It is Saturday the 4th of August 2018, and I have just landed at Heathrow, I am back, and I am not a happy camper. I have not even reached baggage claim and already my natural desire and instinct is to make a 90 degree turn and demand they let me back on the BA Boeing Dreamliner I just stepped off, so I can return to a little corner of Patagonian Paradise, because in no uncertain terms I am not ready for madness that awaits me on the other side of the customs hall doors,and it had bugger all to do with the fact I have literally walked out of the freezer and into the hottest summer since the blazing summer of 1976, will this surpass it ?
06/08/2018 Well Summer just ended, 2 days of sun and it is back to normal, no surprise there.
I was truly saddened to have to close the door on my little ramshackle park rangers house, located at the Lake Sarmiento entrance of Torres del Paine National Park, which has served as basecamp for the last 5 months.This cozy shelter of wind ravaged flaking yellow and white clapperboard, wood, where early every morning, I would awake in the best mood known to humankind, although on some days if the truth be known, I would have happily have sat in the doorway staring a the sky and watching Patagonia blow by, Patagonia is good for that !. Then , after a huge serving of Porridge and honey I would head off in search of the regions apex predator, the elusive Patagonian Pumas that roam this vast region at the southern end of the South American continent. In total, since my first visit in 1998, I have had the incredible pleasure of spending three and a half years roaming this stunning wild region, and I cannot wait to return and once again wander at will over this vast national park, a place that has seeped into blood and holds a very special place in my heart, not to mention the people I have met along the way,although as that horrible thing called age creeps in, my pace may slow a little !!!.
Adjust I must !
Already the train journey to central London, bundled in with the masses was too much for me to deal with, and I truly have no idea how I am going to cope living and working in London for the next 6 months, as I rejoin one of the modern worlds largest rat races.
One month later at 7am writing this in a coffee bar in Camberwell AAAAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHHHHHH !
I am still sane, just, thankfully employed,and still looking for a place to live. but thanks to an old friend whose kindness in letting me crash in his sons room while he studies at Uni, I am keeping my head above water. This is the first time in my life I have ever had to search for a place to live in my own city, and I don't like it, one little bit. I am dealing with online flat and room sharing websites, and if there is one thing that you can't fail to notice is how extremely busy everyone is, so busy in fact hardly anyone replies to the inquiries, and this begs the question ' why advertise in the first place" , have they no idea how bloody annoying and frustrating it is when they want replies to their add, you reply, then they don't answer them. So I am into my second week and I have already pissed off 3 potential landlords, as I basically lost the plot as my patience ran out waiting for their replies re a viewing the flats in question. I was not cut out for city life, and if I am honest, I prefer the company of animals, and I can't wait to get out of this nut house, and back to Patagonia, where life has something called quality entwined in it.
The powers that be in the Uk and London have seriously lost the plot with the traffic and levels of pollution. I am still blown away by the sheer amount of extremely dumb people, who still believe large engined cars, V8's with 4/5/6 litre engines and the ubiquitous ( Chelsea tractors )
Range Rovers, Mercedes G Wagons Audi Q 8 , Porsche Cayenne and the my favourite the Lincoln Navigators and Hummers etc are something that is essential to life in a city. The air quality here is appalling and very few people seem to give a hoot, especially the morons driving their beloved children to school in these polluting beasts, the very same people who sit at dinner parties discussing how terrible the effects of global warming are and how they did their bit by changing the light bulb in the toilet, for an extra long life low consumption one, that they purchased after driving miles to the nearest B+Q depot in their huge engined 4x4 to buy.......... GO FIGURE.