A tipi in the Wirral

I've made it to England. Tomorrow I head to London to visit Patty Wagon before he head's to Africa for a year. Aside that it's business as usual. I live in a tipi surrounded by sheep, chickens and a donkey. A few friends and I help build a house with occasional side trips into Liverpool etc.

I've got tons more to write but only 3 minutes left, so another time.

Sweet deal!

I made a new friend last night and she seems pretty connected. Last night she managed (in only a matter of moments) to get myself and Griff staff passes to the Green Man festival near Cardiff. Griff works 'till 6 and after that he's going to drive us both down to the festival where I'll do . . . something in exchange for free entrance and camping etc.

I'd say it's a pretty sweet deal! I hope the weather stays nice!

You mean it rains here too?

I did it! I managed to escape the grips of Ireland and have made my way over to Wales! I found a way to make the crossing quite cheaply, but didn't find it until I didn't have enough time to qualify for the savings, so I just bought a ticket on the ferry and Rory (the guy who's couch I was surfing on) drove me to the dock so I could catch it.

Once in Wales I started talking to an Irishman who's been living in England for a while, and he bought my train ticket for me, and a cup of tea. Obviously I declined the offer at first, but he was persistent, and really, I wanted to accept. So, after the required 'Oh no's and 'I can't accept's I did just that.

I'm in Bangor now, and have been here a couple of days. My first full day was spent lost in the fields and forests of Wales trying to find a campsite which doesn't exist. I followed the directions of the folks at the Hostel and ended up in the arse end of nowhere. While there I took in some fantastic scenery, walked through some beautiful countryside, and got thoroughly lost. After a while the trail I was following seemed to stop, and I found myself walking through fields of sheep, cow shit, and mucky water. At one point I had to climb through about 20 meters of forest, during which time I managed to find no less than 5 sheep's skulls and find myself at one point standing on the spinal cord of a sheep, with my feet both between it's ribcage. I think once a sheep goes missing here, they just forget about it.

Anyway, after about 5 hours of random walking, Gruffudd (Can't pronounce it so I call him Griff, he's my Welsh contact) picked me up and took me into Snowdonia national park where I stayed at a hostel and enjoyed an included buffet breakfast which allowed me to pack an inexpensive lunch.

Since then I've attended a lunch with a group of Welsh speakers at the University of Bangor, and been given the run around while trying to convert some traveller's checks into cash.
Despite the rain, I'm going to camp tonight, and at some point I think I'll actually tell the campsite about my plans. No rush though, I've still got 48 minutes left on the Internet at the library!

My last 5 minutes.

It's funny, how sometimes things happen all at once. This is what just happened to me. . .

I came home from getting some groceries and calling my Mom to wish her a happy birthday and I thought to myself 'now what?' That thought was followed by a moment of absolute boredom during which time I decided I would do the dishes. I removed my shirt so as not to soil or dampen it while the dishes were being done. While I did this I discovered that I needed to have a shower. No big deal, I'd do it after the dishes.

So I started to wash the cups. I got about 5 cups in when one broke and I slice my right little finger open. This was particularly shitty because I was bleeding all over the place and there were no paper towels to be found. The level of shittyness rose even higher because, as you recall, I'm in someone else's house at the moment, and don't really want to be bloodying up the place while they're away on vacation. Eventually I managed to migrate to the bathroom leaving behind me no little red trail. While in the bathroom I found some gauze and managed to tape up my finger. Thank God, crisis averted.

Then I stepped out of the bathroom and missed the first step. I didn't fall though, thanks to the fact that I was able to stabilize myself quickly with my right big toe, which was then torn open. I managed to hobble back into the bathroom and gauzed that one up too. At this point I'm sitting at home, with a finger that I can't wash dishes with for a while, and a toe that will make it horribly painful to shower. Compoud this with the fact that I have plans to hang out with some people I just met the other day, and I need to text them and have no credit on my mobile. I also don't remember their names particualrly well, and I smell like BO.

And now (yes, actually just now) I noticed that my finger is bandaged too tightly and has turned purple.

Strangely though, I find the whole thing kind of funny!

Diet coke? I'm on my knees screamin' . . .

It's all over the radio and club scene here, and it's catchy as hell!!

Big Girls

Actually there's a lot of good music (well, fun at least) playing over here but I have no idea what any of it is or who sings it.

Last Monday, a group of us went to a pub that was playing some awsome music! It was all gypsy stuff and it was fantastic! I knew a couple of the songs by Gogol Bordello, but for the most part I didn't know anything. So I asked the DJ, these were his albums . . .

Electric Gypsyland (2 CDs from Crammed Disks)
Balkan Beat Box
Balkan Beats (www.eastblokmusic.com)
Gypsy Beats and Balkan Bangers
Barcelona Raval Sessions (2 CDs www.kindustria.com)

Check 'em out! They're good!

WOW! And there's a new Manu Chao CD coming out in September!!!

Unrelated events call for unrelated images.

Last night Martin (the German who's now leaving my in charge of his flat in Dublin while he goes on vacation to Albania) and I went to see a free outdoor screening of the movie Totsti about South African thugs. It was fantastic, if you ever get the opportunity, watch it. If you never get the opportunity, get off your ass and make it happen, it's a good film.

Immediately following that I walked into the street and some Spanish woman looked at me and said 'red'. I responded with 'Huh? . . . Wha . . ? Are you talking to me?' Then things went more or less like this . . .

Spanish Woman: You have red hair.
Confused Grayson: Yes, that's right, I do.
Spanish Woman: I want to have a baby with red hair.

At this point she puts her arm around mine and starts walking beside me in the direction of the closest pub. Within the next few steps she starts telling me about Spain and asks me if I know it well. I confessed that I didn't know Spain very well at all, and also that I was Canadian. Upon hearing that I wasn't Irish, she unlinked our arms and the whirlwind romance was over. Martin and I continued on to a different pub, and the Spanish folk (although they did still invite us to join them) continued in the direction they were originally heading.

Here's an excerp from a recent e-mail home

I've moved on from Wicklow now, and am in Dublin. I had GREAT crack in Wicklow too though! On my last day we went on a hike in the woods and came across a river. This river was beautifull, so we stopped to enjoy it. 'Twas at that poin that we found 11 500ml bottles of cider. So . . . we took 'em. While we were gathering these beer, I happened to look into the river and notice a full can of Budwiser floating past. Following that I found a fottle of Miller sitting in the shallows. 'Twas grand and it was the start of a great night!

I arrived in Dublin yesterday around noonish. I managed to find a German couple who would put me up for an indefinite period (always a good thing) and along with them came a couple of guys from Germany, a girl from Finland, and another girl from Argentina. They're all great craic and today a bunch of us snuck (we didn't have to try very hard) into the Guinness brewery. We did the entire thing, went to a tasting, and at the end of the tour, some American guy I just bumped into asked me 'Hey, do you want a free beer?' My obvious answer was 'Yes!' and there I was, enjoying a 360 degree view of dublin, in a pub that I wasn't allowed into without paying, with a pint of Guinness that I didn't have to pay for.

Tonight we're going to go to a free pub that's going to play reggae/sca/dub/Brazillian music. Should be good, but if not, who cares, something else is going on within a couple of minuites walk.