Diaries of a Road Warrior

Waking early, Walter and I discussed the things in Rotterdam I should see and we quickly arranged for me to rent a bike and cycle around central for some great footage. The only problem was 10 minutes later despte his directions, I was completely lost in Walters suburb. I wandered for a long time and became in awe with the citys layout. Random chaotic waterways everywhere you turned. Moots for houses and forgotten streams. And the houses themselves were so different to each other. Eventually I got bored and managed to find my way back to the flat and immediatly felt guilty for neglecting this beautiful city. So after a quick lunch I went back out again in a completly new direction. This time in search of shops to explore despite it being Easter Sunday. Instead I ended up on a stone sculpted island in a man made lake basking in the sun for the afternoon.

upon returning to Walter's his flatmates Duke and Tiina had returned fro m Amsterdam. Both were prominent members of the site, Duke a CS Ambassador from Mexico and Tiina a Finiish lass who was a CS event organiser. I had a fantastic evening in thier company getting drunk on Kanon beer and filming Walter's hilarious cooking whilst Duke and Tiina talked about thier CS experiences. The evening slowly sank into oblivion after a bout of icecream and episodes of QI and of course, more Kanon beer.

I awoke to a cloudy morning and enjoyed a traditional Belgium breakfast with fresh pasteries Koen had gone and bought. They helped me make tw signs as the journey would require a freeway change. I was originally supposed to have gone to Eindhoven but my couch there had cancelled so I decided to head to Rotterdam a day early, calling and leaving a message with my host there in advance. I went and bought some grapes at the market then Koen dropped me off on Antwerps on ramp where 3 other hitchers were already gathered. We had a good chat before trying to hitch. It was hilarious to see all 4 of us in a line, each only about 30 meters apart. Yet we all got quick rides and my driver took me onto the direct road to Rotterdam stopping at a service station. I was there for about 30 minutes without any luck eating my grapes. Then I crossed over to the roadside and shortly after I got a ride from 2 Armanians called Viktor and Edward. Ed spoke no English so Vicktor translated. They were from Armania but had been living in Holland playfully calling it the Holy-Land. The stereo gave me a taste of Armanian music and I told in great detail about thier customs and a mountain considered Holy called Arra-Rat.

They dropped me off just outside of Rotterdam and I was immediatly picked up by Claudia who was picking up a hitch hiker for the first time. She took me to Alexander station and from there I followed easy directions to Walter, my hosts house. He was suprised to see me a day early despte my message but was happy to accomodate me. I told him about my trip plans and he, deciding I needed the money, offered my 20 euros for hovering and washing his floors. I accepted, it just shows to go you never know what will happen in the next 10 minutes, let alone 10 hours.

Later we talked for a long time and watched 'The Departed' over pizza. That night a friend of Walters came over and we spent the evening drinking beer in the cool evening air.

The day didn't start well, thanks to my water intake the night before I woke up around 2am desperate for the toilet but with no desire to creep down 3 flights of croaky old stairs to the ground floor toilet and make my host think i was up to something. So I used my water bottle.

In the morning I awoke to pitch black darkness, I finally realised the windows were blocked out and I simply hadn't noticed the night before. I spent the morning learning to use a french keyboard to contact folks and let them know I was okay. I went out briefly and walked around the block or two (convientantly disposing of my afore mentioned water bottle). Then it was time for me to go. Benoit dropped me off at a service station just on the out skirts of Calais and in hindsight I wish I'd listened to his advice and stayed there. After 30 minutes of disappointment I decided to move onto the onramp and after a while longer I decided to actually hitch on the motorway. In my search for a decent layby for traffic to pull in at I walked along the fields by the motorway for a good half an hour, sweating and exhausted before finding such a spot.

But the police soon pulled over and sent me packing back to the service station ÓN FOOT'the bastards. When I finally arrived at the road leading into the station, utterly shattered I half heartedly raised my Ántwerp'sign as it drove away and the guy stopped for me. The driver was a builder from Belgium called Stef on his way home from work to take his pregnant wife to have a scan to reveal the baby's gender. It was also pay day. Suffice to say he was a very happy chap. We talked alot, he gave me a cigerette on entering which relaxed my body tremendously, then he gave me another for later and bought us both beers. He told me how it was custom here to buy an egg when poor and go knock on a door, the owner would then trade the egg for something like a loaf of bread. I don't think i'll have time to try it on this trip but its things like this that interest me. High on the cigerette and beer I wandered off the overpass i was dropped off at and walked 1/2 a mile to another pullover point where a guy quickly picked me up and took me to a better spot. He also tried to get me mentioned on radio to increase my chances of being picked up. But I never found out if he succeeded as I got a ride real fast. It was from either the craziest or smartest person ever. To quote him 'I am smarter than Einstien'. He talked at great length about fate amd human perseption and how the world would end in 2012.

He dropped me off at a service station near Antwerp. By now the sun was setting and I was worrying about night hitching but I soon met Stevie from Gent off to Antwerp to see his girlfriend. He was a friendly normal bloke who knew about CS!!! From his and from locals he talked too I was able to take the Metro Tram to Mersen for free!!! After a change I was able to go in the right direction to the resturant my host for the night owned. But no one knew the street and eventually a lovely young couple I asked for directions outside an icecream parlour offered to drive me there. We eventually foundit 8 1/2hrs ater I had left Calais.

I immediatly got to film a Gamba Shrimp dish being prepared. The chef explained to the camera very wel I thought. Hopefully the footage will come out well. I then arranged to come back around mid-night when the resturant closed and found a MacDonalds which sadly I found comforting. I think I'm a little culture shocked.

Koen and his partner took me on a midnight tour of Antwerp's oldest district in the city and we had a quaint little pub we drank at, with me drinking dark Belsh beer. I had alot of fun with them and we talked at great length about CS and what we hoped to get out of the community. For them it was a quirk, for me a lifeline.

The 8 hour bus journey to Dover port started with my mother screaming
"Luke it's 6 o'clock"
My bus left at 20 past. Luckily I managed to change my ticket to a 7am departure and still reached Dover by 3pm. Sign in hand. I had intended to start the journey with a bang, hitching onto a ferry but there were no laybys and i ended up talking to a strange man dressed in army fatigues, apparently an army man on holiday. He convinced me to buy a ticket, partly because I wanted to get away from him.

The view of those craggy white cliffs as we floated free of the port was quite spectacular, a view I shared with a man sitting next to me called Diego. An italian living in Lillie with his wife. We discussed the many varying languages and dialects of Europe and the trip passed swiftly along. We hung out leaving the ferry together where we discovered a rather long wait for a bus and no taxis to Calais's center. So we teamed up with a Swiss and German pair and wandered in search of life in this quiet little city.

We eventually reached a train station and I contacted my first CS host Benoit. Parting ways with Diego with promises to keep in touch, Benoit took me on a sight-seeing and history tour of little Calais as I've come to call it.

We eventually arrived at his beautiful 19th century 4 story house where I was treated to dinner and the delight that is Mylene Farmer, one of France's most famous yet enigmatic singers. Benoit showed me a dvd of her latest concert in Paris and although it was all sung in French it proved to be a very entertaining show to watch. So I finish today with a sense of satisfaction and a confidence in the days to come.

And though she wore but satin lace and held the shadow of midnight moonbeams on her lips, the name of Love was nought but whispered and left a darkened bruise upon my heart where pain shall forever curl.

So many say that words are cheap, that happiness and love are but mere parlour tricks, yet I never dreamed a sweeter kiss than that of Hamlet's fair Ophelia.

Vanilla dreams confound my thoughts, where serenity seems to have a chance, but I shall never breathe the scent of fair Orpheus's rose. Instead I stumble and crawl upon the bleeding rocks of my sanity praying for a kiss that is but the simple honey taste of Romeo's true love and its happy ever after.

-----------

Composed right after I saw 'Vanilla Sky' the other day. I thought Tom Cruise was a shit actor till I saw this movie.

Hombres, Senyorita's (bad spelling?), ma liddle chiwawa's, gather to da circle and ere da news.

I may be moving to Germany, I may be joining the civil service.

More to come or not soon.

I skipped college today after somehow utterly making a fool of myself for the last 2 hrs at college on thursday. I just slept and woke and thought. I know that this is just me being depressed talking but I just...right now I'd be willing to taste my death. Morbid sorry :P My mother called, she was abrumpt like I was scum, I should have never started talking to her again. Said Paul would call to discuss a job after 6. Paul never called. They are playing mind games with me, I wont be pushed around anymore. I'm not some fucking chess piece in a game of chess. My sister called tonight, I eventually mentioned the accident on monday. She's really worried, I tried to tell her its no big deal, I just want her to leave me alone, I think she might really keep to her word and come visit me this time.

If your reading this, whoever you are...why do I feel like no one can hear my soul?

No one really understands who I am, what I want, what I hide!

I'm going to try to break that mold :)

I read a story many many years ago about a creator god called Ra;

Ra was known by many names to his people and children, but no one knew his true name, the name of his soul, for that name was the key to his being. Those that knew it had power over Ra, they had him at thier command. Ra had two children in particular, Isis and Orisis, a couple who were powerful gods. Now Orisis wanted Ra to ascend back to the heavens and leave the realm of mortality so that he could rule it. His sister and wife Isis wanted this also. Now Isis was said to be a powerful sorceress; one day she devised a plan to trick her father into revealing the God-Kings secret name. She fashioned a snake out of clay and poured her own blood onto it before giving the snake life. Then she hid the snake whose venom was her blood in a garden in which Ra took his morning walks. That next morning Ra passed through the garden until the snake confronted him. As Ra was the creator god he could control all animals, but this snake was not of his own creation and so it struck him and poisened his mortal body. As Ra lay on his death bed the world mourned and his children came to him. In the final moments it was Isis who offered Ra the chance to save his mortal form. If he told her his secret name she could rid him of the poisen, saving the body. Ra told her and so Isis learnt the secret name of Ra. She cast the poisen from his body and commanded her father to hand down the crown of the gods to Orisis. Ra would retire to the Sun-Boat, and rule from the heavens whilst his son ruled from the earth.

My soul name is Dygash Ashenone. My soul is open and free from chains of mortality becuase I believe that if I do not keep the name a secret then it will lead to a more interesting life. Who knows the madness of my mind right? And where did he make up such a silly name like that? Looney! Crackpot! Dygash!

make what you will of the story and/or the name. My parents named me Luke, something else called me Dygash. I'm a whim of fate. Even if I'm unsure of its existance. I don't want to believe and yet I do, relief and satisfaction are conflicting interests.

In essence I consider my greatest skill is that I'm a skeptical of absolutly everything. In some cases that can lead me to be paranoid and an obbsessive compulsive, but I have a degree of control over these mental tools. I call them tools because my controlling them I can make them an advantage and not something that hinders me.

My second skill is that I am an extremely creative individual. I can create some fantastic songs and poems on the spot, think up story concepts in a second that are so complex they rival some of the better works out there. Think me arrogant but I'm confident that I'm being truthful. To be honest alot of this comesfrom being slightly dyslexic and autistic. Ouch I might regret revealing those little facts. The autism isn't confirmed.

I suffer alot. I'm been in some pretty horrific situations in the last 21 years. I've seen my mother abused by my father, I've been bullied at school to such a degree that at one time kids chased me through a forest throwing stones at me till I hid in a nettle bush. I've attempted suicide, been kidnapped, taken drugs, lived on the streets and starved. Thats alot worse things that havent happened to me for which I am eternally thankful. Somehow I've come out of these situations better than when I went in. It's like everytime I hit a terrifying low I come out of the situation and experience a euphoric high. I definatly have a ying/yang lifestyle and believe in something called the Law of Three (google it if you dont know what it is) That means I must have a spiritual quality to my life. I certainly do but I have a strong belief in science to compensate. I believed in the super string theory before I even read about it. I believe theres energy on this planet for whatever reason that we are emotional or intellectual individuals can inflence. An easy way to explain is the butterfly effect, you know 'A butterfly flaps its wings in Japan causing a hurricane in Mexico. apply that at an atomic level and I believe that positioning a simple atom in a certain way influences the atomic structure of, if not the universe then certainly, the planet. Science is constantly growing and developing and thankfully it quantifys alot of my spiritual beliefs, so I have a reverence in science. I think of it as the truth of faith. A reward of believing in something. I believe that if someone refuses to trust science then they are weak (I'm sorry for my explicit views and any offence they cause). I read an article the other day that the Pope was trying to negate Limbo, the ethereal plane between Heaven and Hell. How the fuck can you get rid of a spiritual plane? Doesn't that say I do not believe in the beliefs I stand for? Its fucking hypocrisy! Gah...lack of punctuation here!

And breathe...thats all for now, do comment if you'd like to!

Dygash )o(

So i'm at college, pah, its too fucking easy!

heres the challenge, the adventure? Made one or two sorta friends. I'm too out of place here, I had hoped I'd fit in, my second chance, fuck!

passed out on monday and was taken to hospital, exactly the same as in Feburary! Not happy, very nasty bruise/burn on my face from the fall, unlike last time i was on a sidewalk instead of in the shower!

Wish things were more fun, life just is not fun! I have no family to relate to and no one in all honesty that I can relate to naturally. Hmm I'm going to do a poem, this is on the spot live and focused guys. I'm jittery on coffee hence this snappy post!

There was a man called Luke, he liked to cook and provoke intellectual folk!
unhappy with social structures and those who think they...


Fuck it, the muse isnt with me today. I'm usually very good, my friend andrea once called me a writer when i met her friend. That had a profound impact on me as I'd never thought of myself as that sort of breed.

Marx sums up how I feel, everyone is creative but without mental production your fucked!

I HAVE NO MENTAL PRODUCTION i want to write to explain the turmoil and sheer force of creativity in my soul but everytime i start i feel its not worth it. I'm a black hole in cyberspace. No one ever heeds my call for help.

Help me!

In all the spirals I have turned, peace of mind my common urge.

Dygash

p.s.

Andrea dont give me one of your grasshopper lectures, it will annoy me further!


Arrogance is a sin that i revel in ¬

Yep i finally did it, it may not sound like it but i spent 14hrs sitting in front of audacity solid. Probably longer actually...feel free to post comments about the episode here. There are things i've already noticed in my first listening as mp3 that i screwed up namely the IDE tags :S Dunno how that happened have to check when i wake from my big nap i'm gonna take in a minute. On a plus side the mp3 is playable online from the site, something i had not expected but was pointed out by my friend Corinne, you rock girl. Please comments on the show good or bad or tips here or email them too me :)

So the test show is finally up at my website and heres a link to the mentioned Juggarnaut Bitch. Also mentioned was http://www.dubbed.rules.it/

Please post your comments on the show here!

Well the First half of the first episode is done. I figured i'd have to slpit it into two as the first half is 1.35GB of data and its proving a headache to convert into mp3 i'll have to leave my computer on tonight and let it go its own way. And the show is AWESOME!!!!!

So here's something cool, new and fresh and NO its not another breath mint brand. >_< DOWN WITH THE BREATH MINTS!!!!*grabs a pitchfork*

Anyway i used to hang out in the costal city of Plymouth, by fore twas a windy place where she devils did roam and the pirates prospered!...About 300 years ago now its just rainy and windy except in the summer when the flowers open up and the fairs come to town and it is like a dew pearled lotus opening its leaves to the voice and radience of Amon-Ra. So in Plymouth i used to work for the Royal Mail doing data entry on a computer (abysmal working work but with good pay). Most of you know this (and hopefully a few new faces don't, *waves to the new faces*) and i worked there right up to the point i left for canada which as it is stated changed my life irrevocably. Anyway whilst at the RM MDEC i met several fantastic people and one of them was Manuel Dcosta. A guy who LOVES indie music, movies and gaming hence we became instant chums and unfortunatly for him he was subjected to many of my midnight (we did the graveyard shift) ramblings which i am informed improved the moral no end for the team. Anyway Manuel is an artist and he's now starting to bring his stuff out into the open and if u like Indie, John Lenon (Extra Mile) or just something fresh and new then go listen to some of his tracks. All the music was done by him (and naturally the singing) and he did it all in his bedroom :P Modern tech ay! So without further ado:

Man E

http://www.myspace.com/themanemusic

Okay So this week lets look at freeware simulation games. Now i love these sort of games and it's always hard to find one that isnt shareware, most freeware ones are quite frankly pitiful. But i found one that has earned itself a permenant slot on my hardrive. Its called 'Extreme Warfare Revenge' written in VBasic by Adam Ryland. Now this was made around 2002-03 i believe and he's since gone on to make many other wrestling games (yes its wrestling but let me finish the reveiw). However the rest of the games are shareware so i can't let you know anything about them, unless you have some elicense keys or the porogram SoftIce. Either one send to anu8is@gmail.com and i'm your pet for life ;) Anyway back to the reveiw;

First of you can get the game at the usual freeware hotspot of the net.

http://www.the-underdogs.org/

and simply search for the title.

This wrestling game is awesome and actually takes place at the beginning of April 2006. Now you don't actually wrestle its a management game. You run one of several wrestling federations (you can choose which you start with thereby giving the game a difficulty level. But after 2 (in-game) years you can start your own federation. Meanwhile you choose what wrestlers to buy or get rid off (theres plenty of stats to help you) and you can send them to development sites to work on their stats. Theres a ton of stuff to do. You also organise each wrestling event from interveiws to matches (choosing the outcome) to angles where you create and develop each wrestlers character, from diva's being kidnapped to backstage brawls. You can form tag teams, new belts. Theres alot customisable in game but theres also an easy to use file editor in the game which allows you to do anything else you want. And the amazing thing is that this game is only 2MB. Trust me download it and give it 10mins of your time and if you like management sims, its got it all. Manage your wrestling tv show, choose the networks, organise new massive PPV events. It's all waiting for you in this game. I am not a wrestling fan but this game really gets you caught up in the whole process. You even get to choose from dozens of gimmicks for each wrestler. Hmm lets make Hulk Hogan a whore (you can do it).

9/10 - I'd have liked to see a character creation aspect in the training camp. You cant do anything to the people in the training camp till they graduate. Other than that! SMACKDOWN!!!!

With so much suffering and craziness around us how do we cope?
With drugs and pain what is it that we gain?
It feels like such a heart breaking shame;
Because in the end there is only us to blame.

Call on dictators, scream at the monaches;
Moan about democracy.
Deep down its all the same,
Its us to blame.

But on a note of hope and dreams,
If we are the culprits, the theifs within the night and we have a change of concious;
As we take that prized possession away;
Then we can put it back and heal our people again.

All nations and its peoples, all men and woman, child and elder unite.
For we must fight.
Not some regime or alien concept, but ourselves and things that make us human.

I know i know i'm vain as a cock strutting his feathers. :P

So today i treat whoever reads this to some game treats. For those unaware of the freeware game scene prepare for the WOW effect.

First off 2 sites to get a ton of freeware games with decent reviews and reliable ratings.

http://www.the-underdogs.org/

and

http://www.gamehippo.com/

both i highly recommend. Underdog has better quality on the most part but not all the games are freeware and the bandwidth sucks. Warning don't use download managers on it that split the files your downloading up. You will be temporarily banned. I used GetRight recently for a 45mb file and was banned for over 24hrs because the program split it into 6 file downloads. UD does not allow more than one file download at a time from a single IP address due to its popularity and resulting bandwidth stretch. Enough of the technical stuff.

My first game of the week. I may turn this into a weekly fixture, with a review.

Out of Order

http://outoforder.adventuredevelopers.com/

By Tim Furnish of Hungry Software at about 8.4MB's its a humourous interactive fiction game and winner of several awards. AKA point and click and follows in the style of Monkey Island and many such games. But i happily say this is so much better than the Monkey Island series. I was in stiches the entire time. the puzzles are sometimes a little difficult but the forum of the site hosts a walkthrough for those in need. (I needed it once or twice) You play young Hurford awoken by a storm. Turning on your light you feel an electric shock but nothing serious, hungry you head downstairs for a midnight snack. The End.

Any fan of Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy (Hurford plays the game in his pyjamas and admits its a total ripoff of HHGTTG) will quickly come to adore this game. Wait till you meet the Console. He's the best character next to Hurford.

The graphics are good, not perfectly smooth but good for what you get which is a highly interactive environment of about 30 rooms. This is a great game and took 3 years to make so it's definatly a work of love and that shows.

NB - It took me a little while to realise but right mouse click changes what action you perform. The interface is easy to use, the storyline is a rival of Douglas Adam's best work and if you don't laugh outloud at least once your just plain bland.

10/10 - It's staying on my computer for a long time and i sorely hope Tim decides to do a sequel. His company's site also hosts other games which i have not played yet.

Next week i turn the world of simulation games.

Something i've been meaning to do, this is Steeldragonz gallery, a MUST see for any art fan. DevianART? HA eat your heart out. Uber cool pictures by an uber cool friend plus it has a slideshow feature and if you full screen and turn each galleries music up its spectacular. The guy is amazing. 10/10 but get the rest of the site up yah ninny.

http://www.zen27634.zen.co.uk/gallery.htm

Today i was naughty, i had bacon and egg :P YUM!!! If i had money i would buy nice ingredients and make maybe a beef casserole. I will learn how to make casserole like dear old mum eventually. Anyway i've been scouring forums for decent places to advertise positions for the Discworld 2d RPG game i am making. I have already done a map for the Mended Drum even though the tileset i used was a standard and it doesn't look great, though i did some light pouring across a section of the room and if i can find out how to lower the resolution it will look amazing (in edit the resolution is lower so i know what it will look like, right now its too bright). On another note i've tried to get a file host (tried Brinkster) but i keep timing out as my connection is not good today, not complaining though, that i have internet at all is a miracle (an illegal one with the magic of WiFi). I want a file server so that i can link pictures onto my blog becuase LJ charges for uploading pictures from your hard-drive. Andrea just sent me one of our time in the Pirate section of the museum we visited in Ottawa. Might post more about the Discworld game later today, right now i'll leave any web spiders that are checking this blog out, with a link. Its a link to a site that has a map for the Discworld MUD and namely a map of Ankh-Morpork which i am using as the layout for the project. Can't show it here for two reasons, one i can't put pics here today (mentioned above) and two the creator Elessar won't allow it as she clearly states on the page i am linking you too.

http://home.elp.rr.com/discworldmud/maps.html


"Never link without a linking book you stupid boy" - Gehn 'The Book of Atreus'

I've been away far too long, but circumstances beyond my control were to blame, i made it safely back to England after a crazy hitch hike across Canada.

It all started the day i left the hostel. Brian never said goodbye to me the night before and i was never to see him again. I awoke early as i have to walk to the otherside of the city Penticton with my heavy backpack. I left much back in my room that i could not take, including my stove. By about 9am i made it to the highway and to a safe position to hitch from. It was already hot and i was sweating badly. Then the midges came hitting my eyes, and the sun which was still rising was in my line of site. That was a truely uncomfortable hour. Not only physically but mentally. I had only $2 in my pocket and no food, the last time i had eaten was the morning before. I was in, needless to say, a desperate situation. Then i was picked up by someone i knew, a friend of Ezra's who had picked me up in the past before. She took me to the beginning of Kelowna, next to a tree lined park with a huge safe area for cars to pull over. Needless to say that has to have been the best hitch-hiking spot i have ever used.

From there i was picked up by a Kelowna lawyer who bought me some sandwiches, crisps and a drink for my journey before dropping me off on Kelowna's otherside. I was dropped off near a dirty housing area, with chicken wire fences stopping the children playing in the back yards from walking onto the main road leaving Kelowna. I had alot of people beating at my sign during that time. Penticton to Ottawa. one woman pulled up shouting go home little boy. I believe it was her who called the police. They showed up thinking i was a runaway. I had to show them my passport because they did not believe i was 20 at the time. After they had sat in their car for 5 mins checking my passport they returned, they said do you honestly think your going to get too Ottawa. By now i was furious and i snapped, well i hitched from there to here in 4 days so yeah i think i can manage it. With that they left and i moved further up the road to an area i could rest more easily. i was there for hours, meantime i took out my book rested my sign in a comfy position and waited. it paid off. I was picked up by a guy heading all the way to Winnipeg, HALF MY JOURNEY. I was estatic. he'd apparently driven past several times checking me out first. He was a decent guy. He owned a successful house building company in Winnipeg and was back visitng his family.

So by the time we reached the mountains near Banff we were totally stoned on some decent BC Hyro. We were going to stop at banff for the guy to drop something off but we pressed on. He was apparently spending the night with a friend in Calgary before pressing on, he told me to meet him at the otherside of Calgary at some byroad that connected to the exit highway on the otherside. We reach Calgary at about 1am and i was dropped off on the highway near its entrance, in the pouring freezing rain. After a summer of intense heat up till that morning i was needless to say in a bad condition. I dragged my backpack into a muddy grassland and behind a bush set up my tent and crawlled into my sleeping bag.

I awoke around 6am extremely groggy, the reason was because i was in 2 inches of water. EVERYTHING was wet, everythinbg in my backpack too. And as i was to discover later, my cardboard soap box and the soapitself had disintegrated covering my UK mobile phone ;). In bad shape i packed everything up and went back on the highway. In an extremely short time of walking towards the city, with 2 hrs to get to the otherside (i was going to have to use the 2 dollars for bus tickets) i was p[icked up by a lorry driver who worked on the otherside of calgary. he was portegese i believe. He took me over there and as we tried to work out which exit the guy before had been talking about (with the aid of the lorry man's map) we decided that one of the exits had to be tyhe one he was referring too. He said he would be passing back that way in 2hrs and if i was still there he'd take me to the city's exit (as i was not out of the city but in its inner highway) he dropped me off near the exit which i walked too and found a pull over spot, with 20 mins to spare. The traffic was incredible and rain steadily worse.

Several people pulled up without me hitching offering rides, i politely refused becuase i cpould not turn down the chance to get a ride to winnipeg. I was there at least an hour, he never showed or at least he never pulled over. A young guy pulled up, and kindly offered to take me right out of the city to a safe place to hitch. It was right in the country side with the highway stretching into the distance. In better conditions a perfect spot, just after the city's last turnoff. I distinctly remember getting out of that car becuase pulled over nearby was a tiny electric car with a jewish rabbi inside reading a book, in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! The reain was terrible and it was freezing. I will never forget that hitch. I was so intensly cold, that i could not move without extreme pain. My sign fell into pieces from the rain. I was signless in the rain (a terrible thing for a hitcher) i do not say this lightly but in those moments i realised i was going to die and i would never make it back to the city for help. I truely believed i would die and i was there for hrs with my gloved hands frozen in the hitch position.

And then he pulled over, one of the kindest souls i have met to date. He was kind in the fussy way he came across as a proud man who had merely took pity on me. Dispite that he bought me a coffee sdhortly after, my soaked hoddy (my only form of a coat as i didnt have a coat) rolled up, and slowly i dried. By midday we stopped at a wendys and he bought me a meal bare in mind i have no food as i ate the lawyers gift the day before. The man was heading to Saskatuwa a smal town there near swif current that i cant remember the name off. When we got there he offered me the use of his family homes washing machine and tumble drier, i politely refused saying that i must head on as i wanted to make winnipeg that night. That town, how can i desribe it. It was town on the plains, flat land into the distance, one major road in a straight line that so many trucks went through, there was a trucker stop as well. The weather was alot better than calgary, it wasn't warm it was cloudy and a bit windy, summer was all but gone. In the distance a storm was coming, i heard it on my cd player radio as well.

I met a hitcher that afternoon when i had no luck normal hitching i headed back to the nearby trucker stop, he was there and we chatting and shared cigerettes. He tried to play cards and asked truckers for rides, we were told to leave a gas station area where we were chilling :) He was only heading to Regina. In the end he decided he was going back to his friends place (he was in that town visiting a friend) and try in the morning, i tried for a while longer then i went into a park tree area near a school and set my tent up and put my stuff on branches to dry. I was very damp but not wet-wet. I slept uncomfortably that night but i was close to dry in the morning. I packed up and headed back to the road where i saw a couple hitching, i was in need of a coffee so i said i'd see them later. Remember the raod was straight and the town wasn't even a mile along that road, maybe half tops so i could see them from the coffee shop on the towns otherside. I saw no sign of the other hitcher that day. I spent my dollar on a coffee, leaving a single dollar left. I was gone from the couple 20 mins tops but when i returned they were gone and it was about 9am tops.

I spent the morning hitching, dancing LOL and hitching. I was offered a ride to the next town byh some jocks with a trailer. They told me i'd have to climb into the trailer but then the only way out would have been when they opened it. I refused. Later i was picked up by a guy coming back from a hippy fest in Nelson, he took me to Regina. I didn't like him at all, he didn't respond well to any of my conversation starters plus i felt uncomfortable with all the dragonflies (massive ones) slattering inches from my face on the windshield they gooy guts all over it. I've never seen dragonflies the size of my hand before. He dropped me off in Regina and drove off fast. I walked across the town towards the appropriate exit. I was weary that day and the pack felt incredibly heavy it was hard going. Then i reached the cities end. I just lay on the gravel side, not even hitching, it was about 5pm, i just took my book out and relaxed.

You must understand hitching is not EASY, sitting in some you don't know's car is not most of the time relaxing you can't read and you have to try to talk to them. So i took so R&R even if the situation was inappropriate. No one pulled over like back in Kelowna. Eventually i headed to a major trucker stop and just kept asking for rides. After a while there was a French Quebec Jean who took pity on me. He said he was going to Quebec, right through OTTAWA! i could sleep in the cabins top bunk too. He had a lovely dog who i was intimidated by in the beginning.

That night i knew i had to stay awake until he reached Winnipeg to rest, it was hard and i was incredibly tired. He got on well though and it was easy to talk save for the understanding his english accent barrier. Plus i saw the faint signs of the aurora borealis, i never made it to Church-hill but i got a glimpse of the phenomena and it took my breath away, someday i will go to antartica to see it properly i think. We slept in a trucker depot that night in his comfy truck cabin. I discovered the beauty of the trucker life too. When u took at those gas stations that accomodate truckers too, what you don't know is that 5 star area in the back which u need a kleycard such as Jean had to access it. Luxurious showers, widescreen tv in leather sofas. It was delicious. I had a great shower then Jean bought me breakfast as we checked out the fit ladies in the area. Then we were off.It's hard to remember the specifics of that day, save that we made it to the Ontario border and we parked up for the night near Sault Ste Marie.

That morning Jean had to pick up his load that he was taking to Quebec, when we got there he discovered it had been delayed by several hours, so he took me to a nearby truck depot and said if i was there later he'd take me the rest of the way. Perhaps i should have stayed with him, i'd have reached ottawa the next day for sure. let's just say that Ottawa was still a long way off for me. Some say that Ontario is the hardest Province of Canada to Hitch becuase you tend to get small rides to the next town or village and from my experience i have to agree with them. But i will come to that. Back at the depot i found a 10minute 1 dollar internet machine. I knew i needed to let andrea know i was alot there. Andrea was the friend i was meeting and staying with in Ottawa. So i emailed her and then i met Mike who was nearby and ALSO hitching.

He was coming from Nelson and was going to Nova-Scotia (the furest province to the east, past Quebec) we shared a cigerrette, but he wasn't looking for a ride he was with a trucker already. So we said goodbye and i started asking for rides. But just as the truck with Mike in was leaving it pulled up and the trucker offered me a ride too. He was a grouchy bastard who wasnt supposed to take hitchers becuase he was transp[orting military hardware but he'd hitched in his youth and sympathised with us. He took me and Mike to Sudbury and dropped us off saying he was leaving early in the morning and if he saw us he'd give us a ride. Let me quickly take this monet to describe Mike. A ginger haired short fellow of about 5"4 with freckles and shades that his eyes always looked over. He was despite that cool though, he was very childish too but so was i and we were to share many adventures together before we finally parted ways.

That night we camped in a wet field. let me just say that although he has a small tent (mine was from my cherry picking days and therefore was my home, it was a large 3 man) he had no sleeping bag and was simply sleeping on his ground sheet. I want to also say he wasn't in a desperate situation, he could have called his family at any time and got a train ticket. I guess he just wanted an adventure LOL. For me it was survival. Next morning we were back on the road about 6am and sure as rain (it was misty and raining) the trucker showed up again and took to the Sudbury intersection, a maze of highways. Just as he dropped us off and drove off a car weith a bulldog barking at us flew by and the dog jumped out with the car doing 80km/hr easily. It landed in a stone ditch right next to us. And let me assure you we were frozen solid with shock. The the car pulled up down the highway and out stepped the biggest muscular man i have EVER seen. Tattos on his face, everything, he looked like he was from a biker gang. He stomped over to us and we said sorry and he kindly sid it wasn't your fault then we looked for the dog. We found it, one of the back legs bones ripped out, bloodeverywhere. Mike offered a shirt to stench the flow then the driver carried it back to his car and drove off.

Then we climbed the barriers and began looking for the correct exit. We got caught up in making Native Canadian statues though. You see them all across Ontario along the highways, piles of rock invoking spirits and all sorts. We made several and had alot of fun. Finally we found the right road, thanks to a thrown away sign asking for a ride to ottawa. He hitched and werre picked up by a guy simply going to the other side of Sudbury, he worked for the military that was based there. in sudbury's last district we stopped at a shop and got one of their large cardboard boxes and with a large marker we wrote, B.C. TO N.S. (then underneath) GOING THE DISTANCE. Which is the title of an infamous canadian porn movie. He got alot of horns. and we danced alot to get rides. But no one pulled over, distpite our mexican waves (the board took two of us to hold it was that long).

Then a black car slowed down as if to give us a ride, the window opened and someone egged us. I was thankfully behind Mike at the time so he took the full blast. Fast as a blink i see him pull out a catapault and marble and fire it after the car but instead it hits a houses, fancy driveway lamp and smashed it. Naturally we moved on fast walking up into the High lands of Ontario, it was a long up hill slope and for me it was hard with my backpack where as Mike only had to shoulder bags, buit he was constantly complaining when i needed to rest. I may have been unfit back then but any normal person would have stopped every 30mins or so for a breathe it was that steep and heavy. So anyway we found a gas station that was closing in 5 mins. We decided to stay and try our luck with any cars that might pass before it closed. We played some cards and rested then a car pulled up and a guy called to us. He said he'd seen us in the town earlier and that the pizza parlour had given him an extra free pizza and he thought he'd drive up here and give it to us. A guy we had never met before, and we were quite a way from the town. We couldn't stop thanking him as he drove away and we greedily and hungrily tucked into the hot pepperoni and pineapple pizza (i don't usually go for pineapple on pizza but that day i was in heaven).

Then we were off again, carrying on up the slope and it was becoming harde and harder for me, then at about 1am, Mike wanted us to carry on walking throughout the night, if i had been carrying light i would have loved too but i was worn up when we peaked the slope and found a private camp site. I said lets rest here but when i was resting i was determined to camp here for the night even if it ment parting company with Mike. But before we even broached the subject, siutting under the dull streetlamp on the dark country road, a car pulled up, and a huge fat man got out and offered us a ride. Inside was an equally large woman. they were brother and sister, he was dropping her off and then driving back to his home in Mattawa, where he was deputy mayor. He offered us a bed for the night at his home where he lived with his brother, these were old people mind, 70's. Apparently the man had done a huge amount of hitching as a child, leaving home at 12 to seek his fortune and only returning to his family decades later. We washed our clothes and slept.

Mike and i agreed to head out early in the morning so as not to overstay our welcome but when i tried to wake Mike in the morning he was pissed with me. I didn't care, i didnt want to stay i wanted to be on the road. So we wrote a thankyou note, we saw the man's brother in the town as we walked through it and said bye. Mike offered to buy me a coffee so we went into a quant little tea shop leavinbg our backpacks in the entrance. Let me just say Mattawa is a BEAUTIFUL river town in a wooded valley. In the teashop and smart man was eating some breakfast and suddenly before we even got our coffees the waitress brought us scones with cream and jam for breakfast with our coffee completes of the smart gentleman in the corner, he merely thanked us and wished us luck with our journey then he left. We tucked in and then much revived prepared to walk the slope out of the valley, it was an intense half hour of walking up hill that even Mike found hard.

We reached the flat plains though and hitched there for an hour or so and got a ride to the next village where we began hitching again. An old man cleaning his car went into his house and came out with a large shopping bag, and gave it to us, his english was not too good, but he thought it was exciting to see hitchers, 1 male and 1 female in the village (yes he thought i was a woman, happened alot in canada with my hair back then) but in the bag was cardboard sheets for signs, marker pens, fruit from his orchard and $15 each. I'M NOT JOKING!!! So we got a ride from a woman who was running for rovencial canadidate to the next village where we found a greasy cafe and ordered lunch with our newfound fortune, chips and sausage. Then we scored my final ride. We got picked up by a professional gambler coming back from Alberta to Ottawa, his home. We got on really well talking about computer games, and he said he'd drop Mike off on the other side of the city then take me back to his where i could contact Andrea. W

hen we reached Ottawa's otherside Mike was desperate for the gents, so he jumped out, jumped a barbed fence and run into the woods, leaving his stuff, which we threw out then when he came back we waved, then drove off. I never saw or heard from him again. Back at this guys house. He went and bought a game iwas ranting about then, i checked my email nd Andrea hadn't responded and her number wasn't answering so i emailed her saying meet me at the Rideau Centre at 12pm tomorrow. the guy whos name i also cant remember let me lay out my sleeping bag in the spare room, but we were up playing the game till 2am before i retired but he played right into the morning where all of a sudden he ignored me saaying he had to do some work, i said bye and he didn't even turn around and i left catching a bus to the centre WHERE ANJ SHOWED UP! YAY!!! So we smoked some fancy cigerretes and chatted then we were off where i spent 4 (or was it three?) great days with her and her parents before setting off once again to hitch to tornoto where my flight left in 3 days. Now i had no money and no food, for those 3 days. But those 3 days were more intense that the 7 days it took me to hitch from Penticton to Ottawa so i'll tell that story another time. Comment on my Hitch-Hiking Adventure, i called West is East!!! Tell me what you think...

NB - Sorry for spelling mistakes etc, At least now its not just one long line of text, it has punctuation YAY eventually i'll spell check the lot too.

So l have classified almost all of my previous entries for my eyes only as l want to give this journal a transplant of fresh blood *heh* but l haven't deleted the old entries because if you take away memories a part of you could be lost and l don't want that. So life is okay at the moment. I am camping at Miller Orchard's picking cherries but l think we have about a day's work left so l'll have to look for more work soon. I bought a comfortable new light jumper. However Ezra's let me down, had a chance meeting with him and Eric l don't think they were pleased to see me and l thought we were great friends when we stayed at the hostel together. I asked them to come out with me and some friends tonight and Ezzy said to call and l told him l'd call around 5 to find out if they were up for it. They had just gone to the beach their landlord told me. whatever... so l got my Spanish dic. (pmsl) and l am starting to learn some good stuff. Cherry picking was cool this morning, grey clouds but slightly humid, l thought it was okay, started to rain halfway through the day so we finished l got 10 1/2 (9 but they miscounted) again they said "we give you 20 dollar today" lol