Full Stop.

'Are we there yet?'.

It's the title of this journal and the question that started and sustained a globetrotting, frenzied experiment for so long. It lasted a lot more than expected and took me to all sort of places, worlds and times. It gave me so many lives, lived and missed ones, real and imaginary. It has been a wonderful and crazy four years.

But things change as they do and everything has to come to an end and it usually does when it serves a purpose no more. Now it's time for a new start, it's time to focus on some different questions and put a full stop. We'll get there alright, I know we will but let's allow it finding us for a change, enough searching.

A new adventure is ahead and I'm not even sure what it is yet. We won't lose touch of course, we'll be around. So long everyone, thanks for all your time. And Happy New Year!

The Fog.

We've had some really foggy mornings lately in London. I'm talking about thick, moist and silent clouds that isolate you from your very self. Blind, deaf fog. It makes for an unusual walk and some surprising encounters. And it calls for a little sunshine, it begs for it...

A (Short) Day At The Beach.

For the past two New Year's Days I've had a super-frozen, quick-on-the-spot-jumping, run-to-the-fireplace winter swim in the Adriatic Sea with my best friend. I don't do these things normally, he does!
But they've been particularly enjoyable, even if on an unusually chilly way and this year I'll miss it. To make up for this we took a shot at a preemptive swim two weeks ago, more than a month before the proper day. Alas, the weather turned out particularly nasty and we had to abandon the plan... All I have is this pic and the promise to make up in late winter/early spring. I can hold out that long surely.

Birthday!

One, Two.

Sunset.

Staying The Course.

Sometimes it seems life has its own purpose and takes over. And no matter how much you try, it'll run its course and take its time. There's a lot you can do to distract yourself and catch up at the next show with a fresh pair of eyes, but right there is when you have to stay, let go and enjoy it. This is where the script ends and all's scary, full of surprises and God-knows-what!

It's difficult and very few stay the course but as a wise and well-weathered friend pointed out to me once: "if it's not difficult, it's not worth it; there's nothing to lose".

New Roots, Old Roots.

A New Month.

Inertia.

It was four years ago to the week almost, that this blog started. A long and spontaneous travel adventure triggered everything and a whole life before triggered that. All has changed in the meantime and mostly me. And it was the return from that trip that coincided with some of the biggest changes. Looking back, the aftermath has been more profound than the trip itself.

The reason for this post though is the leave of my best friend, four years later and with the same destination, having gone through some revelatory times and having walked some parallel steps together in between. I'm full of hope and admiration but surprisingly little jealousy for his fresh start. Inertia is a powerful thing but motivation and need are even stronger. I've learned to miss and will do so again but life keeps on moving. (If anything, I'm afraid we might have been there and missed the stop.)

Good luck and enjoy it Mr. P!

The Kids Are Alright.

Palm Trees.

Saturday Morning Sunset.

Pedalos.

It's a surreal place, Greece is.

A photo from last summer just reminded me of that again. It was a sultry summer day, early morning and the menu had a boat ride, maybe fishing. Went by the captain's usual post on the beach to borrow a pedalo to his boat, the early birds already busy on their break-strokes. Had our morning coffee but the proprietor was nowhere to be seen. Ended up turning away a few potential customers of his since all was locked up before realizing nothing was actually locked up. An hour overdue and somehow bemused we nicked the pedalo and it was a beautiful day.

This picture was hanging over his office. A legendary militant of the WWII resistance and tragic figure of the subsequent civil war. A true revolutionary!

That's Family*.

And family is family, everybody knows that.

But there's so much more that can be family. A new born baby (or two) obviously are, and long time friends that stand beside you also. But so can be honesty and a long silence during the rain. Someone half a globe away you only meet on a screen. A summer's day work and a welcoming house, a familiar sock and a football match, the next person you'll meet and the dozens others you won't. And finally the future will be family. It goes on an on...

It's never too late to appreciate it.

* As Richard Farnsworth says in David Lynch's wise The Straight Story.

Animals.

Autumn In The City.

On Fences, Grass and Other Sides.

Not Flying.

Summer's Gone.