The phone rang just when I didn't want the phone to ring. Henry and I had packed up the easy bits -- we were now surrounded by empty boxes and items that defied boxing up, and I was determined to resolve this within the hour. "Hello, John speaking" I said, in a tone that declared "Hello, John wishes he wasn't speaking, bit busy." But it was long distance, from Canada, from a sister with a busy schedule of her own, who had carved out the time to call with good wishes for her Little Brother's Big Trip.
Twenty minutes later, I put the phone down, richly rewarded. On a sofa bed overlooking the sea, my big sister had taught me a lesson in what this trip is all about, before Henry and I had even arrived at Heathrow. Abandoning a timetable. Missing a deadline. Building a relationship. Bloody Big Sister, one step ahead again.
JY
Musings of two Englishmen who have popped out of their Comfort Zones - and into the Southern Hemisphere ...
The Story So Far ...
We said farewell to our work friends at the RSPCA and BBC on 14 September, farewell to our families on 3 October, and set off for Africa to save cheetahs, decorate school buildings, and look around a bit. After a trip home for Christmas, we headed for South East Asia on 6 January -- where we were stunned by Qatar and Cambodia, taught novice monks in Laos, and acted as security guards at an Elephant Festival. It was back home for four weeks to look after John's dad, before we tangoed our way through five South American countries in fifteen days. We then snooped our way through New Zealand, dipped our toes into Fiji, drove-thru California and were home from home with family in Vancouver.
Now, we are home itself. Fulfilled, happy, and ready to earn the respect of our friends and family by knuckling down and earning some money once again ...
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
The Rule of Lists
They taught me at Journalism School that there is a Rule of Threes. Three facts in an on screen tv graphic work better than two. Three statements are more likely to be understood than seven. Three voices in a news report are more manageable than nineteen. That sort of thing.
I must now add the Rule of Lists. When about to embark on a Big Trip, for every one item one cheerily strikes from the To Do List, three shall be added. That, at any rate, seems to be today's multiplication factor -- on Departure Date Minus Five.
I must now add the Rule of Lists. When about to embark on a Big Trip, for every one item one cheerily strikes from the To Do List, three shall be added. That, at any rate, seems to be today's multiplication factor -- on Departure Date Minus Five.
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Operation Painterman
Operation Painter Man has been launched. "What fun to learn to paint while I'm away", I had thought in July. So yesterday I found myself sitting down with a charmingly bonkers lady in fashionable Kemp Town. In my satchel, a set of paints and brushes given to me by Henry for my birthday. And she proceeded to teach me not to paint -- but to draw. One step at a time. What I saw, not what I thought I saw. I returned home with an upside down drawing of a Picasso portrait, that looked pretty damned good in my view. Today, I set to waterpainting with her husband. The speed of it is what thrills me. Ten minutes and you can have a result. And if it's not quite the result you had in mind, nobody need ever know.
Sunday, 19 September 2010
I wonder -- Departure.
Hmm. I wonder -- Departure. We've just visited friends in Wiltshire, Bath, Bristol, Bristol (different batch of friends), Basingstoke. "We're off, had to catch you before our trip, have a great autumn" -- probably a touch too in your face, but at least we've made the effort. Now thrilled to be home, sipping tea, planning a DVD and red wine/pizza Sunday night ahead. But if I feel like that after five familes and two and a half days away, how will I feel after five countries and nine and a half weeks?
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
First Day
Strange day. Awoke at 4.30am -- too excited to sleep? Henry snoring with a streaming cold, then awake, but listless. Up at 6am for a run. I never do that these days. Yes, this adventure was getting off to an unexpected start.
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