Headin' for Another Joint

I have a whole lot of catching up to do!

The Wales family was great. Thank you thank you thank you. Simple people, incredibly generous people. They did everything for me all weekend, only because Steve found me on the street and couldn't let a nice guy find a makeshift campsite. Maybe Wales is the "South" of Britain. Or maybe it's that no matter where you go all over the world, if you find yourself in the valleys or the mountains or the plains or the forests, you'll also find simple people who haven't been redirected by the complexities of 21st century cities; those who haven't forgotten the simple things like love or brotherhood.

Wales->Birmingham
Stayed with Rory in his little flat--Rory is a cool cat. We made homemade pizza and listened to Arethra Franklin and David Bowie. Didn't really get to see much of my "sister city" except that Rory drove me around and showed me where Tolkien grew up and some pretty buildings. Birmingham isn't known as the prettiest city--as Rory said, the suburbs are actually more appealing than the city center. Hung out with his friend Liz who was super cool.

Birmingham->Manchester
I had to see if belligerent ghouls really run Manchester schools...Manchester, what a place!! I rolled into town to the sounds of The Queen Is Dead. The hostel was pretty cool and I got to know a bunch of great people really quick. My first group of friends, the Manchester crew is the greatest and I will miss them. Dorian the super cool German American and I sat on the street and pretended we were buskers. We sang songs like, "I need money because of privitized health care," and "I have no home, give me money, you jerk don't keep walking..." and so on.

Manchester->Glasgow
Just when I thought Glasgow wasn't going to be too memorable at all, I get invited by this bagpiping German named Johannes to go to some folk jam session at a pub. We invited along this girl Bethany from Nashville (!!!) and I flew out the door, with ukulele in hand, happy at last with company. The pub was brilliant. A roomful of people of all ages sat in a candlelit wooden den with instruments of all sort: guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, harmonicas, whistles, flutes, bodhrans, shakers, toms, fiddles, banjos. Directly after the clapping faded someone would start up a traditional Celtic melody or popular folk song, and slowly, subtly, his accompaniment would begin to grow from different corners of the room. Candlelight and song, man. Wax candles dripping onto Scotch bottle holders and dark wood in the arms and on the walls. And the most merry, uplifting group of music-makers. Occasionally the room would go silent for a solo performance...these people knew when not to join in. I made the distinction as well and so played along as best I could on songs I both knew and didn't. Behind our pints Johannes, Bethany, and I had an absolutely wonderful time. Thanks grand Glasgow for a truly Scottish experience.