BioBlog travel log - 16/01/09

7:05 pm
Last night, I discovered that bar tabs are simultaneously wonderful and terrible things. Wonderful in that the company has agreed to pay for up to £30 of it, but terrible in that once dinner's gone, you have to spend it on drinks to fill it up. And I'm not going to let free money go to waste. Heaven forbid.
But then after the first drink, a second drink seems like an increasingly good idea. And I was sure, at the time, that I was still under budget, but apparently not.
Still, a trip to the city, a good look around, tube travel and training for less than £100 of my own money. Can't knock that.
It's been an entertaining trip, for sure. Probably the highlights being arriving and wandering around with BSc Phil for those two nights. I'd highly recommend coming down to the city if you haven't, but if you've any sense you'll bring a friend. It's not a welcoming place if you're alone, it's a little too large. I suppose most cities are like that unless you're a local, though.
I don't know where we are, now. Partway back, I guess, maybe half an hour away from Leeds. I'm glad of it, travel's getting a bit tiring, even though I haven't had to make my own bed, clean up, cook or attempt to look after myself in any really considerable ways at all. I'm not sure why I'm whining, really. Looks like wherever I end up, I'll never forget my roots. I'll bring a little bit of God's country with me wherever I go. Hopefully people find it amusing as opposed to irritating, I can see arguments for both.
So I guess this is goodbye to one of the strangest places I've been to in a long time. Where the streets are curiously clean, giant televisions adorn the walls, you're never more than 10 minutes from a world famous landmark, the entire population seems to be 20 something and there's more coffee than water. Y'know, it's a shame I'm leaving, I think I may have been starting to fit in. But no, I couldn't come back and sound all southern.
I'm not sure how people would react.

Feeling a little older, a little more experienced and I daresay a little wiser now, I should finish this trip with some profound thought or quote, perhaps, but unfortunately the only thing that springs to mind is a song, the Paradise Line by Jeb Million. It would be a lot more meaningful if it wasn't the theme to the train travel portions of Mother on the NES.
Shall we do that anyway? There's no point in breaking character after all these years, I suppose.

Wave your troubles goobye,
Leave your sadness behind,
We can ride away forever you and I,
Yes forever.
Takin' the Paradise Line.



That'll do.