Living in the past....

Living in the past....

Can you believe it, I was almost stuck for words the minute I opened my eyes this morning! The alarm went off and I did the usual 'Nnnnrrggggjhhhh bbbkbfdh urrrgghhhzzz urrrghhhh' roughly translated as 'Oh no, here we go again. When is it Saturday?' upon which I sat straight up and put my feet on the floor to get out of bed. I never snooze if I have to get up. I have to get straight out of bed and move immediately. I pulled my phone out of its DAB docking slot where it was charging all night and looked hopefully for an exciting late night message I'd missed whilst in Dreamland. No such luck unfortunately but, there was a Facebook message - 'Janna Campbell has sent you a friend request'

I was so surprised and amazed! I suddenly felt I was being catapulted back 21 years to the spring of I reckon '92, possibly '93 when you could get a Young Person's Railcard and travel all over Europe for a month. Not being a driver, public transport was my thing. Up until then I was what you can only call a bus spotter. I used to ride on buses all over the West Midlands ticking of bus numbers in my fleet list. God! I can't believe I am telling you this! Cringe! Anyway, I decided to do the railcard bit before I got to 23 and was too long in the tooth for one so I went off on my own for two and a half weeks (I couldn't do a month as I wasn't a student, I was working for Solihull Council by then) and had a whale of a time. Janna and her friend were from Arizona and with another girl called Stephanie from Washington State we trundled around bits of Germany and Austria together before they went on to Italy and I went home. I was the token weird English person who would generally keep everyone laughing by just being me. It was a very memorable fun time though.

The fellow I was seeing occasionally (deceased car mechanic but I didn't kill him) rang me up when I was back 5 minutes and told me he was looking forward to seeing me and then in the same sentence asked if I could pick up a box of tea bags on the way round... HUMPH! Happy memories eh?

Sorry, the little Blue Tit was the only one obliging enough to hang around long enough for a picture. It rained so heavily Pigeon just sat under a bush all day sulking. I know how he felt really.

Track? After I got back from my inter railing trip, I went with a friend - Lumberjack John - to see Jethro Tull. John was a big fan and warned me not to talk during the concert. No kidding, he always was a talker and still is but he wouldn't stop talking all the way through the concert. Dearie me!

A bit of Jethro Tull for a change I think - Living In The Past