i tell you lot what. just reading this thread has really got me going again. I`m starting to spin a plastic globe, that sits on a blokes desk, on the 4th floor of my glorious work place, watching for a way east. People are saying "oh here he goes again. the escapist, cant handle the real world. substituting love and commitment "... maybe thats true. I say a happy happy , "oh well !" to that !... the only thing that reminds me of the real world is the sad looking infected , lonely tree outside my window.

I agree with ya Ted about 1st world criminality. It seems so high up that we mostly dont see it. We have to look for it. The 3rd world threat to a traveller is generally in ya face, so that scares us. But like you i didnt see it when i was there. it was all just smiles and interest help and loads of laughs.

I wonder if the pinnacle, the epiphany, the golden moment is there. we just have to keep building to find it. So more trips have to be !....... Going away indefinatly doesnt seem like its just for other people , to me now....So the loose plan now is, to get the flat done up sparkling, so as to rent it out. graft for a couple of years, growing blisters on my dreams. (heard that the other day , not sure where, and like it - had to use it !) and just go. surely its that simple..

in the mean time i have listened to what you lot have said and have stuffed myself with an interest for my non working hours. A shiny new camera. gonna wander the streets and capture stuff. fulfill my artistic pretentions ! and take that gommy expression off my face... mind you i was reading yesterday about photo restrictions. like you have to ask permission and pay for taking a photo of major landmarks here in london, unless you can prove you are taking the shot for personal reasons that are not a desire to blow it up. Or not for business reasons. Let them stop me ! pahhhh !

I`m lucky really, to have come back into a job, even though its a low payer. I see that there are alot of riders who have come back to no job and even no place to permanently live. Good luck you lot. its probably just round the corner !

what you up to then people ? whats the plans ? who wants s by the thames then ?