The Not So Lonely Planet: June 2010

Summer Time, Teepees & 20 Year Reunions

The party in the girl rises within to dance in the warmth of UK summertime.......

Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy
Put my glasses on, I'm out the door - I'm gonna hit this city
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
Cause when I leave for the night, I ain't coming back

Ain't got a care in the world, but got plenty of beer
Ain't got no money in my pocket, but I'm already here
Now, the dudes are lining up cause they hear that we got swagger
But we kick 'em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger

Love you, Cousins. Let's make sure that our next reunion is less than 20 years.

Sometimes when You're Too Obliging and Say Yes....

.....You end up in a sumo outfit complete with a battery operated fan.

(Yes, I still love you, cousin :p)

Welcome to Sunny Norwich

....where the sun always shines

.....where you can stay "in the middle of nowhere"

....use a toilet that's like the modern take on the "hole in the ground"

.....make new friends

.....eat pom bears to your heart's content

....go crabbing

....and take long walks on the beach (just mind the fact that it's raining for most of the time).

I Never Want My Life to be Reduced to this:

Standing around in a semi-circle around some kid digging in the sand.

Life has so much more meaning than that.

Ode to Ireland

Dear Ireland,

It's not that I don't like you (and I don't). It's an array of conflicting emotions for me. I am grateful for the opportunity you provided me to go jet setting across the continent. I did so at every single opportunity (and couldn't wait to get away from you). As much as I didn't like you, I will be forever grateful for the wonderful travel opportunities you gave me. You became my work base and it's as though London was like my weekend home. (London: I was physically tired of you, but having my little short "holidays" there has made me grown to you love you as I can fly in for the good, and then avoid all the bad.)

Ireland, everybody keeps on saying how beautiful you are. I dutifully went on road trips and tried to appreciate your physical beauty, but at the end of the day your soggy, grassy hills and overcast gray skies just didn't do anything for me. (I was born in a busy city on an island and then moved to a city by the sea, so my idea of beautiful is sapphire blue water, powder white sand and clear blue skies. I will forever have a strong infinity with the water and the sea.)

There were times when you sent me into a state of despair - why isn't there anything to do apart from drink in a dingy pub, why is it always raining and where is that creative hub that I so constantly seek?

Everybody always talks about how much they love the Irish accent, but the real Irish accent just grates me, and if I ever were to wake up with a fellow and to hear that accent (not that this will ever happen), I think I may just have to slit my wrists.

I hated you for being so country, so remote and so small town nosy, but in the very same breath I have also grown fond of some of of the wonderfully generous and kind hearted people who I have met. To the wonderful people i have met during my stay, you will be missed.

And to the housemates: As I post this online, I imagine that you both are lying there on the couch, glued to the television like always, clicking idly away at random channels, doing the same thing that you do every day, which means doing nothing with your lives. You won't miss me, and I couldn't care if I never saw either the two of you again (and I know I won't so hooray).