Yesterday afternoon I crossed the street where I live to meet some friends for Sunday lunch. Across the street is as far as I was prepared to go, because the pavements were covered in a sludgy, slimy, disconcertingly slippy sludge. The snow that had fallen the previous night, had already been turned into an unsightly … Continue reading »
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Me and the girl from… Balham??
After two years and nine months of being the girl from Clapham, I’ve thrown a spanner in the works and moved south to Balham. O Clapham! With your yummy mummies drinking coffee on the Northcote Road, your sophisticated French couples drinking wine on Abbeville Road, the sunbathers on Clapham Common and the joggers who endless … Continue reading »
On helplessness, offering help and being helpful
‘Vivir con miedo, es como vivir a medias’ – ‘A life lived in fear, is a life half lived’ Strictly Ballroom (and my life motto) If there’s one thing I hate more than anything else, it’s being helpless. I suspect most of us are the same. We spend all of our childhoods learning how not … Continue reading »
Christmas carols with a twist
Sometimes I do wonder about myself and why I volunteer to get myself into ridiculous situations. Need someone to do something slightly silly or potentially humiliating in public? I’m there, drawn by some strange magnetism. So it was that I found myself standing outside Clapham South Tube station last night, alone, with a tin of … Continue reading »
17: treasure hunting
It’s easy to forget, living in a city where everyone maintains strict control over their personal space, no one makes eye contact if they can help it, and you definitely, definitely don’t disturb the concentrated peace and talk on the Tube first thing in the morning, that the people who live here are actually pleasant, … Continue reading »
23: unidad y soledad
Last night we met up with our fellow pilgrims – everyone we’d met in the last day of the journey we told to meet us in the main square at 7pm. So we met the four Spanish guys, Julio Ferrer, Heidi, the Italian Romano, Ronald and Roland and some Germans, two of whom we hadn’t … Continue reading »
24: Teo – Santiago
‘I just can’t give up now, Come too far from where I’ve started from. Nobody told me The road would be easy But I don’t believe you’ve brought me this far To leave me.’ 7.30am – FF shook me awake ‘EVERYONE’S GONE! We have to get out of here before the Spanish boys wake up,’ … Continue reading »
25: Briallos – Teo
‘Este es el camino. Caminais.’ (This is the way. Walk in it) Isaiah 30v21 This morning we set out in darkness under a heaven of bright bright stars. We had a long day ahead of us, but there was no way we were going to rush this one. At 5km we stopped for coffee where most … Continue reading »
27: Redondela – Pontevedra
‘At the same time, since all things are new, you see only the beauty in them, and you feel happy to be alive.’ The Pilgrimage, Paulo Coehlo Although we slept in a hot room with 50 other pilgrims, FF and I slept like queens thanks to two large glasses of vino tinto before bed. The … Continue reading »
30: Ponte de Lima – Rubiaes
I’m living on the mountain, underneath a cloudless sky, I’m drinking from the fountain that never shall run dry, O yes! I’m feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply For I am dwelling in Beulah land! In the youth hostel in Ponte de Lima there were rumours of other pilgrims – a rucksack in … Continue reading »
