For Grandad, a poem.

London to Dublin

As I lay awake counting the minute until it was time to get up, 

I thought "it has a been very smooth so far, a bit too smooth. This leg might be time for the stress and travel quirks to begin."

I was right. 

Smooth wake up - alarm went off, nothing was forgotten, friends even broke slumber to say goodbye at 6am.

Walking to the station only to find it is closed and doesn't say when it opens. 

I follow other travellers who have happened on the same fate.

A bus stop, a complex timetable. I jump on a bus to a recognizable tube stop, not knowing how long or where it is. Just follow the travellers. 

Off at Victoria, smooth from here I think. Ticket purchased. Express train to the airport but not for 20 minutes. Still plenty of time when you get up well before an airport trip. 

On the train. Smooth sailing. Off we go, leaving the platform. 

Then the driver announces that the train will take 50 minutes not 20 due to diversions and Sunday times. 

Passengers curse and build on each other's frustration. Nothing can be done, we have left the station. 

I am still calm, not worried, not yet. There is plenty of time still to catch this jet.

Once there was a girl who's head was filled with all the curiosities of the world.

Four days, two cities. 

-3 or 7 degrees.

2 coats or a cardigan.

Italian, Japanese, German, Austrian or British cuisine.

Winter cringe and sparkling lights. 

Beautiful trees and costumed Santas. 

More to come but so much so far.

Friends flatmates, old and new. 

Mates met in Europe and Kiwi ones too. 

Travels continue more to see, people make places good company. 

The business of life is the acquisition of memories, 

in the end that's all there really is.

~ Carson in Downton Abbey

Food and Christmas

Forgetting sleep

Like riding a bike, can the skill of falling asleep too be forgotten?

Close eyes, lie flat, clear mind - wide awake.

Turn over, count sheep, pull up blankets - still here.

Where is this dreamland, so out of reach?

           A long practiced skill forgotten so fast.

                     Jolted      Awake as I start drifting off.

Snuggling, sailng,         slowly I sleep.