Palabras

(Spain,Villaviciosa,Oct 2018)

Let me keep my words
They’re mine
If you don’t like them
Use your own

Words spilling from my mouth
Following thoughts in my head
My words aren’t dead
They flow from my heart

You just cut them off
With a disapproving twitch of your eyes
a quirky raise of your brow
I wont have it .

Where are your words that feel?
Where are your heart words ?
Ok ,mine may be mistaken
May be regretted
May be wrong
May be anything you say

But they are mine,mine,mine

Palabras son mi verdade
My truth will not allow you
to kill them .

Future in Apartmento Madrid

“Your future

is

CREATED

by what

you do

TODAY

NOT

TOMORROW”

Really ?

Here I sit in

An apartmento

In Madrid

Wearing a clean white shirt.

Really ?

 

Here i sip

Vino rioja

From Carrefor

Around the corner

Slicing bread and cheese and fruit.

Really ?

Here I think

About tonight

In Madrid

Flickimg through my smartphone to find

A place to go.

At the end of the night

I lie

In a clean bed

Paid by card on booking. com

And wonder about tomorrow.

 

Today ?

Its been OK

Really .

 

My future

has been CREATED

by what

I have had

Not by scraping together

What I might find tomorrow.

My future

has been

CREATED

by

Love and money

My future has possibilities:

What I do today

I can do because of yesterday.

Really .

Blogging from Birmingham UKi

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Should have worn my glasses ! But it is raining and I can’t see through them . Slippery bits along this canal Enter a caption

So here I am second day in Birmingham .Sitting I’m comfortable hotel lounge looking out to a grey sky . How come weather has turned as soon as I arrive ?

Going to walk along the canals today they run through this part of the city.     Miles of them the longest canals in Europe . Cutting a strong  swathe through the imposiing reconstructed and new buildings  which line each side . Canal boats moored to the walls and some travelling up and down the water

Yesterday I watched a mum wheel a toddler to one of the long boats and climb inside , other boats with younger people on deck lounging in the faint sunshine , others obviously occupied or waiting for owners to return from work or a walk . Hey once I thought of living on one of these and travelling up and down the waterways stopping at pubs , cycling along tow paths, sitting cosy inside in inclement weather . But today as I watched people steering narrow boats I did not have the slightest wish to be one of them . Standing at the wheel staring at the sides of the water as they slowly coast up towards the next lock. Hard work and parts must be as boring as sitting on a tour bus unable to get off

Today I think of how busy and noisy these waters once were with materials being moved up and down, people being transported to various towns and the steelworks either side with smoke billowing from chimneys . Some of the buildings are still in place, with a curious beauty of their own

 

Parts of this path are very pretty , wisteria growing out of the old solid walls and trees bending towards the water . I watched a bird for a while as it stared into the water below waiting to catch a fish I guess

 

Then I walked back as the sun came out . A watery sun but the rain has stopped . Back towards the city centre and the bold, unapologetic buildings throughout Birmingham City 3B608009-6167-4829-AD64-719C80396458

Walking the Norte in Spain

 

Well today first time have been able to get onto Wifi and it’s my fourth day walking this Camino

Been amixed experience . Highlights are the coastal views as walk towards SAN Sebastion and beyond .Cliffs and rolling hills green and summer flowers still clinging to the sides of steep banks

Far below a blue sea and craggy rocks  . As you approach SS the rocks give way to sandy beaches . And it’s sunny.Met some likeable fellow pilgrims/walkers in the Hostals and most of them have offered a clean bed and good food and shower .

low Points . The climbing up hills and ascents via narrow pathways and huge stones that shift underfoot . Not as fit as I thought . Carrying too much still

Have discarded stuff at various points but still too heavy . Knee developes soreness, hips threaten, knee give way at times . Why ? But walking Camino is about discarding/ accepting/slowing up ?

i like the wine and tapas more !

This is actually being published 29 September . Walking now

Camino Madrid :”Too far Away “News from home and a rotten day walking

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Persephone and Max Angelo -a few months after i got home 

Walking the Camino Madrid :from Zamarrala to Ane 22.3 km

Well started on this account of a walk from Madrid to Olmedo  in the NW of Spain in March this year ,and got distracted on the way.When I came back to writing and more  discarded some of the topics.They are either too mundane ,too personal ,too difficult -what  once seemed so pertinent and so meaningful lost its shine .

There I was in a bar in Zamarramala,a small pueblo 12 kms from Segovia ,getting ready to depart on the next leg .with my oldest daughter Nardwyn.Whats App showed me a pic of youngest daughter holding a baby linked to tubes and wires -born early .We burst into tears.Suddenly our real world was here in this small ,jovial bar and what i was doing seemed trivial and without any substance .In one small stroke ,or whats app pic ,contentment and self satisfaction ,adventure ,became just a selfish and meaningless act

I should have been there for the birth ,I meant to be there and had timed return for 4 weeks time ,,but babies are born without thought of timings and plans .There is my daughter looking at me and I can see the accusation in her eyes ,still groggy after the birth ,-you’ve let me down once again .

All day I walk ,thinking of them both.Should I have stayed home knowing that an early birth was a possibility ?or was I right to carry on with my life?Life is always unpredictable ,to be lived at the time and waiting on a birth is waiting for an event.I tried to rationalise that I could  still be present ,sending warm thoughts and love (But I changed the return date and cut the time of walking )

At the moment there is no turning back.But our attention was  not on the way .after the first few hours the arrows faded out and we walked through a pine forest with the usual several possible paths An interminable walk through pines and more pines and  sand across flat fields and nothing visible ahead.After more dragging of feet and feeling sorry for ourselves we  reached a rise ,and there was Ane,ghost village filled with old people who peered at us fearfully from cracks in doorways ,and cats .After a lot of talking we finally got someone who knew someone with the key to the hostal.Karma ,we had not brought any food and there were no bars or shops ,and by this time daughter was shivering with fever and could hardly stand .The sweet old man mumbled his way slowly to the hostal to open it for us ,It hadn’t been used for a while ,but luckily there was a smaller room with an electric heater so managed to warm it up and pile blankets over Nardwyn .All I had was panadol and a lemon tea bag ,there was hot water though.A pretty awful night as she got hotter ,but luckily by morning the fever had  subsided and we were able to depart

So i guess this blogg entry is about making choices and then being able to wear them Also about being prepared : this was the first time ever that I walked without any food And retaining an awareness of  the unpredictability of events like births and illnesses ,and weather.The camino may provide ,but there is also a very real need to be vigilant and as prepared as possible .