Collette and I squizzed in on our rusted but trusted Honda 125 to a cheap and cheeky B&B in Pemuteran. It was red hot, dry and unforgiving like my wit on the third day of a session. There was a playful, older, Aussie couple downing Bintang on sun-loungers, they looked like they’d seen a few parties and even more relationship counsellors.
And there was Jesper, bobbing.
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‘Eeeyaah mate, your ‘air is cool as fuck, yeah?’
Compliments don’t come any more Mancunian than that. Thanks pal. The swaggering fashionista is obviously high and hasn’t had the memo that Definitely Maybe was 1994. Continue reading
And when I’m watchin the news,
and my daughter walks in,
And choose to ask,
“Why were all those people on the floor
sleepin’, covered in red?”
I told her that they were lookin’ for God, but found religion instead.
De La Soul (feat. Cee-Lo)
Held Down
AOI Bionix (2001)
What phrase have I re-spurted over and over, most incessantly and Tourette-like, over the last two months? It’s a toss up. It’s either, ‘Radiantly Alive’, the centre where Collette has been bending and meditating religiously in Ubud. Or it’s ‘Gado-gado’. Continue reading
Kids get older. Best friends propose. Families fight. Aunties behave appallingly. Opportunities to unite and grow are quashed by a familiar unwillingness to try. Some things missed in nine months away from home. Continue reading
Bob up through the clear, azure waters to a baked white shore. A desire to relax and explore. Here, any possible problem you might encounter has been embraced as an opportunity to impress. Adi and Sopian meet you by the boat and take the short walk to your new world. Check in. Jump on the well-maintained bicycles with your snorkel in the basket. Head to the beach. All is ready for you. Continue reading
Phwoar. Equatorial and sweaty. Decorative taxi-horse-equator-Santas jingle past. Meeting new people is a drag today. Let’s get on a sun-lounger by this ridiculous, perfect, lapping, blue ocean and wait for the world to reveal itself. If we must.
A ray of sunshine on the street in Ubud, Bali; we bump into Putu and rent a scooter. 750 thousand Indonesian rupees for the month. That’s £38 – less than £1.30 per day. We’ve asked around the place first, we know what we should pay for a scooter and we aren’t ready to be ripped off. Putu wants more than that but we’re clued up. Continue reading
Waking up and writing love poems in bed in Ubud, Bali. A lovely way to start the day. This one was forged as part of a reading for a friend’s wedding. Continue reading
complaints book available 