#postaweek2023

[solaariow]

Forty two

I woke up in a simple room with three beds, me on the one closest to the door. I was fully clothed and in the adjoining bed next to me was a Thai woman who woke up with a start when I said, “wheres my son?”. She held up a piece of paper with 14,000 baht written on it. “I don’t care,” I said, “I’ll pay it but where is my son?!” She held her hands out to calm me but I was up and off the bed and…

[solaariow]

Thirty

Well, what d’ya know? Two blogs this week, the train is back on track. Well,  the truck is back on the track. I mean the road. The truck is back on the road. And while it rolls on the road, I write this. But how do you write and roll at the same time? I hear you cry. Easy. Today I have a double driver. A double driver is someone who jumps into my truck and….well, double drives my truck as we…

[solaariow]

Twenty One

“Do you like techno music?” her French accent always caught me off guard. I hesitated, studying her face, her dark eyes, thin lips, looking for some sign of deceit. “Uh, yeah,” I said, “I love it. Have done all my life.” She smiled. “I have a ticket for a club in Barcelona when we get there. Do you want to go with me?” I said I did, but I couldn’t shake the damage that I’d suffered recently.…

[solaariow]

Nineteen

Monday I was in England and it rained. Tuesday I was in Belgium and it rained. Wednesday I was in France and it rained. Thursday I was in Spain and it rained. But now I’m in Coimbra, Portugal, and I’m.wearing my hot pants in the sun. Coimbra is a beautiful place. We’re here for a week and I’m going to explore and (try to) eat and (try to) rest and (try to) repair. Although the chapter I…

[solaariow]

Fifty one

A quiet week pre-Christmas, with nothing more exciting than working for the Post Office, running up to Northampton then back down to Bournemouth and then home. Easy enough, and it gives me a lengthy run to catch up on podcasts and audiobooks. And, barring a shocking Christmas calamity, next week should be the final blog of the year…and what a year it’s been. I’ve had so many highs and lows, but…

[solaariow]

Forty nine

So close. So close to fifty two blogs and a whole year of blogging. Barring something cataclysmic happening, the end is in sight and I’ve almost managed exactly what I set out to do way back in January. But what’s next? Do I end the year pleased with myself and go back to blogging once or twice a year? Nah. My life is way too bizarre and interesting to let this run fall away, so I’ll keep…

[solaariow]

Forty Eight

The Post Office runs have finished and I’ve been swapped into the little 12 tonner truck we’ve got. The guy who usually runs it is nice and clean, which is always a great thing when you have to swap trucks that someone else actually lives in. It’s also ballache to have to clear it out for the next driver, if you’re the one usually living in it. Saturday night I loaded out for Peter Kaye in…

[solaariow]

Forty seven

For the last week I’ve been doing runs for Royal Mail from Bournemouth up to Atherstone (near Leicester) and back. Its easy money and simple and a…Well, a break from the pressure and excitement of touring, although I’m eager to get back to the music side of things, but for now, I can let my wounds heal and my diseases disappear. I return to Thailand in 40ish days, but this time for the right…

[solaariow]

Forty four.

I’m sorry, but I’ve done fuck all this last week, and the blog is late. So imma post it, and not promote it, and see if anyone notices… Notices that I’ve done bugger all this last week, and wrote about it late. OK OK, I have booked another trip to Thailand, and thats the first week of January, so the year should start lively. I promise. Next year’s blogs will still be weekly. Ish. And I’ve got…

[solaariow]

Forty one

Deliberately late this time, as I knew I’d be sat here at Heathrow Airport for a while, so how better to kill time than to write a blog that’s a day late? But blog number 41 means there’s 11 blogs left until I’ve completed the task I set out to do, which is to write a blog every week throughout 2023. I’ve also got an idea for what I want to do blog-wise next year, but I’m still mulling over it.…

[solaariow]

Thirty nine

This blog is late, as are 25% of them seemingly, and yet I have no excuse. I haven’t been  partying, I haven’t been working. All I’ve done most of the last week is go to the gym early, walk approximately 4km, and then if I’m home and in my pjs by lunch I call that a successful day! Things are quiet. Things are good. Things are a lot different from 3 weeks ago when I got a telling off in the…

[solaariow]

Thirty eight

Life has returned to normal, although accompanied by a heavy case of “the holiday blues”. I mean, you know when you return from a week away and you get that low feeling of wanting to get back to where you’d had so much fun? Well, I had that but I’d been away for 6 months so it really sucked. But I got to see my family again, and my youngest is staying with me now. I’ve been offered work, but not…

[solaariow]

Thirty seven

I’ve had to leave the job I love, the job I was great at, the job I had so much unfulfilled potential yet to explore, and all because they got my ex back into work. I was promised she was done, that my mental health was more important than her employment, and that I belonged there, not her. To be honest, it wasn’t her decision, and maybe she was as surprised as I was, but I know she thought she…

[solaariow]

Thirty five

Other than England, I’ve now spent more time in Germany in the last two years than anywhere else. I think. Italy might be up around there somewhere. I like Germany. I like the Germans. All those I’ve spent any length of time with or worked with are all friendly and fun, although I guess that might also be the way I approach people. My friend, Skeete, told me something years ago that I still use…

[solaariow]

Thirty four

Ask any truck driver from anywhere in Europe and they’ll tell you they hate Paris. The traffic is horrific, the road layout can be convoluted, and it can be pretty dirty in places. I have my own love/hate relationship with the city, but I admit I haven’t explored as much of it as I’d like to, but what I have seen is either beautiful and cultured, or horrific, convoluted, and stinks of shit. I do…

[solaariow]

Thirty three.

You know that song with the line, let’s skip to the good part? Well, it’s by a group called AJR. You probably already know that and I’m just a pop culture dinosaur these days, but anyway, they’re supporting Imagine Dragons on our tour and they’re a really fun, very lively, bunch of guys and really rock the house when they’re on. Having started busking in New York, they’re now getting ready for…