I only realised that I wanted to hate France a few hours after I got back. The language sounds like a bunch of Neanderthal women developed it when their menfolk failed to kill the mammoth again. The streets smell of piss. Even without their famed arrogance, the people are as ugly as the rest of… Continue reading Nothing to Hate
Category: Europe
BYO P-A-S
‘You shouldn’t have to pay to get well!’ Those words make me grind my teeth every time I hear them. And I hear them a lot. Someone in the crowd shouted it out during ‘Audience Viewpoint’ at a Crowded House concert and they made it onto the live album. The retort, ‘well, try harder to… Continue reading BYO P-A-S
Contact
Akasha and I rose early the next morning and headed off to catch our bus into the mountains. The others had most of the day to fill before catching their own buses home. Jesse had helped us check bus times with an official when we’d arrived 2 days earlier, but the woman at the ticket… Continue reading Contact
Through the Window
The new arrivals needed cash, so the first stop was a currency exchange booth. It took security very seriously. A guard at the door made Lestat show his cash before letting him into the booth then shut the door behind him so that no one else could enter until he was done. Out on the… Continue reading Through the Window
Horror Stories
n the moment before the train passed into the tunnel, I stole a glance at the couple sitting across from us. Both were tall with hair slicked back from widow’s peaks. They wore capes with high collars and the man’s incisors gleamed threateningly. “There are no vampires in Romania.” The man’s voice was chilling in… Continue reading Horror Stories
A Green Country
Continuing on this positive vain, I’m impressed by the European effort to protect the environment. One of my big frustrations in Japan was that people pretented, even believed, that they were being environmental, but they really had no idea. Most separating of garbage was limited to burnables and non-burnables, but the primary example of the… Continue reading A Green Country
Polyglots
I recently got a message from a friend who, after browsing through this site, said ‘I never realised that you hated Belgium so much.’ The message upset me because I had no intention of creating a negative image in my scribblings. In fact, I love Belgium. I would have left a long time ago if… Continue reading Polyglots
On the Roads
My new company is offering me a company car. I can choose from BMW, Mercedes Benz and Alfa Romeo among others. And I’ll refuse. Driving in Belgium isn’t particularly fun. I rented a car on my first visit and again for a couple of weeks when I was moving in, so I know. It’s not… Continue reading On the Roads
Stirling
I made for a hostel as soon as the bus let me off in Inverness and then out along the eastern end of the Great Glen Way. It ran beside the Ness River, then out onto it. A string of small islands split the river in two, and their miniature forests provided a beautiful escape… Continue reading Stirling
The Great Glen
I’d planned to catch the bus straight through to Inverness, but the ride up to Fort William was so enchanting that I decided to stop there for the night. That bus ride took me past Glen Coe and numerous other lochs and castles – all with mountainous backdrops. Those mountains were covered in a fatigue… Continue reading The Great Glen