....to be a pilgrim

so we are just about reading for the off. all is amazingly packed into our small walking bags. not really sure how, but i'm sure we will appreciate the lack of weight while we are walking. As i said a few posts ago we are off walking across spain towards santiago de compostela. it's been a bit of a dream of ours to do the walk ever since i heard about from my aussie/new yorker friend lisa did it back in 2001. see had just walked for a month before digging the bones of some long dead cisterians on the dig i was on in spain ( with that crazy guy, mark horton off Coast on the tele).

to make it more interesting one of the monk skeletons we excavated had a shell around his neck- i sign that he imself had done the pilgramage back in the 12 century. i suppose this is now a quite modern adventure but the connection with the people how have been treading these paths over a millenia is quite something.

so we think it could take 4-6 weeks ( we may take it quite easy) . we think we might be doing 20 km a day (it 780km to santiago)

apart from that i all quite unknown.


Just returned from Green Man Festival. Apart from having a great name ( and now having a green man tshirt) ths is the real credible festival of the summer. none of those obvious charty line ups of glastonbury and V. havent got time to go into all the bands which you will be thankful for, but i few highlights:

• Euros Childs and Richard James- always great even Gorkys is no more
• Battles- amazing new band- where music is going apparently ( though that sounds quite pretentious ), i have never seen a drummer go so fast- there was steam coming off him.
• the folky stuff- Devenra banhart, men an tol, vetiver,
• Hearing Stephen Malkmus interviewed and witnessing a less than obvious finale to the festival.
• Gruff rhys (SFA) performing a 20 minute redition of SKYLON!, his epic telling of how he diffuse a bomb on a plane ( with acting and props)
  

apart from the music lisa and i had a great festival, bit muddy but its all part of it i suppose.


right better put my sandals on and hit the road.......

look at my carrots and courgettes!

im so amazed

mainly because i had let them for dead after i had cared for them so much in the beginning but then i had no more pots or compost to replant them and spread them out and my garden is made from concrete, but then yesterday i just went to pull up some of the leafy bits for the rabbit and a whole baby carrot emerged, and then i had a look at the pot of courgettes, removed 12 snails, and there they were, three baby courgettes, just growing, against all odds, all on their own. i am amazed.

and we have started getting in shape for our walk and this is our local stretch of coast that we get to train on. almost as amazing as my veg.






such joys were short lived after the exhaust decided to fall off our beast of a citroen on the busiest stretch of road in town yesterday. this wasnt so bad, what was worrying was the stupidity of people. i dont even care if that sounds rude because those people were so rude! rude and stupid. we were sat on the verge by the side of the road for over two hours waiting for the rac, and not one person offered help, just a whole bunch of toots and insults and pointing. the high point was when a cropped trousered topless bald doped up man approached us and told us 'you cant park there'. steve wisely ruled out sarcasm and told him we were broken down to which he suggested we should put on our hazzard lights then. steve pointed out the flashing orange lights on the car. the man looked skeptical then walked off.

i love swansea.

an end has a beginning

i'm trying not to forget about this old fashioned blogging thing now that the phenomenon of facebook as arrived. ok i have to say i'm hooked to facebook just for the fact that you can find so many people that you have lost track of. i suppose it is just a hi tech address book. that's right the good old blog won't get too neglected.

so i've finally finished on the pipeline archaeology job. it all ended today. so now i have to find something to occupy 12 hours of my day. its really good just to be back home and able to hang out with lisa knowing that i don't have to back to work on sunday night.

actually we only have a normal life for a few weeks then our summer plans kick in. first there is the Greenman Festival down near brecon. an amazing lineup. stephen malkmus from Pavement, euros childs and Richard James from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals and lots more.

then lisa and i embark on our pilgrimage to santiago de Compostela in spain. we set off from teh france/spain border and tae 4 or 5 weeks to walk along the top of spain with our pilgrims passport.

Tour de france

Who knew so many people in this county enjoyed watching cycling. Just wait for my train away from the big city and back into sleepy wales. Hot to see le grand depart then the prologue time trial and the slightest glimpse of the stage start this morning. Great atmosphere.

Ruth and alice

Rabbitgate,graduands and journeys

This is the said culprit in last weeks rabbitgate affair that almost got me evicted from my work accomodation. Hard to imagine that this is the same rabid bunny that was tearing around the flat when the cleaners came in. This is biscuit by the way, our rabbit. Well lisa's really. The picture is of her right now in the back of the car mo our way back down to swansea. She's just just taking a few minutes out from driving. Lisa just been up for a job interview for a place on a graduate scheme doing community development stuff which seemed to in really well. As i say she is a graduand now as she passed her degree. It goes without saying that i am very proud of her. Well i purpose i just said it. So only about 4 hours to go. Exciting weekend coming up.on friday i shak my new contact lenses and then i head straight for london to watch the start of the tour de france. And before you say, i know it's in france but it starts in the uk this year. Ok