Snap and Scribble

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I worked a fourteen hour day yesterday – doing hog roasts at two separate events. The first one was a gathering of the “Essex Hogs Chapter” of the Harley Davidson biker’s club and i managed to get the van bogged just outside the farm where it was happening!

The boss had told me the job was in a village called Matching Tye, about thirty five miles from the depot.  But when i went to pick up the van and the pig yesterday morning it turned out it wasn’t in Matching Tye at all. After a bit of confusion we worked out it was in a village called Much Hadham, a different place altogether – and about ten miles further away. The boss had printed out directions from Google – which, of course, are no use when you’re driving, as you can’t keep stopping to read the next step of the directions. And the last few stages of the route were missing off the bottom anyway! … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places, work by will
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The last week has been completely deranged. After a couple of weeks of nothing happening – not even any work – everything seemed to happen pretty much at once!

I worked the Saturday afternoon and evening. It was a job in South Woodford, which is on the outskirts of north east London, near Epping forest. They were pleasant people and the job went very smoothly.

Then on Sunday i went to London for Sanjar’s birthday. Sanjar’s a friend and workmate from Afghanistan who’s been living and studying in the UK for a while. We were supposed to meet up at Richmond park and the plan was to go on a boat trip on the Thames, but it was raining and the venue changed to Sanjar’s sister’s place in Westminster. … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
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This is part three of the story of my life in Basque Country, in 1984. Part one is here…

After nearly three months living in Vitoria, in 1984, my savings were beginning to run low and i started half-heartedly looking around for work. However, there was very little work for the locals in Basque Country in those days and the chances of a foreigner finding any were pretty slim.

About this time, i decided to take a trip to southern Spain for a change of scenery for a week or two. … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
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This is part two of the story of my life in Basque Country, in 1984. Part one is here…

I had a great time, living in Vitoria, during the summer of 1984. The Basques in general are among the friendliest and most interesting people i’ve come across during rather a lot of international travelling. They’re all very political – and, mostly, make British people, for example, look ultra-conservative (which i suppose they are, really, anyway). … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
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Another memorable trip i did in the early 80s was to Basque Country, in the north of Spain. I had a couple of Basque friends in London and they’d gone back for a while. As i’d never been to that part of the world, i decided to go over for a visit.

It was the summer of 1984 and i’d been working as a freelance technical writer for a while. Somehow, i’d managed to save a bit of money and i knew i could stay away for a few months if i wanted to. … Read more »

Tags: Travel and Places by will
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