europe
At Journey's End
20/08/08 00:27 Filed in: Personal
I was chastised in the office today by a much better blogger than me for
not having updated my blog recently, so here
goes. Since my last proper update, over a month
ago, lots has happened. I crossed Europe by
train, then did it all again to get back,
discovered the Edinburgh Festival, and started a
politics blog.
My trip to Greece was like most long trips: there was a lot to enjoy, but most of it was sitting on trains (or rather, lying, as I used sleepers and couchettes for large parts of it), feeling bored. The trip was a little unusual, in that I was travelling with a friend from Brussel for the first few days, then I set off on my own for the remainder. It was interesting to see the different characters of all the cities I passed through. Praha felt like a faded jewel; Ljubljana had the same vibe that Edinburgh has, clearly something to do with being the capital of a small country; Zagreb was the first really 'different' city that I reached. It took a little while to get used to it, but once I had, it grew on me. Sofia was one of the best cities which I visited. I didn't actually spend a lot of time exploring Sofia, instead I settled into the brilliant Hostel Mostel for a break from my holiday. There is only so much walking around cities looking at tourist sights that I can manage. After Sofia, I had one last comfortable sleeper train, before becoming acquainted with ΟΣΕ, the Greek state train operator. I say acquainted, really though, that didn't happen until my return journey. From Thessaloniki to Athens, I had to use a coach thanks to a railway strike. I did get to use rail-based public transport in Athens though, with the Metro to Pireus. A quick overnight ship down to Crete brought me to that little corner of England in Crete that is my grandparent's house. I'm not ashamed to say that the first thing I did when I arrived was to make a proper British cup of tea, and watch BBC World News.
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My trip to Greece was like most long trips: there was a lot to enjoy, but most of it was sitting on trains (or rather, lying, as I used sleepers and couchettes for large parts of it), feeling bored. The trip was a little unusual, in that I was travelling with a friend from Brussel for the first few days, then I set off on my own for the remainder. It was interesting to see the different characters of all the cities I passed through. Praha felt like a faded jewel; Ljubljana had the same vibe that Edinburgh has, clearly something to do with being the capital of a small country; Zagreb was the first really 'different' city that I reached. It took a little while to get used to it, but once I had, it grew on me. Sofia was one of the best cities which I visited. I didn't actually spend a lot of time exploring Sofia, instead I settled into the brilliant Hostel Mostel for a break from my holiday. There is only so much walking around cities looking at tourist sights that I can manage. After Sofia, I had one last comfortable sleeper train, before becoming acquainted with ΟΣΕ, the Greek state train operator. I say acquainted, really though, that didn't happen until my return journey. From Thessaloniki to Athens, I had to use a coach thanks to a railway strike. I did get to use rail-based public transport in Athens though, with the Metro to Pireus. A quick overnight ship down to Crete brought me to that little corner of England in Crete that is my grandparent's house. I'm not ashamed to say that the first thing I did when I arrived was to make a proper British cup of tea, and watch BBC World News.
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Lets Not Get Side-tracked
30/01/08 22:56 Filed in: Personal
Every now and then, I lose faith in Green politics.
We have a tendency to sometimes get side tracked in
unimportant things and infighting. The GPEW
leadership farce has been a good example of this
recently. I really can't believe that some people
want to split the party over that! Of course, it is
important to have a leadership structure that works
well for the party and somehow reflects our ideology
but, honestly, the Green Party exists to tackle some
of the biggest problems that humanity faces: climate
change, social injustice, among others.
So it was very encouraging to go along to a FYEG seminar on migrant youth in Helsinki last week. Hearing from the speakers who were invited, and meeting other young greens from around Europe was inspiring. Us British can often be too inward looking. I think it is important that we face outwards and participate with our neighbours, learning from them along the way. Anyway, enough of the epic speech style of writing. Its time to be green!
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So it was very encouraging to go along to a FYEG seminar on migrant youth in Helsinki last week. Hearing from the speakers who were invited, and meeting other young greens from around Europe was inspiring. Us British can often be too inward looking. I think it is important that we face outwards and participate with our neighbours, learning from them along the way. Anyway, enough of the epic speech style of writing. Its time to be green!
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