Hi everyone, it's been quite some time since i last wrote anything here as it's been hectic.
We went to England as planned and surprise surprise it turned out to be a hell of a lot better than expected. London turned out to be a damn good city with heaps to do and see. Even if the sky loomed above us constantly threatening rain it was great. Pleasant news was that all the major galleries and Museums are free and if anything has to be seen it's the British Museum. This place is so full of stolen booty from other countries and empires of antiquity it's just awesome. All praise those empire building poms!!!!!
We stayed with Juanita and spent most of our time trawling the sights and shops, the worst case of me frothing at the mouth for purchases in a while. I stumbled across an art store with the best sale on i have ever seen and almost swooned in desire at the assorted multitude of pencils, brushes, books and canvases, all crying out for me to hold them and comfort them in my grubby little fists. Oh for more baggage space and money, i would been overladen like a pack mule braying at the bit, my coat festooned with various articles of artistry and the sweat upon my brow smeared with the charcoal stains of over enthusiasm.
Sense came in the form of Eve saying things like "Do you really need that deliciously polished set of designer paints that are at a bargain price?" or "How many art books can you really carry around the world with you?" and unfortunately sense reigned me in that day after a brief tussle with a set of coloured sketching pencils and sketch book of exquisite quality paper.
Anyway after money was being leeched from me or falling through my hands like so much discarded sand we finally embarked upon our journey to the land of the twee. Thats right Ireland was our next destination and i can definately see where the legends of Leprachauns come from. THEY ARE BLOODY LEPRECHAUNS!!!! Small shifty eyed little buggers with not a pot of gold in sight. Dublin can best be described as a post industrial sqaut of a place, with minor amounts of charm atrtached to make it feel like a city rather than a conglomeration of assorted housing that popped up on the earth somewhat like a pimple. Don't get me wrong, there are things to see in Dublin, just not a lot, and it certainly doesn't feel Irish if you know what i mean. Anyway after 2 days there we embarked on a day trip to the pleasant region of Glendalough. If you only have time for one thing in Ireland this should perhaps be it. After coming to this ruined monastic settlement i can now see how the legends of faries popped up after the local monks must have gotten pickled on the communion wine and fallen asleep by the lakes under curly trees decorated with patches of moss and dewdrops. This place looks like it comes out of Brian Froud's book of Fairies. It's very green, very picturesque and most of all a far cry from what Dublin is not.
So after Ireland we headed back to the big sis. London part 2 was good as well and on one night i made the best honey soy chicken i think i have ever tasted. I just have to make sure i remember the recipe.
Several days later we said goodbye to Juanita and caught our plane to Vancouver, Canada, where we promptly arrived in the dingiest hostel we've stayed in so far and where Eve quickly got attacked by a psychopathic homeless person who was obviously a few beers short of a six pack if you get my drift. Of all the people it had to happen to it had to be Eve, it seems all her prepared bad luck of thinking the worst was going to happen finally paid off. So after a brief tussle in which not one fucking dumb Canadian helped, i was called off by Eve to stop me from beating the shit out of this derelict and having the cops called on me after so quickly arriving in Canada. Yes that wouldn't have looked good, i can see it now... "So let me get this straight, you arrived in Vancouver half an hour ago and proceeded to beat a homeless person unconscious with his own arm that you had torn from his own body?" Yes that would have gone down a treat with the 'authorities' of this country.
Anyway so far i can see that Canada is a beautiful country minus the people, who seem to all look like homeless vagrants, but the weather hasn't been with me to SEE Canada. It has been raining non stop since we arrived and has only just let up today...FINALLY!!!
