Tuesday, May 28, 2002
I was in town yesterday with Stevie, buying prizes for the young people for our CrossLinks end of term party and award night tonight. I was on my way back to the car. The sky had been blue and the weather sticky until about 20 minutes before, but the clouds had thickened and darkened. The first few drops of rain were fat and squelchy. Like a monsoon downpour the rain was immediate and heavy. People were squealing, caught out in t-shirts. Others ran and stood under shelters; doorways, office lobbies, window ledges. A lady with a gigantic coloured golfing umbrella walked on with enough dryness for about 4 people, though even her legs were wet. I stopped under a big canopy alongside a lady with dark hair, a man in a suit and a guy in blue as the deluge became hail. It was quite wonderful watching the lightning and listening to the thunder as the hail pelted down. The scene looked like a snowstorm on speed. The pavements were piled white and the drains were swamped. By the time I got back to my car the rain had stopped. Ten minutes away they had seen no lightning at all. I was lucky…and wet.
Sunday, May 26, 2002
I go to Brunei on Friday. It will be my pre-longer travelling travelling. I have to come back and work for the summer, which will be fun, though I will also need to get the motivation up a gear. But Brunei will be warm and fun and exciting and a chance to take lots of photos!! I intend to get in some blogging experience!!
I am sitting here in Belfast and the sun is shining. It’s a welcome relief after a week of mad weather. Sunshine for two minutes followed by crazy downpours of cold rain and gusting winds. Today is calm and though not hot the sky is powder blue with wispy white floating clouds. Being Ireland, everyone is in small t-shirts, exposing themselves to the rays of a fickle summer.
In myself I am in a zone of transition. In my journal a few days ago I wrote, ‘I am in the space before…the part before. I am entering that place where endings and beginnings merge. Where great excitement and sleep-robbing adrenalin buzzes are interrupted by waves of sadness where tears tickle your tummy. . . The journey is changing shape. What awaits…’
‘The plans and possibilities are ultimately almost endless, but even within my boundaries are plentiful and abundant. Preparation is a process that has started…Part of the process is a mental/psychological one. The preparation for travelling solo. An exciting opportunity to meet people, connect, explore, be. The ‘shadow’ of loneliness dances nearby and has to be acknowledged, but not feared.’
Edward Abbey:
“There are lonely hours. How can I deny it? There are times when solitaire becomes solitary, an entirely different game, a prison term, and the inside of the skull as confining and unbearable as the interior of the house trailer on a hot day.”
“In the evenings after work I sit at the table outside and watch the sky condensing in the form of twilight over the desert. I am alone but loneliness has passed like a shadow, has come and is gone.”
(from ‘Desert Solitaire’)
In myself I am in a zone of transition. In my journal a few days ago I wrote, ‘I am in the space before…the part before. I am entering that place where endings and beginnings merge. Where great excitement and sleep-robbing adrenalin buzzes are interrupted by waves of sadness where tears tickle your tummy. . . The journey is changing shape. What awaits…’
‘The plans and possibilities are ultimately almost endless, but even within my boundaries are plentiful and abundant. Preparation is a process that has started…Part of the process is a mental/psychological one. The preparation for travelling solo. An exciting opportunity to meet people, connect, explore, be. The ‘shadow’ of loneliness dances nearby and has to be acknowledged, but not feared.’
Edward Abbey:
“There are lonely hours. How can I deny it? There are times when solitaire becomes solitary, an entirely different game, a prison term, and the inside of the skull as confining and unbearable as the interior of the house trailer on a hot day.”
“In the evenings after work I sit at the table outside and watch the sky condensing in the form of twilight over the desert. I am alone but loneliness has passed like a shadow, has come and is gone.”
(from ‘Desert Solitaire’)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)