Week 4~ (2nd June- 11th June)

Time is a human construct

I’ve realised that the weekly format is really not working for me hahaha. I’m moving too fast and trying to do too much other stuff- writing cover letters, getting a tax number, meeting new people etc. for my brain to have weekly space in it.

Jumping back in- to the leap from Morocco back to the continent and landing in Porto. Wow, what a magic city! I think it really lives up to the dream of Portuguese tiled cities where the old people are drinking espresso or Super Bock (the local beer in the north) any time from 10am to 10pm [you think they’re getting up earlier?! They’re old!]. I landed late afternoon so just took the evening to settle into the hostel and had a catch up call with my evil twin @Nina.

The next morning I got up and started wandering around the city. By complete happenstance I walked into a free walking tour of the city and joined them for the next 2-3 hours. It was actually so good! I had never done one of them before and I’d highly recommend- it’s a good way to orient yourself when you’re fresh to the city and the guide was super knowledgeable (born in Porto) so had lots of recommendations for restaurants, places to go, how much to pay for a beer- I mean those are the most important things right?? We walked through the old part of town as he regaled us with scenes from history about different rulers, talking about the dictatorship that Portugal was under for 48 years, the origins of Portuguese words and so much more.

That evening Mel and I rejoined forces (platonically) and went up to watch the sunset from Jardim do Morro with a couple of tins. Really good spot- such a vibe at that time because so many people come and there was live music including this trippy old guy in a revealing skirt and not much else. We made friends with a Portuguese guy while we were up there and talked about all kinds of stuff- I think we were hanging for maybe 4 hours or something- it was so nice to connect and hear his experience of living in Portugal and also overseas.

The next two days passed pretty quickly. We visited a few historic sites like the Ponte Luis bridge and the tile/ material library museum. I tried to go for a run and gave up after 1.8km hahaha- sometimes you just gotta enjoy the holiday!! But it was nice having a kitchen to make a couple of meals in and not be in 34 degree heat. We also managed to get to a bar to watch Portugal beat Germany 2-1 in the UE FA which was soooo fun, amazing to see how passionate people are about men kicking balls- I hope to believe in something as much as this one day! Then it was packing bags and heading to the airport back to London.

I didn’t get a picture but should have- we had the BEST experience with this incredibly sassy Ryanair flight attendant, he was incredibly funny. After waiting until everyone was on the plane we got on and managed to get the front two seats (after a bit of teasing and flirting with him). Easily one of the best flights I’ve ever had and I was hungry so I got a beer and vegan lasagne from the inflight menu- felt like such a big baller (although my card declined so I had to get Mel to pay for it hahaha smh).

Got back to London for a couple of nights and managed to score free tickets to a festival Jamie XX* was headlining. There ended up being a pretty solid mob of us rolling heavy and I got to premiere my new haircut and fresh threads! Unfortunately god had other plans and rained all over our parade which was manageable to a point but when I couldn’t tell my friends from wet rats (not because I’d had too many beers hehe) I think it was pushing the limit. Regardless- we danced, hugged, got cold and then danced a whole lot more. A highlight of the night was getting @Sam on my shoulders in the mosh and I could just tell how stoked he was to be up amongst the clouds (it had stopped raining at this point though, thank god!).

*Skillex was also playing but we didn’t realise until it was too late that they were doing a b2b for the opening set- so weird and lame because I (unabashedly) was way more excited about him </3

Anddddd thennnnn I got up early to catch the train to Edinburgh to see @Cam and @Soph! Man, it’s so good reuniting with friends. We had a really cute tour of Leith (the port end of Edinburgh that used to be a seperate town) where we got some yummy sammies, had a nosy around an architectural exhibition and got to see some live jazz in packed pub that was part of the Leith jazz festival. We then rounded the day off back at theirs where cam cooked us some incredibly delicious roast veges. I don’t know exactly why but I just couldn’t believe how tasty they were (although the magician did reveal his secrets), it might’ve been that I was still hungover so my body was responding especially well to the potatoes, oil and salt haha.

While in Edi I also managed to catch up with Oli and Brigette which was so good. So funny how you might not see someone for years and then when you’re overseas you immediately feel the pull of that bond again. Distance can create intimacy [citation needed]. I think it’s a nice phenomenon and it was great to hear how their experiences over there have been. On top of that I got to feel like a local for 15 seconds when I was asked for directions from an older lady after catching up with Brig- and I’d seen the place she was asking after! Fun to be in a city for a couple of days and already palming out directions.

I wrapped up the rest of my time with more hanging at the not so humble abode and a bit of walking around the locale (Arthur’s seat iykyk). Mel and I had a final catch up as we were initially planning on going up to Edinburgh together and had a bit of a heart to heart. It was a weird goodbye and I guess they always are but we’d known that it was coming to an end for a while. From my side of things I think we left on a good note- there were some tears but more laughs. I apologised for things I could’ve done better but I think there was a mutual understanding that it’s the way things are when what you had with some has deteriorated and now is not the time.

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Annnndddd thennnnn

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New episode dropping next week

[maybe]

With love, as always

-Tommy

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The media footnote for the hardcore fans:

This past week I read Touching the Void, a harrowing story of survival when a mountaineering expedition goes awfully pear shaped. I don’t want to give too much away but it’s a fairly quick read and through the narrative explores themes of absolute bonds, existentialism and why to take extra gas when camping. Not that I’ve really thought I want to but it’s helped push me even further away from ever thinking about ice mountaineering haha. What a fickle mistress to play with! Quite interesting to think that if it had taken place now they probably would’ve been fine and able to get picked up through the use of a PLB. It did give me a pull to get out of the city and do some crazy stuff though haha- I’m heading to a festival in the [Swedish] countryside next weekend and I’m thinking I’ll try hitchhike back to the city afterwards for a bit of fun.

I recommend- add it to your booklist!