Scenes on Sunday ~ Albuquerque
Bugs Bunny should have taken a left turn in Albuquerque.
This was the Best B & B Ever
Might be the Old Town
Generic Albuquerque Store
A bar, I think
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
This has to be the coolest locomotive ever,
and it’s in Albuquerque.
Cars, and Planes, and Trains
It’s very nice to go travelling, but it’s so much nicer to travel home.
Actually no it isn’t. In comparison to warm and sunny Orange County, the North of England in late November is bleak, boring, grey, and bloody cold, even down at my favourite boat on the marina it’s miserable today. And it’s a pretty long journey to get back here from where I was staying with my friend.
- Leave my friend at 04:00 Pacific Time on Monday 19th November.
- Uber to John Wayne Airport.
- Take off from John Wayne at 07:00.
- Flight to Dallas Fort Worth 2hrs 35
- Land DFW at 11:35 Central Time (2 hours time change).
- Take off DFW at 15:15 for London Heathrow, a flight of 9hrs 00, (benefiting from a 125mph tail wind over the Atlantic).
- Land London Heathrow at 06:15 GMT on November 20th (6 hours time change).
- Leave LHR for Newcastle upon Tyne at 09:45 GMT, a flight of 1hrs 15
- Arrive NCL at 11:00
- Leave Newcastle Airport by Metro Subway for Newcastle Central Rail Station at 12:40 GMT
- Arrive back at the garret at 14:30 GMT on Monday 20th of November.
Total journey time of 26hrs 30min. Time in the air 12hrs 50min.
It’s about 5,500 miles from SoCal to the North of England, all in all, and from 38,000 feet you damn well know the world is round when you look out of the aircraft windows.
Some say that it’s excitement and adventure that keeps a man alive. And, that when you can’t be bothered to go travelling, you may as well just curl up and die. All I know is that I loved every damn minute of my latest trip ~ maybe the best trip ever.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
much on New Mexico is Indian land
(is one allowed to say that?)
Monochrome Monday ~ Utah Couds
Grey skies are just clouds passing overhead.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
It’s a big country
Road Trip Eclipsed
If you’re always looking back, how can you see the road in front of you.
talking
and laughing
towns passing by
sharing quiet intimacy
marvelling at the scenery
enjoying long roads’ rhythms
discovering unknown real America
driving through the country no one sees
California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming
witnessing the marvel of a dark sun at noontime
knowing those uplifting moments will be long gone
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Marmaduke really likes road trips
and so do I
Scenes on Sunday ~ Dramatic Clouds
There are no rules of architecture for a castle built in the clouds.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
I heard their evils sounds
as they all tried to clip my wings
and keep my feet back on the ground
I don’t care, I’ve already burned my bridges
so don’t even look for me, I won’t ever be around
So, my friend and I have really fallen out
Perhaps every friendship needs an argument just to see how stable it is.
A serious long-distance argument blew up with my Californian friend and I yesterday ~ or the day before depending upon which time-zone you’re in. This disagreement was / is so profound that it may prevent me from taking a trip to New Mexico in November. This dispute may be so serious that it will poison our relationship for good and all.
And yet, seemingly it’s all about nothing.
My friend likes watching far-out science fiction shows on Netflix. Alone among my friend’s family so it seems does her adult nephew.
Ergo my friend announced that she and her nephew were going to have regular Friday evening TV sessions watching weird science fiction.
Somehow, to me, it seems uncomfortably unacceptable for her to regularly spend a lot of time alone with her young, married nephew on regular TV ‘dates’ in her home. And, I made the mistake of telling my friend of my feelings.
She said; ‘…..So you think me and my nephew are weird….. Is that what you’re saying? That’s really sick…..’
And that’s where we’re at now. Not talking with one another enough to sort anything out.
Perhaps what is odd and unacceptable to my generation of Englishmen is normal in California where the culture is totally different from here. I still don’t like it.
Am I utterly and completely wrong? You tell me ~ please.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
perhaps I’m doomed to for ever being alone and lonely
Adventures New
Embrace the daring adventure your life was supposed to be.
I like the sea and great beaches, particularly in the warm, blue Mediterranean.
Having recently returned from having a great time on the Mediterranean Island of Crete, (which has the longest history and the oldest civilisation in Europe), I decided it was time to look for a new adventure.
So, I’ve found a trip which involves an intensive ‘Wisdom Retreat’ with the catchy tag-line of From Chaos to Coherence ~ The Power To Thrive In Life Extremes. This retreat is to be lead by the New Age author Gregg Braden, and takes place in the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa, in New Mexico.
The hotel looks great, and the circular pool looks fabulous.
I’ve never been to New Mexico, especially not to a place that’s a 5,280 foot high desert valley. The pre-reading for this retreat includes lots of stuff about how to be comfortable and survive while I’m out in the desert….. It all sounds adventurous, educational, and fun.
And, I wanted to see my friend in California again ~ better known as ‘The Girl Riding Shotgun.
Ergo, I’m flying out to Orange County to spend a few days on the Californian beaches, and then flying to Albuqureque, and driving to the Hyatt where the retreat is being held.
It might have been fun to take the 800 mile road trip from California to New Mexico, but this time that was just not going to work. So, I’ll get to experience all the delights of American short-haul flying, probably in a puddle-jumper.
This trip is not for a while yet, and I am really looking forward t it. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back.
The trip after this one to New Mexico? Back to Turkey I think.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
After New Mexico ~ maybe Turkey again
Deal Me Again
If you’re weary of Mediterranean sunshine, you’re weary of life.
Heading home to England from Crete today. Looks like that’s the last of my Mediterranean vacations for this year. I think I’m having far too much time at home in the garret, and not enough time travelling, enjoying sunshine and good weather, exploring interesting new places, and generally relaxing.
In the rest of this year I only have one more trip organised, (mostly organised). In November ‘the girl riding shotgun’ and I are going to New Mexico, principally to attend a 4 day retreat lead by Gregg Braden and Dr. Bruce Lipton. I am adding a couple of days in Albuquerque to that trip, and I will by flying in and out of Orange County in SoCal from the UK. So maybe a couple of weeks vacationing in all.
I would take a cruise over the Christmas Holidays – if I could find a cool travelling companion to go with me….. Although I don’t object to being a solitary traveller, I really do think you need to be with someone, if you’re taking a cruise – maybe especially over the festive season.
So, I need to re-prioritise my life; spend more time being in the sun on vacation, spend more time planning and arranging vacations, put more effort into finding that ideal travelling companion, and spend much, much less time being miserable in the garret during the cold, dull, miserable English Autumn and winter. And, I need to continue my worthy studies into philosophy, psychology, and the Meaning of Life – especially when I am on vacation.
Some say that life can’t be all about having fun, that we have to suffer in order to fully enjoy the ‘beer and skittles’. And, that into each life a little rain must fall. All I know is that I’ve suffered my fair share of fucking damn downpours.
It’s time to reshuffle the deck and deal myself another sunshine Mediterranean vacation.
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Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Sunshine and a great pool, what more could a guy want other than a pretty woman?
Monochrome Monday ~ California
Got on board a west bound 747, it never rains in Southern California.
But man don’t they warn you, man it pours, man it pours. England is my home, I want to go home, I want to go home, where it rains but it never pours. And, they say it never rains in Southern California.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Southern California is a cool place to be.
Pictures taken by The Girl Riding Shotgun.
Confessions and Mistakes
How many bad decisions seemed like a good idea at the time?
Over the years I’ve made some really bad decisions. From time to time I got angry and subsequently did some reprehensible things I now regret. I have reacted with nasty spite when I should have stayed calm, and I’ve felt resentful for no good reason, which usually turned me into a dangerous Mr. Hyde or a rabid black dog.
And when he was good he was very, very good, but when he was bad he was horrid. ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Not every time things went badly pear-shaped was my fault. Not every person I’ve hurt was an innocent bystander. Some of the people I’ve had uncharitable thoughts about actually deserved my condemnation. And there have been some people I wouldn’t cross the road to spit on. But, and here’s the thing, all the time I was an angry, judgemental, resentful, dangerous bastard person, I was still suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder, and / or, Bipolar Disorder. I was always afraid, and I was always running away.
Add the whole lot together, all the anger, resentments, mental illness, and it’s not surprising that I used to be hypercritical, lacking in understanding, and totally unwilling to accept anyone who didn’t measure up to my warped standards. It’s not surprising that from time to time I could hurt the ones I love. Sometimes the only things I was good at was causing pain and heartache.
It only takes one word to hurt a woman, a matter of seconds, one stupid, impatient sting of the whip. But winning back her trust takes years. And sometimes there isn’t the time. ~ Nina George
I have actually made a list of all the people I believe I have hurt over the years, (that’s the difficult step 8 in 12 step programmes), and thought about the what, why, when, how, where, and if of making amends to those people. Of my original list I’ve crossed off some names, because I’m not a saint, so I’m not making amends to everyone I’ve wronged. And, I’ve underlined some other names, of women I really do need to make immediate, meaningful, and lasting amends to. (my Goddess Aphrodite and The Girl Riding Shotgun spring to mind.) But as the quote from Nina George says, sometimes rebuilding trusting relationships takes years.
I have spoken in haste too often, spoken from negative and dark emotions too often, and been thoughtless too often. But, the recent paradigm shift that I experienced from being way outside of my comfort zone for a week should mean that I don’t make those enraged mistakes again.
Some say there is no such thing as a mistake or a bad decision. And that the consequences of a really bad decision are a learning opportunity. All I know is that if I go off the rails there is going to be a painful disaster, and someone will get hurt ~usually including me.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Nobody likes to be with a dangerous jerk.
Be that guy, and be alone in the dark.
