. Needless to say, we were indeed quite intoxicated by the end of the night, after we'd both gone through several different varieties of local beer at a couple of different pubs. Was good.

Monday 9th - Lisbon

It was a nice sunny day and I spent a lot of time alone with Ipa in Lisbon, wandering along the promenade at various statues and things, sitting in parks and generally kissing and talking. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant where I tried the local delicacies, and I learned several more Portuguese phrases including ‘Tu es bonita Burbuleta’ - You are a beautiful butterfly – and ‘Tu es sempre amina pocanina linda’ – You are always my little lovely.

After lunch, Ipa went to her doctors about her back, and I wandered around the centre of Lisbon with Barbara and her boyfriend, Roi, before meeting backup with Lovely One later in the day.

After getting home, we went out to visit Raquel, who had cooked us a traditional Portuguese dinner using dried salted Cod, which was absolutely delicious. It was a nice night, and after we got home, we prepared for our backpacking adventure, and went to bed.

Tuesday 10th- Lisbon – Some Place I Can’t Remember The Name Of

First day of travelling. Trains in Europe are cheap and easy. They are singularly the best for m of transport over short distances. Don’t even consider planes for basic trips, it’s worth the time to see the countryside if you’re doing short trips. If your planning on spending some time here, don’t bother getting the Eurail passes, they are a waste of money, too regimented and useless. Instead get a Europe Under 26 youth pass. More info, ask me.

Stayed in a little family owned Hostel, was a sweet little place and very nice. It was a home really, divided into double rooms, quaint. It was situated towards the centre of the town, near the harbour, so Ipa and I went for a little stroll in the evening and picked out boats for one another.

The rest of the day is now a bit of a blur, but we did wander around and I took some photos of some strange and great architecture, as well as the ocean (the Atlantic; I’ve seen the Atlantic, Pacific Baltic and Mediterranean this year). We shared some nice steak and a mixed salad at a little restaurant together and had a good sleep; was a nice start.

Wednesday- 11^th – Some Place – Porto

Second time on a train, again, cheap, easy and comfortable. Spent a long time though on this one, but the company was good so it wasn’t that much of a difficulty. We’d bought some food the day before from a supermarket, so we were fed, and it was a generally nice time, cwtching up and dosing off.

We arrived to Porto and found our hostel. More a hotel than a hostel. Each pair of us (Barbara and Roi and Ipa and I) had a large double room to ourselves with ensuite, but we didn’t stop for long before heading out for a wander and to take in the sights.

We went to a garden with one of Filipa’s friends, and spent sometime wandering around, and then went down to the Port, and saw the little barrel transport ships, and rested a while under some trees before continuing on and doing some Port (for this is where the drink comes from) at a local distillery.

Found out Ipa and I walk in unison, most of the time.

In the evening we went to bed and got ready to head off the next day for Bilbao.

Thursday 12th Porto -Bilbao

Found out that Filipa speaks Spanish fluently.
To me this is cool.
Add to it that she also speaks French, English and Portuguese fluently, and we get into the realm of legendry status.

We’d checked the prices of buses but they were actually more expensive and took longer than the trains (which was the case everywhere, as far as we found.) The trip was nice and Filipa and I fooled around a lot. She’s an amusing woman, I wrote some poems and songs aswell, or more ideas for poems and songs, and recorded a few voice recordings for melody ideas.

We arrived to Bilbao and checked into our hostel. It was indeed more hotellish, but because Ipa had booked then cancelled and then booked again (for various reasons) it meant that all of us were in the same room for the two nights we were there.

This lead to lots of fun, and due to my continued learning of Portuguese, I made the lot of them laugh, but specifically Ipa, because I am funny and she lerves me J

We spent the evening drinking a couple of beers and watching some very cool and original street dance, and we walked along the river side and sat in a park and talked lots which is always good.

When we got back (we’d left the other two in peace) we talked for a while and eventually went to sleep.

Friday 13th – Bilbao

We woke up early and had a shower and got ready for a day out in Bilbao. It is a beautiful city, and we wandered around down to a local restaurant and ate some deep friend dough strip thingies dipped in melted hot chocolate.

After this most awesome breakfast, we wandered over to the Guggenheim museum and took many photos of its most awesome architectural design. We were not to know that the inside was to be as awesome as the exterior, but alas, when you take photos in there, you get told off.

The artworks themselves (as with all art) varied from ‘boring, dull and unimaginative, doing things thinking you’re a clever artist’ type stuff, to ‘amazingly clever use of space and design, and an innovative and imaginative way of portraying meaning.’ There was one artwork using LEDs that I specifically loved.

It is a must see, if you’re in the area. The 20m Yorkshire Terrier sat at the front of the museum made of varying types and colours of flowers, was also as amusing as it was cool.

After that, we wandered around the rest of Bilbao and took in the sights, visiting various places and looking at the architecture of the city. It is truly a lovely place, but it’s really strange that the layout of the bridge over the river, and the buildings that line it, are very similar the same as the bridge and layout of the river sides in Lyon.

Also, in Bilbao, there were fruits and things left around some trees near a theatre. I took pictures because they confused me. I think that they were something to do with some kind of harvest festival. Ipa thinks that they are something to do with the local theatre.

That evening, Ipa and I went and watched (from the front of the Guggenheim) a Bjork concert, and strolled along the river. It was lovely.

I found out that she’s scared of grates in the road, and won’t stand on them. Oh, and that she cries at movies; like Amelie, The Lion King and Home Alone. Cuteness factor +10.

Saturday 14th - Bilbao - Barcelona -20 Room.

Bilbao to Barcelona is a long trip on a train, especially when you get into a little argument with your beloved.

Ipa: There are only two available beds at the hostel, and there are no other beds available in any hostels anywhere else in Barcelona, therefore, you and Roi are going to sleep in the beds in the hostel, and my sister and I are going to sleep on the beach infront of the pubs.

Me: You what?

Ipa: There’s no other way.

Me: How about you and your sister stay in the hostel, and Roi and I go out and try to find somewhere else

Ipa: No. Because I won’t leave my sister alone and Roi won’t do it, because he was sick before we came on the trip. (the guy is a little wiener, seriously, such a mummies boy, wanted to fly back from Barcelona later in the trip because he was out of clean clothes, was really picky with food, women do everything that type of crap)

Me: Well I can’t stay in a hostel while you and your sister stay out, I just won’t do it.

Ipa: Do as I say (or words to that effect, something about her being responsible for me and me doing what she says because she’s only thinking about what would be best)

Me: Ummm. Nope.

Ipa: Frustrated Mad Woman Noises.

Eventually though we worked it out that we were both in positions thinking about what was best for the other people; and that whilst we couldn’t tell each other what to do, we’d both rather the other to be safe than have a bed for a night, so it was determined that we’d stick together, anyway.

When we arrived, we checked into the Graffiti Hostel (a cool place) in Barcelona, and went and checked the situation. We were in a room with 20 other people and it was cool (although loud) and it was fine because we slept together in the same bed, and no one had to stay out.

We wandered down to the exquisite harbour and sat for a while, I was hugged, and was laid down in Filipa’s lap while she stroked my head, t’was noice. We wandered back and went to bed that night Ipa cwtched up to me especially nicely. I was glad of it.

Sunday 15th - Barcelona - Tour Buses Wandering, Drinking Sangria, 8 Room

A big day. Took a tour bus around Barcelona and saw some awesome weird gardens that I can’t remember the name of but they were all curvy and cool and a bunch of different other things, fooled around with Filipa all day, but specifically in the tour bus, and later got in trouble after, because her sister had taken photos of the mirror above us. I say trouble, but it wasn’t really because she was laughing and blushing lots. She likes hitting me, anyway.

The rest of the day was spent wandering around and looking at various things, and street performers and little hidden away places.

Later that night as we were walking, Filipa stopped and swung herself around and buried herself into my chest with her arms up on either side, and, with eyes closed started to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Cute Factor + several billion.

In the evening, whilst sharing a jug of Sangria and after seeing a picture in a newspaper, Filipa told me how I had to ask her to marry me: here’s the message I wrote in my phone, as we laughed and she told me the specifics:

When marrying ipa. french polynesia in a bungalow resort on a beach the last bungalow out to the ocean ask her lying down on the beach drinking tropical fruit drink at sunse tno rings maybe necklace she in bikini. Wait, new idea when she asleep at sunset draw a heart with candles with roses also and leave her a message in the sand. When we get home to our house, not a flat, have a golden Labrador puppy there. Beginning of summer time. 5 or 6 years. 19^th May.

So, remind me. :P

Still wouldn’t beat Tyrone though.

That night we slept together in a shared 8 room in the same hostel, which was nice. Cwtched up with Ipa for a while before performing my magic trick and getting myself out from under her without her waking up and going to sleep in my own bed.

Monday 16th - Barcelona - Mediterranean Sea Graffiti Hotel; Double Room Erotic Museum

The morning was amusing. When Ipa awoke, she pssted me to come and give her a cwtch, and we spooned while the other people in our room got up and started to move about. I, and she apparently, noticed that they (they were womenses) were looking at us with quite awwwey eyes and things, so Ipa decided to be incredibly cute, and did nudgey things and cwtched up all sweet. Later on though, when her sister came in, Filipa crawled on top of me and cwtched up and got her sister to, lie next to me, who also cwtched up, and then Ipa, for she is quite touchy feely with her sister, began to play with her sisters ears and things, the faces of the other girls in the room changed decidedly. It made me giggle to myself.

We spent the day pretty much alone together, Ipa and I as it was the last day we had together for a while. We spent a lot of the day on the beach, swimming in the med and sun bathing. I dug a big hole in the sand and buried her too, which was fun. The sand was strange, shiny like silver, odd compared to the beaches I am used to in Aus.

The afternoon was spent wandering around the coast and back towards the main street. Filipa then took me to the Erotic Museum there, which was interesting and edutaining. We got back home later on, and spent the night in a single double room.

Tuesday 17th - Barcelona - Lyon - St.Ettiene – Retournac

Woke up in the morning, snuggled and got up after my alarm went off. Checked watch and was amazed to find that it was an hour late. I had screwed up; didn’t change my time on my phone, so my alarm went off an hour after I needed it too, and I had missed my train.

Filipa (in, yet again, her brilliance) went with me by the train and we managed to get refunds for 50% and 90% of the ticket (another reason why trains are better) and we managed to get another train (again, for she is brilliant)

The train ride to Retournac was fine, minutes to spare in most places, sometimes only a couple though. At Lyon, I asked a lady, in French, which platform I needed for St. Etienne. She said ‘Eee.’ I checked my watch and walked calmly to E.

I then asked if it was the correct platform for St. Ettiene and it was not. Hmm?

Eee. is I. In French speak, anyway.

I realised (thanks to a tiny little bit of high school French), and ran and got the train.

That was about as interesting as the trip got.

Sent amusing messages to Julie, who picked me up and took me home, fed and watered me and put me to bed.

Wednesday 18th - Local Castle / Rock Formations

Woke up in the morning within the beautiful house and picturesque surroundings of Julie. Visited her grandparents for lunch; frogslegs, snails, tart, all sorts of things else and a game of billiards. Visited various other people including some for coffee (tea) and cake) nice peoples.

We also went to a local castle with a little villiage attached to it near a gorge in the mountains. Julie is buying it for me. We also saw an interesting volcanic rock formation, in that there were several million small (about 5 - 20 times the size of bricks, scattered down a mountainside. It was as if a long time ago some stoneage guy had said,m please can I have some rocks with which to build some nice houses, and some god or other delivered a million or two of them. Really, really cool.

That day we also wandered about to various places and had an awesome time, I’d say more, but there’s already too much.

Thursday 19th - Lyon / Gathering at Julies

Went to Lyon and wandered around ,was a really nice day and we wandered around a lot. Julie had to go to the doctors there for work, so we did that, and then we wandered around before returning back for a gathering. A fairly easy day, all in all. Ate 8 different kinds of French cheese though, and that’s always good (for dreams especially).

Friday 20th - Retournac

A nice day. Woke up early and went walking with Roulie and Poiche, up to the mountain where we wandered about and took in the views. We then wandered through the forests on the side of the mountain, where we found and ate wild strawberries and blueberries, and where we found and collected some wild mushrooms (non hallucinogenic, mother)

We then went caving through a big cave, which was awesome, but tricky to negotiate, but was awesome fun. We rambled up the hillside and got cut up by thorns, and it was awesome.

Then got ready and went out for a meal and some drinks with Julie and her friends. They bought me many drinks, starting with the local delicacy of Ricard (which I drank pure, at first, accidentally. Then the wheat beer of 1664 Blanc, and then a nice little red. Later in the night I drank a fair bit more, including a bright green drink (the girls drinks were red) but the same thing. It was yummy.

More yummy though was the 14 inch pizza I unwittingly ordered thinking in the old British standards of ‘standard’ meaning ‘enough for one person.’ I managed to eat about half of it, and then took the rest home in a box. It was lush, and apparently quite French, potato, bacon, cream and cheese. Mmmmmmmmmmmm…

Sleep was nice too. Nice and sleepy.

Saturday 21st - Retournac

In the morning, we relaxed, went over to a friends place (it was the most awesome house ever) and ate a bit of lunch. I watched a film; Boise Moi, which was… well… interesting. It was banned in various places and you can see why. It was an okay film, but lacked in several areas.

Later in the day, we went out for a local party, where everyone attends and there are extraordinarily cheap drinks, fireworks and lots and lots of fun.

If Tom, Shane or/and Alex had been here with me, one of us would have ended up with alcohol poisoning. Even with Julie and her friends, the party (attended by an entire villiage) was huge.

I started the evening with a glass of something I can’t remember the name of but that was home made and had a pear in the bottle. It was 80% proof and indicative of the night I was about to have.

I also drank scotch whiskey, beer and the local drink, Kir, a mix of white wine and blackcurrent, which is deadly, and cheap at half a Euro per glass. Mostly though, I was drinking Rosé (for that was bought for me, constantly), and Beer.

I even tried to stop drinking at one point but it was futile because I just kept having drinks forced into me, and I was made to dance and I had to have a little sit down for a bit.

I drank from about 6pm to 4am. Mon Dieu. I have never been so drunk.

Sunday 22nd- Retournac - Lyon – London

Spent the morning recovering from the night before, ate a little food and got ready for the trip. Julie dropped me off at Lyon airport, which is perty, and I ate a couple of Lyonnais specialties there. I managed to get the flight, and again the flight was fine, preparations were crap. In Europe, trains are by far the best form of transport available.

Monday 23rd –London - Cardiff

Arrived back to my house at about 1:30am, left home for work at 11.

ANd i'm spent.

Hergs.

Back

2007-07-25T14:53:34Z

Back from Portugal/Basque/Spain/France. Was good. Update later.

Treated to a meal in a nice little 5 star restaurant (£50 - £90 a meal) down the bay tonight, paid for by BM management, with my managers, head boss and head people in BM for my success this year. Should be nice.

And that's me.

Next one is goign to be larger.