Varna - The Place of Decision
When I set out travelling in Greece and the Balkans I'd expected to keep going for three weeks, no longer. I'd thought I might wind my way to Varna (to meet a student of mine who's been holidaying here) but I wasn't sure. I'd entertained notions of perhaps jetting off to America or Canada mid July to see friends and have a look around, but nothing was fixed. I also thought I might be driving around the Baltic states with a Slovak friend in the second half of July. My mind was in such a desperate fury to rid itself of the vice of my life as a Bratislavan teacher of her Majesty's babbledegook, that to be honest to be free in any way at all was all that mattered; to have something as vulgar and pressuring as a fixed plan seemed, well, rude .
This is actually the first time I've travelled quite like this, with no certain idea of which country I might go to next, or for how long I'll keep going. I'm even toying with the idea -as lightly as a one can toy mind you, as If I toy with a baby chuck's feather- that I'll forget about work and money altogether and keep going for a year or more, as the Ozzies and Kiwis do. For them, setting off on long-haul, rambling, jaunts around the Old World have become something of a rite of passage, so it seems. Who knows how they afford it. One isn't supposed to ask and one doesn't, which is probably just as well. Anyway, I'm sure it does them a world of good. It's always been something I've thought vaguely of doing, but so far the longest I've been on the road is 53 days, in Australia in 1991- which is a paltry acheievement in comparison.
No prizes for guessing the ONLY thing that prevents me from keeping going for at least three years is that most wonderful of human inventions, that veritable benison and blessing, that sacrament of human progress, enlightenment and advancement -Money, or as it's otherwise known, the effluent of Lord Mammon's ass.
Presumably there are endless reams of super advanced civilisations spread across the milkiness of space who join us in regulating their affairs through the circulation of lumps of tasteless, odourless, fake metal, of slices of paper too small to do anything practical with, and through the movement backwards and forward between computers of abstract, digital sums of what amounts to absolutely nothing. I mean it's inconceivable, isnt it, that anyone might actually not be as insanely brilliant as that?
Alas, if I were to travel as I'd like - something which is possible- I'd lose alot of the meagre effluent I've managed to accumulate as a security against some unforeseen eventuality I might face in the future in which this shit will become really vital. So, even though I've got it, I shouldn't be spending it. Well, not that is, if I'm to avoid repeating the folly of my youth, in which I thoughtlessly lost an awful lot of inherited shit through a failure of retention.
By the way, so much as I hate money, I can't help noticing that there are some of my fellow homo sapiens who are veritably drowning in the stuff. So, if anyone out there has got too much and wants to do something original with it, you are warmly welcome to help me travel the world awhile. Naturally, I would be incredibly grateful and will look upon you as my saviour and liberator from the shackles of the beast system that is Babylon (or what you will). It really would make my day, and year, or rather years. Why, I could even wear your name on my T-shirt or something. Hmmmm...notice that I am not asking, far less begging for money. That would be absurdly embarrassing. And please, no talk of loans. I just thought it might make a change from buying yet another yacht, or another car, or another whatever it is rich people spend the money they don't need on. After all, Im alive, those things are dead.
Oh well. As it is I did end up in Varna, where I am now. I never could meet up with my friend, which was a shame but I'm glad I came, even though it really is a 'tourist trap' as the cliche goes. Today was a moment of decision. I had to decide whether to go north or south - to Moldova and Ukraine or to Turkey and from there, perhaps, to Georgia and Armenia. Alas, the boat once a week from Varna to Georgia can't be found (and its a 4 day journey anyway!) and I'll have to wait until Saturday to get to Moldova, which I can't quite face. So, tomorrow to Asia Minor, or should I say the border city of the continents -Istanbul, or Constantinople as the Patriachate still likes, defiantly and somewhat charmingly, to refer to it.
Meanwhile, I shall explore Varna's nightlife and watch the Slavs at what I suspect will be some fairly predictable, loud, thumping manner of mindless play, interspersed with visions of enrapturing, disappearing female beauty..the kind of beauty that used to make me sad - before I grew up, or is it just before I was worn out.
This is actually the first time I've travelled quite like this, with no certain idea of which country I might go to next, or for how long I'll keep going. I'm even toying with the idea -as lightly as a one can toy mind you, as If I toy with a baby chuck's feather- that I'll forget about work and money altogether and keep going for a year or more, as the Ozzies and Kiwis do. For them, setting off on long-haul, rambling, jaunts around the Old World have become something of a rite of passage, so it seems. Who knows how they afford it. One isn't supposed to ask and one doesn't, which is probably just as well. Anyway, I'm sure it does them a world of good. It's always been something I've thought vaguely of doing, but so far the longest I've been on the road is 53 days, in Australia in 1991- which is a paltry acheievement in comparison.
No prizes for guessing the ONLY thing that prevents me from keeping going for at least three years is that most wonderful of human inventions, that veritable benison and blessing, that sacrament of human progress, enlightenment and advancement -Money, or as it's otherwise known, the effluent of Lord Mammon's ass.
Presumably there are endless reams of super advanced civilisations spread across the milkiness of space who join us in regulating their affairs through the circulation of lumps of tasteless, odourless, fake metal, of slices of paper too small to do anything practical with, and through the movement backwards and forward between computers of abstract, digital sums of what amounts to absolutely nothing. I mean it's inconceivable, isnt it, that anyone might actually not be as insanely brilliant as that?
Alas, if I were to travel as I'd like - something which is possible- I'd lose alot of the meagre effluent I've managed to accumulate as a security against some unforeseen eventuality I might face in the future in which this shit will become really vital. So, even though I've got it, I shouldn't be spending it. Well, not that is, if I'm to avoid repeating the folly of my youth, in which I thoughtlessly lost an awful lot of inherited shit through a failure of retention.
By the way, so much as I hate money, I can't help noticing that there are some of my fellow homo sapiens who are veritably drowning in the stuff. So, if anyone out there has got too much and wants to do something original with it, you are warmly welcome to help me travel the world awhile. Naturally, I would be incredibly grateful and will look upon you as my saviour and liberator from the shackles of the beast system that is Babylon (or what you will). It really would make my day, and year, or rather years. Why, I could even wear your name on my T-shirt or something. Hmmmm...notice that I am not asking, far less begging for money. That would be absurdly embarrassing. And please, no talk of loans. I just thought it might make a change from buying yet another yacht, or another car, or another whatever it is rich people spend the money they don't need on. After all, Im alive, those things are dead.
Oh well. As it is I did end up in Varna, where I am now. I never could meet up with my friend, which was a shame but I'm glad I came, even though it really is a 'tourist trap' as the cliche goes. Today was a moment of decision. I had to decide whether to go north or south - to Moldova and Ukraine or to Turkey and from there, perhaps, to Georgia and Armenia. Alas, the boat once a week from Varna to Georgia can't be found (and its a 4 day journey anyway!) and I'll have to wait until Saturday to get to Moldova, which I can't quite face. So, tomorrow to Asia Minor, or should I say the border city of the continents -Istanbul, or Constantinople as the Patriachate still likes, defiantly and somewhat charmingly, to refer to it.
Meanwhile, I shall explore Varna's nightlife and watch the Slavs at what I suspect will be some fairly predictable, loud, thumping manner of mindless play, interspersed with visions of enrapturing, disappearing female beauty..the kind of beauty that used to make me sad - before I grew up, or is it just before I was worn out.
2 comments:
I love the way you travel, like a leaf blown by the wind, a traveller of other times with no hurry and no precise aim other than to explore the world. You should have a kept a detailed journal of everything you saw.
I hope you can make it to Istanbul. It is one of my favorite cities.
PS - Good luck in winning at the lottery!
Yeah maybe ıt would help to jot thıngs down more ın a notebook but I dont just want to replıcate what ıs wrıtten ın travel books. But thanks for the ıdea. Everythıng I saw! blımey:)
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