Splendid!

Professor Elemental in a film? I shall eagerly await it's release from across the pond!

Yesterday

I had wanted to leave the 'farm' yesterday, hitchhike into Koblenz and then catch a train to Hamburg in order to chance a meeting with a friend who said they could host me. I figured I'd find a way to get in touch with them so no biggy if I had nothing really arranged ahead of time.

I arrived in Koblenz (after a free bus ride and 1 car) and the weather was wonderful! Sunny and warm in a way not typical of October 23rd! I was feeling good so I went to a shop and got my watch battery replaced (the one that controls the 'globlu' function, because as it turned out my watch has 3 batteries.) and grab a kebab for a quick lunch outside the train station.

That's where things went wrong.

A ticket to Hamburg was €80. I decided screw it I'll head straight to Berlin. But that would cost me €100. So now I have a dilemma the likes of which can only be sorted with the help of the Internet. So that's where I went, a cafe just outside the Hauptbahnhof to search for cheaper bus lines and to ask for a ride share. I found nothing. So I talked to the Moroccans outside (this is when it's good to know a little French even in Germany) who told me I should go to the homeless shelter for 1 night and then try to get a ticket tomorrow.

I didn't do that.

Instead I went back to the station to see when the next 'cheap' train fare would be available. Turns out if I waited until Sunday I could get to Berlin for only €64. Still far more than I was expecting if I wanted this rate I would have to buy the ticket at some point before 8pm that night. So I had some thinking to do. I posted some last minute requests on Couch Surfing and now I had to play the waiting game.

I'd been told Cologne had more and cheaper hostels but the Internet revealed that this was a lie. So I did what any traveller in my situation would do. I bought some cheap beer and sat on a park bench.

Behind me there was a skate shop\record shop that I thought might be nice to check out, so I finished me beer and took a walk inside. I looked around, and on my way out asked if the store clerk (a 24 year old named Geronimo) if he knew of any hostels in Koblenz. Turns out there is only one and it's €18 a night. But he said he'd let me use the Internet at his shop if I wanted!

It was while surfing the net here that I got a call from a CS host who said she could host me, but not until the following evening. So now I had to find a place for tonight. The search was one and I was diligently running through all of my options when Geronimo politely informed me that he was closing the shop. I was screwed, but Geronimo told me to wait a moment while he made a phone call. Homeless himself he had nowhere he could let me crash, but after a phone call to his boss he assured me I would not be out on the street, I could in fact crash in his store's back room where he would be spending the night.

Crisis averted I went back to the station to buy my €64 ticket at which point I was told I could go to Berlin for a mere €25 if I didn't mind taking the slow train and having the 6 hour trip stretch into an 11 hour trek. I didn't mind and so with ticket in hand, I set off to the Circus Maximus to buy a burger and relax.

6 hours after arriving in a strange city without anywhere to stay and no idea where I was going or what was going to happen to me the Universe once again smiled upon me and I was spared a chilly evening on the banks of the Rhine.

Canada IS a great country!

Yesterday I got roped into moving my brother out of University. Not normally a tragedy in any sense but I had other plans I was eager to get to so this mammoth move (it took us almost 12 hours to get everything loaded and the flat tidied up) I was ready to get home and then head back out.

This didn’t exactly happen as on our drive home the right wheel of the trailer behind the van decided to lock up and we had to pull over.

No matter what we tried (we drove both forwards AND backwards!!) We couldn’t seem to make this stubborn wheel turn, so we were just resigning ourselves to our fate and getting ready for a long walk to the closest phone when a friendly stranger and good Samaritan (both the same person) pulled over in their pickup truck and lent us his phone to call for a tow truck. As it turned out this helpful gentleman happened to hail from Caistor Centre and only a hop, skip and a jump (and perhaps a final lunge) from where I’m situated. We only chatted briefly but during this time I excused my appalling geographical knowledge of the area by saying that I’d been away for a long time and was just coming back.

After we’d called the truck and our new pal had driven off we were all sitting in the van chatting about how fortunate we’d been to have him stop, when who should come driving back towards us but the man himself. He got out of his truck and walked up to us and said something along the lines of . . .

“As I was driving away I was thinking. You said you just got back, and that probably meant you don’t have a job yet. Do you want a job?”

I of course accepted, shook hands and exchanged information before he headed off again. It’s a landscaping position which is good because I’ll get to be outside, doing different stuff all the time, getting to travel to different areas, and it pays well enough that I’ll be able to save up some money during the work season and then bugger off again once the season turns.

Cha Ching!

Madrid

You ever take a long bus ride and kind of get excited because you'll be able to get some reading done and just take it easy? Well that was the state of mind that I was in when I boarded the bus in Bilbao bound for Madrid. Sadly the driver thought he'd turn on the overhead T.V.s and play James Bond and then the Bourne Surpremecy in Spanish and blast the sound the entire trip. The Bourne film was a pirate copy too and was terrible, complete with people standing up in front of the screen.

So then we arrived in Madrid and I tried to call my hosts so they could meet me or give me directions to their place. Nope, the payphone wasn't having any of it. So I asked around in my best yet still apauling Spanish to see what the deal was. Nobody knew why but one woman gave me her phone to use so I got in contact, but I had to call back later so I had to thank the woman and let her go.

So I waited around for about an hour and then decided to try yet another payphone. While doing so I overheard a woman speaking English so I approached her to ask for her phone. When she turned around she was in tears, and couldn't lend me her phone because the battery was almost dead and she had just been mugged.

Then I asked a security guard if he could help me with the payphone and as he was a girl came up to him, tears streaming, and reported that she had been robbed.

Eventually I met 3 Irish girls who told me that you can't call a mobile phone from a payphone, and they graciously lent me their mobile and I was able to call my hosts and sort out the rest of my life from there.

Strange how in one station you can have people who are so trusting and generous and others who're so immoral and willing to take advantage of people. It's actually probably the one personality that enables the other to exist sadly.

This gent went to Gent

That's right. On 4 hours sleep I went to visit the medieval city of Gent. It was awesome. Cool architecture, winding canals, pedestrian only sections of town, tons of bicycles, and a very friendly livable overall feeling. It's kind of what North American cities should be, but probably never will.

After seeing the castle (only €1.50 because I'm under 26 ;) ) I walked around for a while. Actually I walked around for hours because I got lost and just kept walking. Eventually I made it back to the station but I was hungry.

Knowing that I would eat when I got home I tried to forget about it and not waste money on some crap. I ended up buying an entire bag of chips and a sausage on a bun smothered in fried onions, sauerkraut, and hot mustard. Instead of the warm feeling of accomplishment; of having willpower strong enough to resist temptation; instead of this I got indigestion and €4 less in my pocket. Kind of makes me feel bad about fibbing to the guy at the castle.

I'm starting to think this cowboy look isn't really working for me

Last night Matilda (my current host in Glasgow) and I went out to 'The Box' pub and listened to some music. It was pretty good. I'd been there the night before but the group last night was better by far.

At one point a guy came over to talk to Matilda, and then another guy came over and he hugged the first guy. Then he asked me if I had a problem with him being gay. Fortunately at that point Matilda said something to me and I was able to dodge the question entirely.

Then, not more than 30 seconds later, the 2nd guy that came over punched the first guy in the head. Really hard! So that guy got pissed off and stormed out. Then the punchy gay dude said unto Matilda in a thick Glaswegian accent 'Hey, can I talk to you for a second?'

The conversation went like this . . .

Dude - Hey, can I talk to you for a second?
Matilda - Uh, sure.
Dude - Are you guys together?
Grayson and Matilda - No.
Dude - Well, I'm not interested in her because, well, I'm just not. What he (referencing the first guy) chatting you up?
Matilda - No.
Grayson - No, he wasn't chatting her up.
Dude - He said he was chatting her up.
Grayson - Oh, well I guess so, but it didn't seem like it. How long have you two been together?
Dude - He's my brother.
Grayson - Oh.

At this point the conversation was between the two of us because Matilda had stepped out of the way. That's fine, it makes sense. It's the kind of thing you do in that situation. What wasn't fine was that she was insinuating that I should try to hit on him. That's when I stepped out of the conversation and left the guy by himself. He stood there alone for about 30 more seconds and then he said . . .

Dude - Fine. Hey, did that guy take a mobile from behind that speaker?
Grayson - I don't know, he took a jumper.
Dude - But did he take a phone?
Grayson - I don't know. He just took a black jumper.
Dude - I need to know if he has my phone.
Grayson - Well, was it in the pocket of a black jumper?

Then he kind of flailed and ran out the door.

Can't update my profile picture

I'm looking forward to being able to sit down and update my blog porperly, but that mightn't be for a while. I'd like to make it look like I care about keeping it up to date (try some of the links to the right. I dare you) and I will fix it all up eventually.

I'm in London now but will be going back to the northern farm tomorrow. Well, I'll make it as far as Manchester, i still have to buy a ticket to the Wirral (I really should be doing that now!) My first night in London I met Patty Wagon and he took me to the hostel he was staying at. It wasn't cheap (think $40/night. Thanks exchange rate!) but the stories we have from the night should last for a long time.



There was an 80s party the night we arrived so Patty and I decided to attend. We met lots of people and were having a laugh when suddenly a Kiwi guy I was talking to took offence to something (nothing I did, something must have snapped in his head) and he started getting agressive and pushy. He was a dick so I stopped talking to him and Patty and I decided we'd just go to our room and hit the hay.

Upon arriving we encountered our most thoughtfull roomate Lyndsay from California who was back from a job interview/date and had the lights on in the room and wasn't trying to be quiet at all. Patty and I talked to her for about 45 minutes trying to convince her that the £300 dinner she's just had with a 40 year old man, during which the conversation had turned to the topic of sex, might be an indication that she was going to be expected to do more than just watch his daughter. She agreed eventually but seemed to have no problem with it at all.

Then we went to sleep.

Then I woke up to the sounds of her sleeping with one of our other roommates. That went on for about 45 minutes and then I went back to sleep. When I woke up I got out of bed and Lyndsay was sitting on the edge of her bunk wrapped in blankets.

"Hey, can you pass me a shirt?"
I did.
"No, not that one, can you pass me that shirt?"
I did. I figured fine, she needs a shirt, no biggie.
"Can you pass me a pair of pants?"
I did, and in the process discovered the underwear of Anthony which had lost the previous night and which Lyndsay had refused to help him find because she was tired.

The next day we met a stranger in the street that tried to sell us some roasts of beef he had in a plastic bag and I'm pretty sure a man beside me in the train station toilet was masturbating in the urinal next to me.

London is a world class city.

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!