Ok so one of the good things about cities is wandering the streets safely at night. I know there are many who would disagree with me but i am generally comfortable most places i go and tend just to avoid very dark unlit streets alone. Last nights walk back from the beach along what can only be described as a long, lonely but generally clear, well surfaced path, from the beach to the railway station, through some abandoned industrial areas, felt a little remote. The slow wander from the station towards home though, sees me crossing many roads and watching reflections in the canal, feeling in good company whilst nevertheless alone. Apparently the canal was never originally a service canal as such in terms of goods, but dug as a ditch for waste water (polite term) from the old city which it surrounds.
Ive just spent a glorious three hours lost in the world of the station internet, catching up with those who have mailed, making arrangements for tomorrow in Copenhagen, reviewing guests on airbnb, writing welcoming notes to those yet to arrive, a check on one who is mid stay and a welcome to the girl who moved in today to stay for a year in the garden house. Please dont think i have been away all this time without having to put considerable effort into my finances!
After that, shock horror, ive been on workaway!! How do you fancy a hostel on the camino di ... what is it, santiago or compostella.... dunno. Thes been loads of other placements ive mailed though but the pilgrim hostel would be one I would love, so many travellers coming through and a good proportion of them spanish. They ask whether i have special skills like massaging travellers feet. I say no but i can cook and mend their bags and clothes! I may not get an invite, wait and see, but the Question is, would i take my car? I think i just might...
I think im on my very own post Brexit journey, fuck.... Apple recognise that brexit needs to be capitalised, sod it, ill refuse second time round!! but if i do this.... Spend the winter/spring in spain, i think there might be a point where i take on a property such that i can have visitors for a week or two. Im thinking christmas in cornwall, head out in the new year.
I will know more how i feel when i return home for two weeks, talk to the girls, assess the actual financial ramifications and also know more from Brandy, how it has been for her doing my cleaning turnarounds. It will be simplified now with just the house available but the price i currently have on the house means i only have occasional lets, it would be fantastic to find someone who wants a two or three month stay. Ive has so very many requests in the past, im sure its only a matter of time, but despite it being available this summer, its only been occasional short lets that have gone.
Im not yet ready to rent it out for a year which would give me total freedom. Not ready to say goodbye to Norwich for good. I have missed Poppy and Edward this last week and wish perhaps for a new mobile, my phone is such that the battery barely lasts all day so by the time i think i would like to ring them, i am unable to do so. Does this mean buying a new phone is on my list of jobs in the two weeks im home?
I understand that Kerry and Carla have dealt with my kayak, that Carla has emptied Nicolas bedroom so my original list of jobs reduce, though i have added many more to it. I have given the girl who has moved into the garden house today the task of measuring to find a fridge freezer for herself that will fit! Ha, thats a good one. The space is so small im unsure we can find one, i know i have looked before but a larder fridge has never really been satisfactory.
I sort of half hope she wont also wont a bed replacement by the time i get home. Fridge and bed replacements have been on the agenda for some time and she is just a catalyst for making them happen. The bed is about improved storage and a simple task other than the removal of a cumbersome but comfortable bed settee. It is so very very very important to me that my space is comfortable for people when they are travelling and now Nessa is there for a year, her needs are greater. my freedom depends on her comfort and the development of an easy relationship in the two weeks i am home.
I am being hassled, i called in for a pint on my way home and they tell me they close at ten. I think i want them to leave me here drinking my pint and writing but suspect i have to sup up and move on. i doubt there will be any other establishments that i might be comfortable frequenting at this time of night on my twenty minute walk back 'home' so an early night for me then!
