Here we are : my last night in Greece. I am leaving tomorrow - at last?? Maybe.

I have passed the last week in the island of Santorini. Oh yes, it was great - the views were stunning, the lovely cycladic villages, the beaches, the sea....

I AM TIRED OF BEING ALONE! I WANT MY FRIENDS, ALLRIGHT??

In fact, the island was full of americans. This is what probably restrained me for talking to the people who were with me in the youth hostel (hey Yaz, how are you?). And, more generally, the place sucked. It was full of people who want to travel, allright, but not at any rate leaving home....What's the point in going away from home if it is for listening Blink-182 and Bob Marley and talking all day with other americans? Fuckin shit, I should have never gone to stay in this place....

But otherwise, I had a good time; most part of my days were spending sitting by the cliff, feet hanging over the sea down there at 300m. Not even a book. Just looking, feeling the sun and the wind on my face, thinking about stuff - dynamite stuff that you will read in time ;) Yes Santorini is one of the most stunning place I have seen in my life, but still, it is invaded by americans who like america so much...

On other topics, it seems more than ever that I achieve an esthetic greek standard (don't ask me wich one, I don't know...); I had fun counting how many times a man talks to me during a 20 minuts walk...I arrived at the interesting number of 17. I will probably had a depression back in Montreal, where no one at all has ever noticed me. Nevermind.

So, what will I remember of Greece?
*Delphi
*The bus rides. It was always such a good time, and at every turn of the road, especially in Crete, I thought that we were going down the scenery.
My week in Paleohora, on the South Coast of Crete.
*The ferry boat to Crete
*My night under an olive tree in the Peloponese
*The morning following my night under the olive tree.
*The fun I had in Nafplio with Sam, Penny, Priscilla and Emmie.
*The gyros (every night its gyros)
*Fuckin nutella and bread.
*Fuckin apricot jam.
*Fuckin stinky bathrooms.
*Reading Laborit at the cafe in Hania at half past seven in the morning.

Well, the list could goes on and on and on...This was certainly not a usual backpacking trip according to standards : I have not got drunk, I have not fucked anyone, I have spent most of my time alone and I have not "made friends that will last for the rest of my life" (bullshit). It was in fact a time that was suspended in time. I did not grow old during that month, I did not get fatter or thinner, nothing has changed. I will come home or in England and everything will be the same, thanks god. This month did not really exist for me, exept for the images it uploaded in my memory. It's great.

Ok, JP is going to Japan in three days now. It is the equivalent for him than me going to UK...so JP, make the most of it!

The net is slow. It's been such a long time since I have experinced that - since those good old days of cegep - that I thought it was not possible anymore. Nevermind.

I have passed the last four days in Paleohora, on the South coast of Crete. There was nothing to do in this village except going to the beach and reading books, so this is what I did. Laborit and Arthur C. Clarke were the lucky ones. I still have not finished Laborit, but he threw me in such a furror last night that I stopped to read and wrote the weirdest postcard ever to Karine - about that book. I felt better afterwards : I continued my reading with more peaceful thoughts.

For the moment, I am in Rethymno on the North Coast The place is allright, nothing more, nothing less. I move tomorrow to Heraklio to visit Knossos and then to Santorini, in the Cyclades. It will be my last week in Greece. In exactly 14 days, I will be in Canada. It feels really weird boys.

I'm in Crete!

I thought that the Peloponese was gorgeous...I had not seen Crete at that time. It is simply paradise on earth. Since I arrived in Greece, I had this dilemna : moutains ou beaches? Wich one is my favorite? There's no need to spend time on that now : simply enjoy swimming in the Mediterranean sea, watching the high snowy peaks of Western Crete.

I have finaly got my ticket for Crete. I am leaving in 4 hours and I have all this time to kill in Piraeus. I discovered that new collective blog of us and I think, ain't funny how the old teams tend to stick together, no matter what happens. Mind you, it is nothing interesting for the non-initiated, but it is like being back in a very ol(d?)d pair of shoes...that ends up being rather comforting. We've been used to have those kind of on-line toys for years now, I almost feel like I am sixteen years old again ;P

What I dream of :
that my back stops aching;
hearing Hefner on the radio one day;
to know exactly what's going on when a bunch of greek guys talk and look at me in the same time.

GRrrrr.....The trains, the ferries and the metro of Athens are on strike today. I'm stuck in this horrible city until tomorrow night. That REALLY pisses me off guys...

The fact is that, in the moment, I should be on the ferry for Hania, in Crete. I have to meet someone there in 24 hours, but, hey...just as lucky as I am sometimes, STRIKE! Should I take the plane? Should I do nothing? Should I light up a fag to relax a bit?

I left Nafplio this morning. I had such a great time there, it is like I will not get something better for the rest of my trip. I know I probably will, but this strike is so annoying, everything else looks more dull. For the moment, I would pretty much like to be in St-Marc than in Athens. Anyway, Athens is more ugly than St-Marc (I know it's unbelievable, but true)

I am currently in Nafplio, a small town on the east coast of the Peloponese. For the archeological geeks, it's situated just next to Mykenes.

I am having a great time, really. I've been here for the last three days, just enjoying the town here, walking next to the sea or in the hills around, visiting Mykenes or the medieval fortress on the top of the highest hill here, going to the beach a little bit (but no bathing - it is still a little bit cold for me), chatting with people...It's really a peaceful and restful time after the first 4 crazy days when I've been in Delphi, the north coast of Peloponese and Corinth. When I arrived in Nafplio, I thought the city se lovely and calm that I decided to settle down for a couple of days...So here I am. I'm leaving tomorrow for Crete, so it will be other days of total crazyness, travelling on old greek buses, ferries, trains....I should arrive there on Friday. 10 hours of ferry. Will I sleep? Dunno...:)

Being sometimes rather stupid, I have taken with me only the first book of "His Dark Materials" trilogy. I am already at 100 pages of the end. How will I do the next three weeks with that?

You are in Delphi.
The Ancient Greeks, they believed it to be the center of the Earth.
You think, no one has ever been so close to the truth.
You stand at the top of this high cliff, with the summit behind you, 2500m high of rock and you watch a bank of clouds down in the valley, coming up. When they reach you, you can not see nothing else and you breathe clouds. Higher they go, and it starts raining. 3 seconds-old raindrops drip from your nose. The sky clear up, and you look the next cloud bank coming.
You are in Delphi, it is the center of the earth and you have never been so close to serenity.

I am in Athens.

It rocks!

Do no expect too much updates in the next month : internet cafes are so expensive around here, it's a shame.

But, well, what to say when the counter leaves me 5 minutes to update? Athens is cool. Really. It's definetely european. It changes a lot from London. Everywhere in the city, I look up and I see the Acropolis hanging in thin air.

I'm leaving the city tomorrow. If only I can find the bus terminal. Wish me good luck.

I am leaving for Greece tomorrow in the morning. This means taking the plane. I am scared of planes, did you know?

According to AmIGoingDown.com, I have 1 chance on 138 000 000 to die during this trip (London Heathrow to Athens with a 757 of British Airways). It's more risky to cross the street in Trafalgar Square. Let's take it in a good way. No matter the statistics, I am still scared of planes.

My CDs during this trip include :
Hefner - The Fidelity Wars
Hefner- Dead - Media
Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie #2
Erik Satie - Best Of
NME compilation CD of 2001
Q compilation CD of 2001 (those two last for the diversity and a little bit o' indie)
Mano Negra - Best Of
Green Day - Nimrod
Radiohead - live in South Park, Oxford, 2001 CD #2

Oxford is in the moment invaded by french tourists. It's a good moment to leave it. (no offense to the french people I know).

Books to be read during those weeks to come in Greece : the Philip Pullman trilogy, "His Dark Materials", who seems really promising and a...biologic philosophy essay (let's call it this way), "Eloge de la Fuite" from Henri Laborit.

What else? The Queen mum is dead. The country is mourning her today and has closed the shops. Where am I supposed to buy solar cream then??

See you in Greece babes!

Er - sorry about that last post that has stayed incomplete for like, two weeks. I've just updated it all.

Springtime in England!! I really did not expect it to be like that - sunny, warm, charming. I have passed the last week in holidays (thanx boss), walking around Wheatley in the small, grassy hills and the dark, muddy woods, enjoying hedonism in a local way. Meaning reading books lying in a sunny field, eating nutella sandwiches and looking and the blue sky above my head. Things to do when you only have left £1 in your back account for the next 2 weeks. Look for your inner hobbit, you know...

When I read the first of the Harry Potter books last summer, it was a high deception. Predictable, flat, nothing that was really inventive....I hated it and classed Harry Potter in the same section of sub pop culture as the Atomic Kittens, Chris Columbus and Danielle Steel. I made an effort and went to see the film in last november. Chris Columbus (him, again) had made a movie that stayed true to the book. a=b=c so c=a; the film was a pure piece of schnoute. I gave up to ever understand WHY Harry Potter was such a hype. Then, last week as I said in the paragraph above, plenty of days to spend but, oh-my-god-no-fuckin-money. After finishing "La Force de l'Age", a Simone de Beauvoir autobiography, I took a dive in Lucia's library wich contains all the kids classics and fell over "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". Why not having another go? Either the following books of the serie have REALLY improved or the traduction of the first one (I have read it in french) was a pure piece of crap but I found myself enjoying this book and the two ones following within four days. Statement : now, I like Harry Potter books. Beware, it can happen to anyone of us.

The D-day is drawing nearer : I am leaving for Greece in one week. I realised this morning that I :
*do not speak greek;
*cannot read the greek alphabet;
*do not know no one in Greece;
*do not know exactly where I am going, as a matter of fact.
That still leaves me one week to plan it all. I guess I'll be allright, as usual.

Presently at the internet cafe in Charing Cross, London. 1am in the morning. I feel a bit sick - the fact is that, I'm eating chocolate chips biscuits and drinking pineapple fizzy drink in the same time. I have to stay awaken until ....until 10 pm tonight or something like that. I'm not really sure of the way I will manage it. Loads of coffee, gimme loads of coffee!!

For the first time in my life, I went tonight in Hackney, wich is the eastest point I've ever been to in London (E8, E8!!!). In fact, this is so remonte that the tube does not even go there...that was my trip of the month.

I woke up this morning at 10, read for about 4 hours and the decided to get up of my bed, joined Mimi in the living room to watch "Shrek", realised I was late, got ready and jumped in the bus to London. Arriving and, how to get there, how to get there? Made my way through the Starlink trains (something you could compare to the "trains de banlieue" in Montreal or the RER in Paris) and landed in this Hackney place. I got lost searching for the venue - should have turned left but took right....something I do everytime I go to a new place in London and makes me think "I hate this city." For you have to know, oh you all non-londoners, that the streets in London don't have their names shown on street corners like in every other city in the world. Here you have to guess if yes or no, you are on the right way. Very useful, considering above it all that even the londoners can not give you the right direction if you ask them. This is the most confusing city I've ever seen.

Long short story, I turned right but it was at the left. I walked for one hour, completely lost and feeling a bit insecure. I even asked my way to THREE different people, the three of them all telling me a different way. The last one was the good, and I finally stumbled across it : the London Ocean! From outside, it seemed quite promising, but my enthusiasm fastly fell; it was an old building all restored and redesigned inside and it looked like the Paramount cinema in Montreal : a big block of concrete with hollows inside to park people, make them have fun and enjoy the multitude of cafes and bars with cool lighting systems.

For the Manoir insiders : the song now playing here is Vivaldi's Spring....Fabienne, I will never forget you.

The band tonight was Godspeed You Black Emperor! probably the other Montreal band with an internationnal potential besides BranVan3000 (You think I'm talking nonsense saying that? I forgot a HUGE deathmetal band or you think that Moist deserved mote attention? Write!).

To confess everything, I had never listen to more than 3 songs from GYBE! in my life before tonight so the gig promised to be quite a shock. It was, definitely, the missing skin chunks from my hands can testify - I simply got transfixed by the music and I ended the gig with my nails firmly inserted in the flesh on my hands. It was an interesting experience, something that makes you either want to smash the furnitures around or roll on the floor, crying. Quite strange, actually. Music that you can listen to everyday? Certainly not.

Sorry to move this blog. I really did like the layout of the other, but as I said on the former URL, GeoCities is no longer permitting FTP updates. I will have to find another host in next May, when I will be back at home. For now on, you will have to deal with this white-basic look and the giant ad at the top. That is how bad your website can get when you're off around the world doing something else.

Anyway, I am thinking about getting an actual domain name and web host and pay for it - something I had made a point of honour to evitate since my start on the net 4 years ago. Well, this is it. After all, I have got myself a mobile phone here in England, so why not a domain?

Tomorrow is the Godspeed You Black Emperor gig at the London Ocean in Hackney. I don't know where it is, but I will manage my way anyway - that's what I've been doing for the last 6 months anyway. I'll be online from 7pm to 2 am, Mtl time. If you want to have a chat, simply come online!

test

A chunk of real life. I am going to talk about love, boys, attraction, etc...If you don't want to read, if you think it will hurt your feelings, piss off.

This is it. Springtime in England. I know it's ridiculous, but springtime always have the same effect on me : I fall in love. Well, not really in love. I simply find someone I become totally obsessed with. It has got nothing to do with Love in how it is really for me. It's simply what it is : someone I have to know by heart. Someone I could spend hours chatting with, someone who's going to change my life once again. I can't escape it. Every springtime, here we go and do it all over again. It has been like this for years. Simon, Sam M., Sam D., Geoff, Phil and this year...this year his name is Daniel and he lives in London.

It's funny how things happen. I never never NEVER talk to anybody in bars. It's the Groucho Marx syndrome : I would never join a club that would want me as a member. If someone thinks simply by looking at me in a bar that I am either attractive or sexy or whatever, this person can only be of the most horrible bad taste. I sometimes think that I should do something to fix this in my mind but well...it's another topic. But that's how it happened : I met Daniel in a bar. You know, it's the guy that you see at the beginning of the night and you think "oh my god". And as the night goes on, everytime this person comes to your sight, your heart crushes a bit more...

That's pretty lame, isn't it?

Of course, this wonderfully unique person never comes to you first. Either you take all your courage and go to him or you do nothing and regret it for days after.But sometimes, it happens. The wonderfully unique person comes to you and says "Hi". Maybe the wonderfully unique person is of the most horrible bad taste, maybe the wonderfully unique person is a total retarded, and maybe the wonderfully unique person is actually wonderfully unique. If you don't have the balls to answer, you will never know. If you hide behind your fears of people, you're screwed. If you do not smile, the wonderfully unique snowflake will melt. This second when you don't know what to answer to the most simple word of all, there's this feeling inside of you that makes your stomach going all weird and you think, shit, I am not at the right place. But you've already answered : Hello. How are you? And by the way, I love your shirt, it's funky.

And now? Now I'm lost and feel ridiculous because I'm interested in someone.

That's quite an uncommon post for this site. Do you agree with it? Do you want some more ? Does it interest you? Write.

Viva Australia!

Continuing posting about Parisssss

Tuesday 19th - All day
That tuesday was pretty cool. First, we got up at 10:30 and realised that, fuck, it was late...Nevermind. Breakfast in a brasserie in Montmartre, then the ascension of the stairs in the Sacre-Coeur garden. Impressive but still, my heart is devoted to Notre Dame...Tube to the Pere-Lachaise cemetery (special request from Karine). Quite odd for us north americans, but goddam cool. Just walking around, reading the tombstones, enjoying parisian rain. After that, I'm not really sure of what we did, but we ended up in St-Germain, drinking cafe creme at Le Cafe De Flore. The stuffy air there and the lack of food caused me some problems and I nearly fainted. I passed about 15 minuts laying on the seat, feeling sick as hell. Fresh air made me better and we went to a library to buy some books. Alleluia. I decided at this moment that I would come to live in Paris one day. Tube to the Louvre and we walked the Tuileries gardens and the Champs Elysees (lalalala). Ended in french ersatz of MacDonald's, Quick and after in a cinema (a Gaumont cinema...interesting) watching "From Hell" - it is quite a bad movie, by the way. Tube to the hotel at midnight with Rachid. A big day.

Wednesday 20th - all day
Louvre! Despite all our good intentions, we woke up at 9:30 on that morning. Tasted the french breakfast (unforgettable baguette and confiture with a cafe creme...) of the hotel. Then, fast fast fast, let's go to the Louvre! I was first puzzled by the immensity of it, then it made me sad; I realised that I would not be able to see even a quarter of it all. After the egyptian departement, ous stomachs led us to the restaurant of the museum (very good food in there....recommended, and not too much expensive) then we just wondered around the museum, looking for the famous pieces (Victoire de Samothrace being my favorite one...) and, obviously, the Joconde - the crowd around the painting was most interesting than the painting in itself. We gave up in the Flander's section and decided to get out to wind up our minds a bit. We left the museum just in time, during a bomb alert. Great. We walked a bit, I called home and then went to a pastry to eat chocolate pancakes and hot chocolate. Vive Paris...We returned at the Louvre at 6pm and walked around in the french sculptures departement, wich I think was my favorite of all that we have seen in the Louvre. We left at 10pm and had the dinner at a greek restaurant in Montmartre who sells wonderful pastries. Great.

Thursay 21st - all day
We passed near to achieve our goal - waking up at 6h30am - and finally got in the dinning room at 8h30, wow! Early start to Versailles by the RER. We tried to screwed the system without paying, but they got us at the end in Versailles with electronic turnstiles that only open with your ticket. Jumping Jumping Jumping above them and walked to the palace. It was not that beautiful (Joking, I was stunned by it, mostly the gardens and the royal chapel....) After a chantilly waffle in the gardens, some singing and dancing (yes) we were too tired to do anything else so we urged home, bought some bread, cheese and pate and drank wine. Yummy.

Friday 22nd - various times that I do not remember at all and anyway no one cares even myself
I was woken up by Karine saying in the purest quebecois "Y vont tu fermer leu gueules les tabarnaks!!!". What's going on? There's a a party in the next room going in something that sounds like an Eastern European dialect....for as far as I am concerned, I don't mind and I can sleep even with a brass corps doing "Fanfare for a Common Man" in my room, but apparently, Karine can not so she woke me up to make sure she is not alone enduring that, probably a vegeance for the last time we went in London and I woke her up by mistake at 6AM. It's a long debate between her and me since. I managed to get some sleep until 8am then it became obvious that we had to get up if we wanted some breakfast. After some packing, we went at the Gare Du Nord again to put our bags in a locker, chatted with the most charming quebecer for one hour and took the tube to the Pantheon. One of an interesting visit, but still, too much things to remember....anyway. We went for lunch and ate tons of nutella crepes (hein Karine?) to prepare for a walk in the Luxembourg park. Champs Elysees to complete our week, where I learned my only sentence in Japanese ever :" KinowatachitachiwakAImonoEita " It means "Yesterday we went to the shopping center." It's very useful, believe me. It was so interesting that we almost missed the train and were the last one to get in it. Phew. After taht everyting went fine despite of the general feeling of exhaustion. Back in my bad at 11:30 on friday night. I love Paris

For now on, I've started to read my giude about Greece and I'm slowly planning it all. Last night was Karine's party : she is leaving for Quebec tomorrow. Me and Emilie will try to get along but surrounded as we are by total cunts of Le Manoir.....it's gonna be hard.

One week later

Saturday 16th 10pm - 7am
After my update on this page, we went to Charing Cross Station to put our shopping of the day, planning to get it back at around 3 or 4am on Sunday morning and then go back to Oxford for a bit of sleep. No lockers available in Charing Cross, but we met Eric from Guadeloupe, had a chat in French - wich does not occur often in London. Then, tube to Tottenham Court Rd, race for a club and we ended at The St-Moritz in Soho. The place was really cool, good music, good atmosphere. Recommended for a good talk, to meet new people and nearly faint because of the warmth. We took the bus from London to Ox. at 5am and the driver was nice enough to drop us at the corner of our street. Cheers!

Sunday 17th 7am - 10pm
Slept. Woke up at 2pm, breakfast, stayed in bed until 6pm, listening to my Radiohead CD. Call from my parents, started to pack at 8, had a shower, dressed up and left home at 10. Met Karine at the library and took the bus to Oxford, then London.

Monday 18th midnight - 5am
Stayed at the internet cafe for all night in London, had a short chat with Dan and a long one with JP. I somekind of missed my place for a while.

Monday 18th 5am - 11am
Took the first tube of the day to Waterloo Station, and then....the train! I was pretty excited, I thought that going at 300km/hr would be quite exciting but the experince was just like taking an ordinairy train - nothing particular, except for the fact that going through the Channel in twenty minuts is....well.....FAST! Welcome in France everyone, put your watches one hour ahead please. We arrived in Paris at 11. the railway station was quite confusing, but everything went nice. We wondered at how french people seemed so nice and easy going. England was far away back....

Monday 18th 11 am - 11pm
Sight seeing in Paris - what we will end up doing for the rest of the week but well...it was our first time after all. The first thing we saw was ...the tube to Notre-Dame....
......Then Notre Dame, obvioulsy.....
................................................Then the Arc de Triomphe.....
.......Then the Tour Eiffel (1700 steps....we climbed 700 of them...).....
......Then the Champs-de-Mars (very different from this park in Montreal built upon an highway....humhum...)........
We bought some food and got back to the Gare du Nord to get our luggages and tried to find our way back on the tube #2....we never made it and got lost somewhere in between Gare du Nord and Gare de l'Est for one hour. Fuckin Hell...
We finally got to our hotel at 9pm, ate, wondered at the bathroom and finally went to bed at 11pm. I had slept 7 hours since Saturday morning, went shopping, clubbing, sightseeing, took the bus to Oxford-London-Oxford-London-again-Paris-by-train....I like this :)
Due to culinary reasons (I have to cook a pate chinois for Emilie and Karine tonight...I will probably finish this update tomorrow. Anyway it is of no consequence at all...

London. Once again. On a saturday night. The city is so exciting, we decided to stay over for the night and go out in a nightclub - it cannot be worse than Oxford and Park End...obviously :)

Karine is with me. Tomorrow we're going to Paris. Tonight we're going....well.....we don't know :) It seems like we cannot stop to DO something. Urge of living? I feel like a movie...you know...an american movie. Hard to explain.

I bought today a bootleg from Radiohead of their concert in Oxford this summer. Seems rather interesting, 2 CDs, loads of songs from "OK Computer" and "The Bends" - what lacked on their official live album released in last October. They even did "Creep" (Daniel, JP, I know you both are terribly jealous ;P ).

Official announcement!!
I will be online on mIRC and ICQ tomorrow from 7pm to midnight, MTL time. Be there (you know who you are).

So where will we end up tonight?....

An interesting afternoon spent at the Asmolean Museum in Oxford. I did not even see half of the stuff that was there so I guess I will go back one day or another.

After days and days and days and DAYS of patient waiting, when I went to Sainsbury's today, I finally had my hands on the LAST chocolate-orange muffin. This is what we can call "destiny".

On other topics :
The Future!
Just in case some of you planned to have a meeting with me in the next months...here is my schedule
Feb. 17 to Feb.22 - Paris
Mar. 23 to Mar. 28 : Oxbridge walk
May 2 to May 9 : Scotland
May 12 to ... Greece

Then, well, either I will make my way to Italia and France, or only France or directly Oxford, fetch my stuff and come back to Quebec for the summer. Then in August, come back in England and moving to London. Or moving to Montreal, work a bit, drink some beers, enjoying the uncertain concept of home. This is, as far as I know, how I will spend the rest of the year. Send your meeting submissions to dweeno@hotmail.com. Or you will probably receive mine.

Sunday night in Oxford; almost boring. Almost.

This Pop Idol thing is so god damn addictive, it's a shame. When Zoe was voted out of the show yesterday, I felt disturbed for a couple of minutes. Just to advise everybody : my favorite contestant is Gareth. In fact, I could not choose between Zoe and Gareth, both of them were so lovely and good performers (YES! I know that Gareth cannot say two words in a row but he's just sooooooo sweet!!!). Not that Zoe is out, well, all my devotion can now go to Gareth. To be true, I would like William and Darius to die in a plane crash just to make sure Gareth will win. Fi.

One exciting moment in my life : I've just got my first msg on my answerphone on my new mobile.

Can everyone feel the cynism in my voice? But the fact is, yes, I actually got myself a mobile phone to make things easier. I passed so much time criticizing mobiles that I've felt like a traitor since I have bought it. But, hum, texting is funny...

Last night, she said, oh man I feel so down....

My trip in Britain will ever be marked by some songs. I try to make a list of those on this blog, but music is such an important part of my life here that I cannot track them all. Radio is sometimes incredible, sometimes horrible, but always different from what we're used to in Quebec. I'm even close to like dance music.

Bought last week :
Radiohead - Live Recordings
Belle and Sebastian - Tigermilk
Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
Belle and Sebastian - The Boy With The Arab Strap
Belle and Sebastian - Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant

This new Radiohead album is incredible. For the fans, it's a great piece of music, especially if you have seen them live. Some songs are simply genius. But the album is too short and could have covered more than "KID A" and "Amnesiac" (the concert I've seen last August saw most of the songs of "OK Computer", "KID A" and "Amnesiac" played and a good part from "The Bends". All this last more than 2 hours.) "Everything In Its Right Place" is almost better live and "Like Sipnning Plates" is.....perfect. I passed 4 hours listening to it on the repeat mode.

For this avalanche of Belle and Sebastian' albums, well, I have no logic explanation except that they were incredibly cheap compared to how much they cost in Quebec. I'm almost fed up with violons, sweetness and melancholy after a week of listening to all those albums, but well, it's...sooooooo lovely.

When was it, again?

I've been much lazy on the last days, preferring to spend my nights at the pub with the usual people (Lara, Luke, Simon, Karine), drinking Caffrey's and ESB and smoking Karine's fags. Tonight? Should I have enough courage to make THAT phone call (yes I will!) or will we end up again in front of a pint messing each other's life?
Should I buy a mobile?
Should I go to the Virgin and spend my last quids on CDs?

Dancing songs of the month :
Basement Jaxx - 'Where's Your Head At?' (THE dance song of the last 4 months here)
Daniel Bedingfield - 'Gotta Get Thru This' (a quite bad song, but it's catchy, yes)

The last days have been also spent in touring Britain (what I am here for, after all). Karine and me went to Warwick Castle, ran after the peacocks, climbed on the towers and filmed around. Then yesterday, we took the train for Bath, drank coffee, walked, sat on the Circus for 2 hours chatting and hoping for a car accident that nearly happened. No matter where you go, the problem is that you always take yourself with you.

Play it again Sam, play it, "As Time Goes By".

Every time that I go in London and I end up in Victoria Station around 5pm, the city scares me. Too much people, too fast...There is always this drowning feeling when I walk on the street...I almost feel like I could just let myself go among all those people and still, they would bring me somewhere, like a river.

Today, I spent my christmas present, a £100 voucher at Harrod's. I hated the store. Too big, too much people. I'm not absolutely "anti-consommation" (sometimes I even eat at McDonald's!!) but still, when I see a 500 pounds simple scraf....it makes me feel a bit physically sick. Anyway. I managed to get a pair of Christian Lacroix red trousers, a camel wool t-shirt and a little gift for my mom. Alleluia.

Live in Oxford. I've just missed my f******bus and the next one was 2 hours later....at 11pm. The last one. I feel dumb.

Today was a weird day. Things start, things end and there's only me remaining at the end.

The internet cafe where I am, in the moment, is an old, old Oxford house, with wood-panelling on the walls. With the years passing, the wood has dried and twisted, the ceiling rounded and I have this strange feeling that I am not in the real world in the moment. The room around me seems to come right from those weird places seen in "Dr.Caligari Cabinet".

New Year was......New Year. An end to something. A start? Do I really want it?

Merde. Did not get my orange-chocolate muffin at the Victoria Sainsbury's.

In London in the middle of pre-new year's eve day tornado. Camden Town was busy as hell. I fled to Harrods to spend my christmas present from my parents. Harrods was a) busy as hell and b) closed. I fled (again) to Leicester Square, wich was a) windy and cold and b) busy as hell. I hurried to the National Gallery and found it a) busy as hell and b) big - too big even for me. So I had a look at Van Gogh' Sunflowers, Monet' Water-lilies, got my mind blown up by the middle-age paintings (it's all about colours man) but couldn't stand any longer the mad crowd in there and ended up in the internet cafe on the Strand. London during the festive season? Is there any place peaceful in this world?

But no matter pretending about it all : I really badly like it and wouldn't want to be anywhere else (exept home...)

Christmas....Christmas was both bad and good. Christmas Eve was a terrible evening, quite sad, spent at Loli's house in Oxford. At least we were 10 people gathering their sadness and their champagne. Then on Christmas Day - after a day at work that I would really much like to forget - I had a family dinner at my place, wich was nice and remind me, in a good way, of home.

I would presently kill for an orange-chocolate muffin from the Sainsbury's. To satisfy this irrepresible desire, go the the Sainsbury's Store Locator!

New Year's Eve will be joyfully spent at the Monarch in Camden Town. Just hope that Karine ( my dear other-quebecer-in-Britain), this goth-cannibal-killer-devoted-to-Eric-Lapointe will like this indie venue. Happy New Year to everyone! Felice Annon Nuevo! Bonne Annee!

Yesterday, finally, after almost three years of [im]patient waiting, The Lord Of The Rings!

I considered the beginning with mixed feelings; the teletubbies-like hobbits in their teletubbies-land The Shire, the first book resumed to 30 minuts in the movie, the skipping of the Old Forest (though I won't complain about the disapeareance of Tom Bombadil, who I've always considered pretty annoying) and the Barrow-Downs...After that, the movie slipped in great and well-done entertainment : the Orcs, Isengard, Moria as the most impressive part of it all, the balrog, the Elves (somehow a bit too much new-age-gardener...but still great) and Aragorn, and Gandalf, and Gimli...Am I getting too much excited? Gandalf was the best acted (but it is also the best role...hum) but Aragorn deserves respect as well, mostly with that last fight with the Uruk-Hai...I went out of the movie with altogether bad and good impressions, but I think that I finally like this movie...anyway, that does not change anything at all ....

Today was a peaceful day : traditionnally grey and cold in good old english fashion. I packed some food, put a couple of shirts on and went on walking in the hills between Wheatley and Oxford, what I have not done since the last two months. As usual, I got quite lost, met a lot of people walking their dogs, a strange small black animal (are there any bears in Britain??....) two bike riders who almost crashed in me while going down Shotover Hill and finally I ended dashing on the Ringroad between Cowley and Headington. Great. I walked to Oxford to finish it all properly.

A nice story about these hills where I passed the day : once upon a time, centuries ago, an Oxfordian was walking there when he met a wild boar. Having nothing else at hand exept an Aristote book, he apparently killed the beast with it and brought it back to his college for supper. Never underestimate the power of philosophy.

The Christmas Oratorio in 30 minuts - for the moment, I'm doing time in the internet cafe on High Street. I finally got a ticket for The Lord of the Rings, but only on thursday afternoon, since everything for wednesday has been sold out for a week. It's been a long time since I have been so excited about something. I must even admit that I expect this movie more than, eg my depart for Britain in last september...that's somekind of weird...

Christmas melancoly - Part II

My mum has sent me a christmas CD. I put it in my CD player yesterday, and cried during three songs, then decided to do something else. What a shame. First time since I have left that I cried.

The Stereolab concert is cancelled tonight : I decided to go instead to see the Bach Christmas Oratorio in the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford - a good reason to finally enter this building. hummm...I'm about to miss my bus!!

Hum....feeling awright. It's just that christmas time is coming - is already there, I should say. I am pretty excited - it's fuckin CHRISTMAS guys! - but also, a bit, well, sad and melancolic and happy and sad and delightened and....

Christmas in itself, I do not care to much, but I know I will miss the gathering....the family dinners, the laughs, the songs...

C.D.U.T.D-D. {Count Down Until The D-Day}: 6

This week concert : Stereolab on Saturday night at the Oxford Zodiac - quite the only good venue in Oxford, actually, considering this sleepy-dreaming spires city...

Let's start where we last finished last week : the Pulp concert. I got a ticket. I got inside the Brixton Academy. I got the first row - how lucky I am sometimes...It was just like as if I had come back to 16, when seeing Pulp live would probably have killed with delightment. Jarvis is such a performer, the music was so good, the atmosphere so bad! (this is it : I now speak like a 16 years-old). Though I thought their last album so-so, the new songs played live sounded pretty good, and the old ones sounded, well, great. Ican't think of anything else to describe it.

So until now, I've seen the two concerts that I intended to see in Britain (being Hefner and Pulp). What's next?

Tonight : Pulp Concert!! Pray for me, 'cause I still need to buy my ticket and it's sold out...

If anything goes right - mean if I get a ticket - I should be on IRC and ICQ from midnight until 6 am (7pm-1am MTL time) tonight. Come around and have a chat if you have some spared time!

"Harry Potter" is an ordinairy movie, except for the Quidditch match - it would be great if Quidditch would be an actual sport! Before the movie, among plenty others ads, I catched the "Star Wars II" preview, and it seems not that bad though this horrible title : "Attack of the Clones"...let's see (in May 2002!). And, as usual, a "Lord of the Rings" preview, the longer I've seen until now. A doubt is presently in my mind : will this be a trilogy (what I first thought) or a single movie?? For the last previews I saw showed the Mount Doom and other glimpses of Mordor and great battles as well - if my mind is right, there are no such battles until "The Two Towers"...

Oh my God, I feel so NERD!!!

MP3 to download : The Strokes - Last Night.

Do not wear trainers to go out in Oxford.

I finally didn't get my Pulp ticket for the Brixton Academy last week : sold out. Shit happens. I guess I will just go there and wait until I see someone willing to sell me a ticket.

Do not wear trainers to go out in Oxford

I have a ton of pictures to dowload, the only thing needed is a scanner. Later. For today, I am going to see the "Harry Potter" movie. Having completely hated the first book, I expect the movie to be better, wich is not asking to much I think. But really to me, the great thrill is to wait for the "Lord of the Rings" movie (I must admit I surprised myself earlier this week lying on my couch gazing at the air around, a smile on my face, thinking about that movie now coming out in least than a month). I feel a bit weirdo to be waiting so much for a fantasy movie.

At the end, I have some pictures to scan, I come to the internet cafe in Oxford, and, oh, the scanner is not working....

Tomorrow will be a shopping day in London (trousers, ticket for the Pulp concert on Nov. 30th, ideas, christmas gifts and all...) in the cold, wet english weather. Yeah, this is as worst as you heard it about and maybe even more.

I'm still in limbo in these days. I'm looking for a future somewhere somehow, and to tell the entire truth, there is nothing or no one that truly helps me to decide what I should finally do of my brain. For the moment, the only thing I can really worry about is if wether or no not there will be tickets still available for that Pulp concert when I will go to buy it tomorrow. I really do feel insignificant and meaningless. (But that is a pretty confortable state of mind).

Hu, hey, all, I'm sorry for this long-to-come post...Been busy on the last days, and most of all, completely run out of money for the past 2 weeks so all that was left to do was reading (The Lord of the Rings) and well, pub....

I've been here for nearly two months. Here is the soundtrack of those days :

The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You
Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head
Hefner - Where Angels Play Their Drummachines
Pulp - Do You Remember The First Time?
Les Cowboys Fringants - Leopold
Estopa - El del medio de los Chichos
The Stereophonics - Have a Nice Day
AfroMan - 'Cause I Get High

Hefner! The Hefner concert was pretty good, actually everything I could expect from a Hefner concert, you see? ;) We were about 200 attending at this concert...and...really I don't know how to describe it. Darren was as sweet and shy and ugly as I thought he would be...magical :)

Since I have arrived in England :

Books : "The Lord Of The Rings", "Fight Club" and "The End of The Affair".

Movies : "Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain", "Alien 4" and I plan to go for "The Others" and "Harry Potter" (yeah! seems like a very entertaining movie to me)

Well, do not have much more time...I would like to thank the guy who invented the english pub (but he could have extended the opening hours a little bit more).

Ain't interesting how a pathetic post sometimes makes people react....

When I walked into the room on the second day of their stay at the hotel, I almost screamed of anger. I couldn't imagine how you can make a mess of such a big bed-living-bathroom within 24 hours. I started to make that room a bit more tidy, but soon, this really got on my nerves. I mean, OK, I make the bed, I clean their bathroom, but am I really here to pick up the dirty socks they put under the sofa?

My answer is : no.

Never drive completely crazy the people that take care of your well-being. I decided to have fun. Took the little stinky mist they had received at the hotel reception and sprinkled it on their clothes in the wardrobe, in their open bags, hid the glasses - that I had found under a pile of dirty clothes - behind the cds next to the stereo, hid a hat in their backpack, stroke back with the mist in the conditionning air, put the heating off and then, having a bad cough, I gently spited on one toothbrush. I even thought about piercing the condoms they had with a needle, but that would have been far too much evil. And, oh yeah, I cleaned the toilet with the other toothbrush.

I used to be such a nice person.

Tomorrow is the day! This is the Hefner concert! The new Pulp album is also out here in Britain (unknown date in America), but I'm waiting for this concert tomorrow to pass to clear my mind a bit...

And well, I don't know what to think about it all.

Need to write in French.

Alors qu'aujourd'hui je recois un email qui me somme de repondre a mon acceptation a Katimavik et que je sais que je vais refuser, je me met a penser un peu (pour la premiere fois depuis longtemps).

Je venais en Angleterre pour trouver. Trouver la voie (la voie est sous mes pieds), la bonne, retrouver mes passions (pendant que j'en laissais une toute nouvelle derriere moi, comme une idiote), definir, ENFIN, ce qui me tente, ce que je veux, ce que je dois faire. Au bout d'un mois, on trouve quoi?

Un esprit encore plus trouble. De plus en plus deconnecte du sol, de la realite. J'anesthesie joliment le monde autour de moi depuis un mois. Pire encore qu'avant, alors que j'avais conscience de cette tendance a etouffer le monde exterieur. Depuis mon arrivee, je flotte, plus que jamais. Deja que j'avais des racines minces et quasi-inutiles dans mon propre monde, voila que je me suis transplantee dans un autre. Et moi qui m'attendais a y definir une nouvelle place. Peu importe ou je suis, je suis toujours l'etre fantasque, irresponsable, contradictoire a en crever et parfois un peu clairvoyant que j'ai toujours ete. Ce voyage m'amuse, mais ne me change en aucune chose. J'ai bien peur d'avoir rate mon but ....Et moi qui venais ici me refaire a neuf? Mon cul ouais.

NOTE : je me paie toujours un temps incroyable par contre, et puis, la semaine prochaine, je vais voir Hefner....alors hein, que je me vois essayer de faire pitie...;P

Now on display : another trip to London!

I have to admit it : London is perfect. I would like to pass the rest of my life there. I want to marry this incredible, silly, huge, spider-web-like city. I love it.

On the other side, everyone that actually LIVES in London hates it. Why? I've not met yet a native londoner who likes the city...

So there is Karine, this nice girl coming from Quebec, who's working with me, who's bored to death in Great Milton village and who just received (like me) her monthly pay check. And on the other side, London. How to resist?

That was a more usual trip and we pretended to be tourists (what we are) and visited all those places that we see on TV : Bukingham Palace, the Parliament, Westminster Abbey, took pictures in Trafalgar Square and on the Westminster Bridge and rested in Green Park for the only day without clouds since I have arrived here. And then, while leaving Leicester Square at 3:30am after dancing all the night, we met a quebecer. Won't we ever get out of there?

Trainspotting - Man City - Endless peace in the Peak District - Football crazyness - This is London, not Antartica.

This is an unusual, interesting day. How to have the breakfast in Oxford, the lunch at the top of a 400m hill in the Peak District, a McChicken in Manchester and a night snack at 2am in London within 20 hours.

I woke up this morning at 6am. Dressed up, packed the last things and left for the railway station in Oxford. Got in the train to Manchester for I expected to be a quiet, peaceful journey through the center of England and then a ressourcefull walk in the Peak District.

ALL WRONG GUYS!

When I got in the train, I noticed that there were a lot of people for a 8am saturday morning call, but I finally found a seat, put my headphones on and did not give anymore attention to the world around. The sun was shinning outside and the landscape was lovely. So let's go to Man City. As we got more and more far north, I noticed that most part of the people on the train were :
* male
* wearing white shirt with the England arms and Umbro logo.

Uh? What's going on?

First beers to open aboard were at around 8:30....then the flags came out, followed by the white with a red cross hats. I admitted at that point I had missed something quite important during the past 24 hours. It was not until I removed my heaphones and listen to my surrounders talking about the Football World Cup qualifications that I finally heard that the match England VS. Greece was held in Manchester...I am surrounded by potential hooligans who are certainly not potentially getting drunk.

I arrived in Man City at 12:30, while the passengers were singin :"HEEEEEY, HEEY BABY (OOOH! AAH!) I WANNA KNO-OW, WILL YOU BE MY GIRL?" Took a dive into the people outside the railway station, then came back to take my train to Hope Village, in the Peak District. Arrived there under a shining and quite unusual sun. At this part, I realised that I was totally unable to follow a map and a clear plan and got lost into the fields full of sheeps. After taking almost 10 pictures of the sheeps (soooooo lovely!), I tried to reach the path that was, well, I don't know where up this 400m high hill. The fastest way to get somewhere is the straight line, is'nt it? When I finally arrived at the top of the hill, 15 min later, I was about to die of hyperventilation. Resting was not an option but a need.

I finally made my way through the hills - I took a lot of pictures that you might see in a couple of days(weeks?) and arrived at Edale 3 hours later to find the village completely over-crowded by other walkers. Fuckin hell. Options were : go to Sheffield. I have never gone to this place before and I don't have an idea of how the city is made; go to Man. and try to find a place to stay for the night despite this damn football game or (option 3) going back right there to Oxford and give up the second walking day to Castleton. I took the train to Man, still not knowing what I was about to do and arrived in the total crazyness after the match. Instant reaction : Oxford, right now.

Departure : 19:20 - it was 19:21 on the station clock. RUUUUUUUUUUN!

I was almost the last one to be able to get on the over-crowded train; I was stucked between two wagons with a bunch of drunk people celebrating. Chat, chat chat.
Are you german?
No, I'm french-canadian.
And where do you live?
In Oxford
Where?
In Oxford.
I'm sorry?
In HAXFURD!
Ahhh, in Oxford! Student, hehehehhe?
[Fuckin hell]

The ride was so damn funny with all those drunk guys that I gave up the idea to sleep in my bed and stay on the train that ended up in London. We arrived around midnight in Euston station. I said good bye to my merry-singing fellows (ENG-LAND, ENG-LAND, ENG-LAAAAAAAND!!) and dived in the tube to Charing Cross. That was just the right hour to have a chat with all those in Quebec...So I finally got to have a chat with almost everyone I had missed quite a bit : Dan, JP, Mathieu, Joelle and even Frank (woa ;P ). Though the night was a certain point really difficult (I almost fell asleep between 3 and 5) I finally got through it all with the help of JP, who was with me during all those hours. I left the cafe at 6:30am.

When I got out, it was raining.

The sky was still dark, clouds hiding the morning light. Trafalgar Square was almost deserted, only haunted by some people looking as lost and sleepy as I was. The Charing Cross station was closed and I had to make my way to Piccadilly Circus, under one of the most heavy rain I had seen in Britain. I felt really grateful to be there. One of those moments of your life when you think : I am here. I will remember this precise moment for the rest of my miserable life. Now is almost perfect.

And as usual, the moment slipped away and suddenly I was in Piccadilly Circus station, with a drunk spanish guy, a bunch of young men wearing smokings, one of them holding a girl in a black dress who had removed her shoes, and a young girl with a huge wallet that looked like as sleepy as I was. I took the tube, then the bus to Oxford. I landed in my bed at 9:00 and slept for 10 hours.

And that's all.

This week end : walking in the Peak District for two days. I'll try to take some pictures for you all....

JRR Tolkien lived up the hill in Wheatley - the village where I live. Rowan Atkinson lives down the road to Cuddesdon. Richard Branson slept at the hotel this week and Mike Jagger's mother-in-law lives three doors from the Wheatley post office. Welcome in Oxfordshire.

I have been accepted in Katimavik for the next January. Since that, I don't know (once again) what to do of my life. I hate to make decisions, especially when those decisions concern me. What else? I hate Ox. buses.

Back in Oxford for a couple of days.

After a hard day at work, you rapidly dress up, jump in to the bus to go in town at the internet cafe (before it closes at 7) and then you realise you haven't received any email from your boyfriend. And your heart melts, you feel shitty and lost in cold world. Damn ;)

You know that you are in Britain when :
* the roof and windshield of your double decker bus suddenly hit tree branches while the driver is negociating a curve into a middle-age village;
* people say "fuckin hell" instead of "fuckin shit";
* they talk about the royal family at every news bulletin on "telly"
* ALL those damn stores and cafes close at 7pm even on a Friday night;
* there's a drunk Irish guy in the corner of every pub, bar or club;
* every houses on a street look the same, but not the gardens;
* you eat YorkshA pudding at the dinnA and it tastes like fuckin hell. A cup of tHea with that, my dear?

London.

No words to describe this place. It's the most....

A story that reminds us....a lot. Take the time to read.

5000 kms by plane to come in Britain. And what you find here : The Atomic Kittens #1 on the charts with a Debbie Gibson cover "Eternal Flame".

Damn.

Ok, let's talk about BRITAIN guys (just for changing of this damn WTC and Pakistan...)

I'm in Britain since last Tuesday. Arrived on THAT tuesday, but...let's stay quiet about this thing.

First Day

Arrived on a (quite usual) cloudy and cool morning. Everything went OK from Gatwick to London, then I got kinda lost in the tube, that is pretty confusing for someone used to the Montreal simple subway system. London-Oxford by train, during wich I slept a bit. Oxford. I called at my workplace to learn that no one was expecting me on that day. OK.....Fine. Made my way from Oxford (pronounce
"Hahxfurd" babe!) to Great Milton, wich should be 500 people...Arriving at the manoir. Hello guys. Met a big boss, who I will never come to work again with, but anyway...She made a couple of phone calls to find me a bed for the night. I ended up at Ms De Payva place, wich is 5-10 minuts driving from the manoir - since I can't use a bike to ride to work nor have a license, someone will eventually pick me up to go to work...but this was at this point completely worthless, cause all I needed wasn't love, but BED. Had my first real sleep in 24 hours - it lasted 22 hrs....

Wednesday

This day was principally sleeping, but I woke up at 2pm, had a little chat with Ms De Payva, then met hes two daughters - Mimi, 15 and Lucia, 8. While Ms De Payva is very empathic and nice, Mimi is a total teenager - very nice and always laughin, complaining about her younger sister, making-up and talking on her cellphone. Lucia is a quite funny kid, playing cello, having a fixation on Ancient Egypt and always talking. The three ones kept asking me questions during all the supper, then Mimi brought me in Oxford to go the internet cafe. As we arrived on 8pm, I realised that everything in town was closing at 7pm....wich I found stunning for an universitary city. We took the bus (2-floors bus!) and went bakc home.

Thursday

First day working. Went well, but I am working with two spanish girls whose accents are so fucked up and difficult to understand than I almost get nothing. Everyone in there is really nice - like all english people I met, actually....I should get to like the job, and eventually be good...

Since Thursday, I studied a litlle more english people, and english way of life....Every shops ans stores closes at 7pm every day - like the internet cafe I am in the moment....wich means I have 30 mins left to finish this update ;) Weather is not as cloudy as I expected it to be - it changes from minuts to minuts...actually, it is quite funny! Gardening is a pure english skill and roses are everywhere. Nothing as charming as people leaving Oxford City Hall at 7pm under the english rain, opening their colourful umbrellas. Nothing like the Thame passing by Oxford University, with trees lying their branches in the green transluscent water....

Since I'm getting a bit too more pathetic, and that the cafe is about to close, I have to stop this post here ;) I feel so great to be here that I would die of it ;) Write me some emails!

I don't have much time on my hand, but there's just a little post to say hi, i'm not dead into a plane crash in this place formely known as world Trade Center. Britain is everything I was expecting it to be - and even more cool...This is.....incredible!!

SO this is it. It's probably my last post from Québec, Canada. I will leave for London on next monday - in two days.

People ask me if I feel a bit stressed out. I know I should, but I totally don't - and don't know why ;) I don't feel anything but happy and excited and also kind of regretful for people I will leave behind, especially some of them and especially one of these....

It's weird to write in english. I write this blog that way because some of the visitors can't understand french. But, logically, I should write the blog in french, in order to keep it OK during this next total-english year...I will try as much as possible to do it in english, but sure I will feel like wrting in french somedays.

For those who still don't know and who didn't receive the collective mail, this is where I will work in Oxford, UK....Take a look at it, and start now to save money to come over and visit me there!

More stuff to come in....see ya in UK guys!