It's certainly been a while, friends.
I still make it out to be August - just. I thought I'd squeeze in a quick howdy-doody before the month ends. This will be the first blog post ever I have not really rehearsed or thought about in too much depth beforehand. That's right, I usually think before I write.
Not this time!
The last 2 months or so have been unbelievable. You know of Rock Werchter already - if you don't simply refer to blog #13. After that, my family basically descended on me from all angles to visit.
It was truly awesome and somewhat surreal having them around. They stayed in the house I have lived in for the past 6 months, they made their breakfast, showered, got in my way...just when I'd forgotten the little nuances of living at home, it all came flooding back.
Was it good? Yes and no.
Yes because I remember the fondness I have of home and living in a comfortable environment with friends, family, work - whatever. No because I in some ways had moved on slightly from that. Essentially this year I have moved out of home at the tender age of 18. I only really started to think of it that way when I inevitably moved back in with my folks, or rather, they moved in with me.
Go figure.
After a wild time with them, I set out on a 28-day gallivant around Europe with my brother and 2 good friends of both of us. You can quote me on saying that it's probably the best thing I've ever done. The experiences, memories and general insanity that occurred on that trip - I will never forget.
It is interesting though, on a trip with 50-odd people, the same 50-odd people (interchanged about halfway through with 5 leaving and 6 newies coming on board) how the group dynamic develops, grows and shifts rapidly.
For instance, from the get-go in Calais, certain areas of the bus and people preferences as to where and who they sat with were defined. Of course this did change all the time as 'no one owned a seat', but a certain pattern could be seen all around the bus - myself included. The whole group was mostly amicable with each other throughout the whole trip, however (I can sense your salivation), frustrations to tend to manifest themselves amongst the group after about 4 or 5 days.
They either grow and fester like a nasty disease or parasite, or they go away and first, second, even third impressions falter and we're left asking 'Why did I think like that towards that person?'
Many comparisons have been made to a 'Big Brother' type of environment in terms of you're somewhat 'stuck' with this people for an extended period. Just like on that ridiculous show, the gossip mill goes mad. Everyone is guilty of it. Everyone. I believe it's a facet of human nature - to talk about others, often in a condescending or judgemental way. It would be impossible not to - after all, what else is there to talk about? Is it insecurity? Probably. Who knows? In my own experience, there's a certain satisfaction about hearing the latest gossip from someone, it's just something to talk about I suppose. The sniping that goes on is awesome when you take a step back and just observe - remembering of course that you yourself are guilty of the crime you're observing...
Think about it.
One of my ways of dealing with it was amusement. My outlook was 'I've paid a buttload (or fucktonne - a useful phrase I learnt from the British on tour) of money for this trip, it's not going to last forever, this insane fun, so ha! Hahahah! And that helped - a lot. That allowed me to have even more fun and continue to be myself around these people.
You often hear people vow that they'll stay in touch and miss people etc etc. Of course this happens, I'm not saying it doesn't - heck I miss people right now, and I am keeping in touch with them. For now. Who knows who I or who they will be talking to in 6 months, a year from now? Eventually the need or want to stay in touch will fade...fade away. Either that or it will become stronger. That is when you know you've found a true friend from a host of strangers.
Innit funny 'ow the ol' world works, govna?
Until next time...
