Parries → Our Vagaboncy Neighborhood 

And so: another day spent almost in its entirety within the confines of this little house, my eyes bleary from looking at this computer screen for nigh on 15 hours now, with two brief breaks to Infinity, the organic grocery shop 75 paces away, and later in the evening, to the Tesco Express in the next street. It’s not good. And yet I did meet someone interesting today.

Now that the weather is getting nicer and warmer I took the corrugated metal garden table and chairs back out to the patio, and sat there for a while. A South African fellow—he’d asked me yesterday if I could open the gate for him—was working away. We share the little courtyard with two houses and the back of the newly-opened Beach House Cafe on Kensington Gardens, and they’re still hammering away on it.

We spoke a bit. He’s been here five years but no longer rents his own place because he only stays for a few months at a time, and now knows enough people around here to housesit instead while they head off to ashrams in India and things like that this time of year. He himself is planning to buy a motorbike and travel with his brother across the north of Africa and to the Middle East, then up through Greece.

My goodness. I can only envy such mobility. Despite my long years of practicing a pretty up-to-date skill, web development, I’ve never had enough money to just take off for a few months. Similarly, I also met a young Mexican guy here who does the same thing: lives in a squat, works as a chef in restaurants, saves money, then takes off on big travels for months at a time. Are there so many travelers around these days, or have Irit and I successfully gravitated towards a town and neighborhood where such vagaboncy is common? He seemed impressed in turn by the fact that I work at home; perhaps that’s what he’s missing these days: home and solid continuous work.

Speaking of which, some recognition tonight for extremeelements.com.

More and better tomorrow.