There was I, all alone on the top deck of a double decker bus, on new years eve afternoon. I sat in the very front seat when all of a sudden a friendly girl, just a few years older than me, with an accent hard to define, sat in the other front seat opposite me.

She smiled at me as she took her seat and I half smiled back. When she settled into her seat, she kinda leaned over and said “this is beautiful isn’t it?” she could hardly contain her excitement… It kinda took me by surprise.

I looked out and saw grey buildings towering over me, traffic everywhere, people zig-zaging on the pavement. I tried to see the beauty, I replied “its a nice view from up here”, she agreed and her whole persona was poised for a fully fledged conversation. It was at that point, I reached in to my bag and pulled out my Ipod…

I could feel her watching me and I continued to plug my ears despite this innate feeling that it was the most ignorant, ugly thing any human could do in a moment like that.

With my ipod clogging up my ears, I couldn’t shake off this feeling of self disgust, so i put my ipod away and angled for a chin wag.

By that time she had a magazine open on her lap; I noticed it was called “voyage”.

I broke the ice and we had a loose, on & off chat for the duration of the journey across London. She was so excited to be here and had only just arrived from Paris. I told her that I too felt like that when I first came here, but now I’m sort of like a horse with blinders;

She said she feels that way about Paris. We agreed that things always look better when you’re just passing through… and I said “Yep, a rolling stone gathers no moss…”

I then thought to myself how cool it would be to be a rolling stone again, a wanderer, just roaming around from place to place and settling for a while, then moving off when the time felt right.

Imagine if we just followed our every whim and we never settled down… Like if I just went home now, packed my bags and walked out on all that’s familiar and just headed off, just headed off and just went where ever the wind blew me…

Anyway, she got off the bus when we got down south of the river and I said, “Happy new year to you”. She said it to me too. I said I hope its a good one and I really did mean it. She told me that it has already got off to a great start as she has just received the best news ever. She was beaming. I said I hope some of that energy passes over onto me, she raised her two hands over me in jest and said, “I’ll give you some of that energy now!”…

We both laughed and that was the end of our encounter.

I am kind of excited about 2010 now and waiting for my good news…

The streets had that Sunday morning air of abandonment, a stark contrast to the night before, where throngs of drunken, belligerent, scantily clad females paraded around with gaping pizza boxes and mouths full of chips and curry sauce…

I was desperately trying to stop time and stay in the moment but as soon as you realise you’re clinging, you’ve already suffocated it and I was soon on my way to the airport.  It was too late then, i had to let go; the scenery was already whizzing past the car window and everything started to speed up.

The delightful Corrib River…

I decided to get a big stick and try to separate the hedgerow to see if i could find where the sound was coming from.  As I poked the bushes I heard another cat meowing and realised there was more than one in there somewhere.  I wondered if maybe a cat had given birth in there.

A little while later, I spotted a plastic bag off to the left.  I poked it with the stick and it felt like there was some meat or something in there.  I began to climb down the wall so I could get closer to the bag.

I was then joined by some tourists who asked me what i was doing.  They got involved and held onto my arm while I fished out the plastic bag.

I managed to hook it with the stick and put it on the wall.  One of the girls opened the knot on top.  There were two sheets of newspaper inside which we unwrapped to reveal two tiny kittens clutching onto each other for dear life.

I asked the tourists if there was anywhere we could take them but they said there would be no such place in Gozo.  We found a clearing within the hedgerow and lay the newspaper out flat so they could at least breathe freely. 

I made the decision to walk away then as I didn’t know what else I could do.

I don’t know their fate after that…

When I was in Gozo I found myself taking more photos of the dogs than of the scenery.  Most of the dogs used to hang out on the roofs of the houses and they would look down at you and give you a few barks as you were walking past just to show who’s boss.

Good Guard Dog - Angry Bark - Xaghra, Gozo

Dog at Dusk - Xaghra, Gozo

The envy of all dogs - Xaghra, Gozo

Best looking dog in the neighbourhood - Xaghra, Gozo

Feisty Dog from afar - Xaghra, Gozo

Cute little dog - Xaghra, Gozo

Dog on Balcony - Xaghra, Gozo

Dog on Balcony, Gozo

Dog on distant Roof - On way to Ramla Bay, Gozo

Clean up after your dog!

It’s one of the Maltese Islands, south of Sicily… I would definitely recommend visiting the island if you are looking for a quiet getaway. 

The first thing that I pointed at after I hopped off the plane were the giant cacti…

Cacti in Gozo

It is everywhere!

You would expect the land to be barren when you see all the cacti growing and it is in places, but it is surprisingly green everywhere else.  Every corner of every field is blooming with cabbage, potatoes, figs, lemons, artichokes and other things I didn’t recognise.  

The roads are quiet and perfect for long meandering walks, all you can hear are birds, loads of birds and would you blame them for hanging around Gozo when the land looks like this:

Gozo Fields

This is a very Catholic island…  The first give-away are the names of the houses; they are all named after Saints.  I passed this house which was called “St Joseph” and another called ”In God we trust” and they often have a plagues like this on the front of the house too… 

Holy Plaque in Gozo

One thing you sense immediately is how safe the place is.  I passed several cars with the keys left in the ignition.  The front doors of houses had keys left in them too…  even the shops… 

Keys left in the door - Gozo

 Wherever you have Catholism in large doses, you have supressed sexuality; I found this torn porno magazine discarded in a hedge at the side of the road.  Torn up in shame I imagine; guilt and shame… 

Porno Mag in Gozo

The people of Gozo are warm and friendly. 

Gozo (Malta) joined the EU in 2004 and they are now using the euro so it’s handy for the other countries in Europe.

English is their second language and all of the signs are in english.  This makes it easy for dopey tourists like myself.  The food is outstanding…  They are fond of eating rabbits.  I reckon they should start eating cats as the island is rampant with them…  rampant!