I love steam trains. I love trains in general, but I really love the mechanical beauty of a steam engine. The smell of grease and coal also resonates with my soul. The experience on a steam train, the gentle swaying and the clickity-clack over the rails, the smell of wood and smoke and noise of the whistle – all of this is like a sweet memory of something I never experienced.
We took a trip on a steam train in Wales. It was quite expensive but it was worth it. We shared a cabin with an elderly couple and I can tell the old chap was enjoying as much as I was. Maybe I’m getting old!
I left my wallet behind in the caravan for most of the day. The pockets in my shorts were rather shallow and I didn’t want to risk the wallet falling out. I’ve been using the same Fossil wallet since Christmas Day 2009. An ex-girlfriend bought it to me and I thought I would do what I always do with wallets – use it until it falls apart. This one never did. It got a soaking at the twelfth a few years ago, which took the shine off it a bit, but its still fully functional. Its funny how some things last much longer than they should.
This holiday caravan won’t last. Its spacious and comfortable – modern caravans are luxurious compared to the ones I grew up with. The walls are wafer thin though, especially the interior ones. I can hear if someone sighs in the bathroom. I am certain that, if Luke was a bit older and we engaged in some rambunctious horseplay, we would run the risk of busting through one of those walls. We’re safe for the next few years, but he’s getting stronger and the caravanning might be short lived.
Yesterday involved, among many other things, flying a kite. To get to flying the kite, there was the need to buy the kite, build the kite and then carry the kite to the beach. After the flying, (which lasted for about 15 minutes), there was the winding up of the strings, carrying the kite back and dismantling it to put it back in its case. So there was about an hour of effort required to fly a kite for 15 minutes.
I should make it clear that I have no interest in kites. This was all Jessica. She saw the kite in the toy section of a shop I went into to buy socks. I am interested in socks. She wanted the kite and made all sorts of promises about kite ownership and responsibility (not one of which she stuck to). Her interest in the kite lasted for about 2 minutes into the actual flying of it. She wandered off after that and took to splashing through a pool of beach water with her brother.
That’s life I suppose. Things start out with lots of hopes and promises with a naive ignorance about the reality of effort required. Even the good part is never as exciting as the prior idea of it. But despite all of this, and despite the moaning and grumbling throughout, there’s a happiness to be found in the experience. A memory made and shared. That’s what it’s about and that’s why we keep hoping, even if what we get doesn’t exactly look like what we imagined. Its still good and it becomes precious.
This is the first time I’ve been to Wales. I don’t know how I missed visiting until this point in my life, given that I’ve been to some far-flung countries multiple times, but then there’s no major attraction to draw someone here.
It is fine. The coast is scenic and the people are friendly. I am relaxing after trekking here on a ferry with a pick-up truck, a wife and two kids. The strangest thing about Wales is the language and the place names – its almost like a long-running joke, “lets just throw random letters at our words and see if people will take it seriously”.
Anyway, I prefer this to a scorching sun holiday where everyone is vegetating on sun loungers and eating rubbish. My mind also doesn’t do well with doing nothing. This is more like substitution rather than substraction.
Imagine my shock when I found that its been more than a year since I renewed this site and updated it contents. Then I forgot about it because I’m up my own backside and I’m trying to take over the world. There has always been something very satisfying about posting here because I can ramble on about anything and its like talking into a warm, comfortable void.
So I’m going to keep this up, now that the site is new and finally live.
I’m back. At least I think I’m back. I’m in the process of rebuilding warped.cc, and this meant wiping everything that was before. None of it was working, so its not a big loss, and all of my years’ worth of posts are backed up. It was also costing me a fortune – the hosting price had slowly creeped up and I’ve been too busy to notice.
Anyway, here we are in WordPress instead of Joomla, and I haven’t a clue what I’m doing. Hopefully this publishes.
