26th, 27th, 28th of February 2006. Venice, Italy. I was originally drawn to Venice by shockingly wicked stories and accounts of Carnivale in the 17th and 18th centuries; of unapologetic decadence, debauchery, depravation and degeneracy conducted openly in the streets, and far exceeding the supposedly "scandalous" dramatics of modern society's silver-screen aristocrats. Of a time and place which could create and nurture such personages as Casanova and Lord Byron (English-born, yes, but a Venetian at heart), not to mention the scores of lesser-known but no less unique libertines and w [View Full Entry]

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25th February 2006, Very Late at Night Stansted Airport, London. Having yesterday left gainful employment and joined the ranks of penny-pinching (literally pennies, not cents, haha!) backpackers, of course it made perfect sense that I should head straight for the most expensive celebration available, Italy's Carnivale di Venezia. By all rights, I should even now be sipping fragolino as I wander the near-to-bursting alleyways of Venice. But, my history with major transport being what it is, perhaps it is no surprise that I am instead stretched out possessively [View Full Entry]

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2nd and 3rd January 2006 Edinburgh, Scotland. Suspicions of having acquired a cold were confirmed as much of today was spent in the same cotton-headed, aching fog of yesterday, for surely no hangover ever lasted this long, and the sniffling has been increasing by the hour. I had planned on spending the two days following Hogmanay in a variety of activities - ice skating, walking again along Arthur's Seat, finally visiting the inside of the castle regardless of jaded reviews, catching a day train down to Gretna Green, and so forth - but have been dismayingly lacking the energy or initiative [View Full Entry]

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New Year's Day Edinburgh, Scotland. How to describe the first day of 2006? I am hazy on much of it, but this is an email (the only one?) sent 01/01/06, which I think illustrates the point: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ hiya kat, well it's 1st jan, happy new years, about 4pm in the afterbnoon and i just got up and that was definitely a bad decision my head is never going to recover i am holding it in one hand and typing weith the other which takes ages to do and i may throw up at any mioment. eck. fantastic neww years, though. am [View Full Entry]

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31st December 2006 Edinburgh, Scotland. I spent the morning flicking through tattoo catalogues and internet sites for a design that I loved enough to have imprinted upon me and could get the tattoist to agree to. By the appointed time I was out of ideas, but he had taken note of my suggestions and reasons and had drawn up a deceptively simple celtic-style butterfly design. It wasn't the answer to all my dreams or anything, but I liked it and thought I could live with it, so I reluctantly agreed to a size somewhat bigger than I'd envisioned (had hoped for [View Full Entry]

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30th December 2005 Edinburgh, Scotland. It was well into the afternoon before I awoke, and when I did it was to a world without snow. There was no sign of it and nobody I asked had seen any. Nor would it snow again within the duration of my time here, though I had assumed that the city would be covered in it by now. Strange, the twists of fate (or delayed airplanes), and the blessings sometimes hidden within misfortune. I reunited with some old 'travel buddies', made a few new ones, organised to rendezvous later and go to the Night Afore [View Full Entry]

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29th December 2005 Edinburgh, Scotland. Having survived Christmas, I left Godalming this afternoon in search of a top-notch New Year's bash, which according to popular opinion is up at dear ol' Edinburgh. Imagine my surprise! I'd been willing and eager to go absolutely anywhere in Europe for the most spectacular party available, only to find that everybody else was heading up to my old haunts. What a laugh! Mindful of the train problems last time, I'd secured a bargain flight from Stansted to Prestwick Airport near Glasgow.... *Helpful hint for would-be travellers: airlines work on 24-h [View Full Entry]

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27th December 2005. Godalming, Surrey, England. Merry Christmas to all back home. Though I can't really disclose particular details on my client's family or how my Christmas with them went, I did enjoy it for the most part. My client didn't get ill and I was surrounded by lovely people; life was good. All in all there have been nineteen people spending some part of their Christmas here. Some stayed Christmas Eve and some Christmas night, but all were here Christmas day so it was a bit of a madhouse. I was given VIP treatment and had to literally argue my [View Full Entry]

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6th and 7th November 2005 Brighton, England. The Morning... er, Afternoon... After Awakening well after seven for the first time in many, many months (ah, the luxury!), it was a little worrying to discover that the skies had started to drizzle. But, knowing the capriciousness of English weather, I washed as per usual - it should be mentioned that despite the lack of a shower, I have been keeping clean - and set off for a visit to the Brighton Pavillion. In the 1780's the Prince Regent, under advice from his doctor, visited Brighton to 'take the waters' of the healing [View Full Entry]

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5th November 2005 - MY BIRTHDAY! Brighton, England. The view over the ocean upon awakening this morning was absolutely fantastic, and it was upon that happy note that the rest of the day unfolded. Mum phoned - twice - to wish me a happy birthday, and on an impulse I stopped at a supermarket to buy some silly birthday masks and such, as well as the necessary fireworks, which in this country is sold in just about every two-bit cornerstore at this time of year. The majority of the day was spent happily driving about the coast, eating guilt-free junk food [View Full Entry]

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