Beach Apartheid

Now normally I am against discrimination of any kind, but today I think I found a whole new arena of legitimate population control. I was sat at a beach club in Zandvoort with a collegue and we were enjoying our Sunday. Good conversation, lovely weather, fine drinks and an even finer waitress, when all of a sudden an ear splitting banshee's yell completely obliterated the serene atmosphere.

The origin of this earth shattering scream was a small child whose parents had told him he wasn't allowed a second ice-cream. Apparently the child felt that the appropriate response was to ruin everyone else's gezellig time!

This incident made me reveal my plan of Beach Apartheid to my collegue. It's simple yet effective. People who cannot keep their genes in their trousers and feel the overrated urge to reproduce should feel the consequences of this insane act. Therefore, when coming to the beach with their offspring they should be segregated from those who have chosen more wisely in life. This of course should be enforced by law.

My collegue said he couldn't agree more with me and even opted for a "Parenthood test". After all if you need a license to drive a car, why not get people tested on proper parental skills. Now I wasn't sure if he was serious about this, but the idea is certainly worth more research.

Santiago de Compostela - part 1

In my last blog I talked about Change and I had questions about why or when people change. This really was food for thought. I realise now I was fed up with work for a long time and I had been taking on far too much.

I think it was sometime in late April I realised I needed to make a change as well. Work, sports, going out, meeting up with friends, all good fun but it I felt like being in a loop. Same people, same places, same chats, over and over again. It was a Saturday evening that I was supposed to go out with a mate and at the last minute he cancelled because he wasnt feeling too well. I was sat in my appartment thinking what to do next, who to call, when it struck me.........I didnt want to be alone on a Saturday evening, I didn't want to spend time in my appartment alone doing fuck all.

Actually, when I realised I didn't like my own company that much I freaked out. Now, who doesn't like being alone for a bit? I started to think how much time I was alone and what I did at those times. Apparently I spend my alone time in oblivion as I couldn't really tell what went through my mind, probably being on automatic pilot.

Was I disappointed in myself? Well yes!! I started surfing the internet about being alone and how other people were going about it. After a while I found this website where a woman told about her journey to Santiago de Compostela.

Now I dont know if you ever heard of this before but this city is located in the north west of Spain and ever since the 9th century it has been a medieval pilgrimage route. The story goes that the disciple Jacob has his grave in the cathedral there. The route is known as the Camino de Santiago.

Many pilgrims have taken this route and since the 1st of July and I am happy to pronounce I am one of them! I'm still smiling when writing this down....

I've walked many, many miles. Starting in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, I received my official pilgrimage-pass "the Compostela" to show for it. I know it is nothing more than just a piece of paper but I have learned so much about myself, I have met so many wonderful people.

I have input for so many blogs, the next ones about this topic are soon to come. But first, I am going to sit on my balcony, enjoy the sun, a good glass of wine and my own company ;)