I shouldn’t go away again so soon, but I need to. The only thing that hit me was that I left for Paris on 18th July and next week it will be 1st September. My savings reserve has got to the point where I need to so this, then find work. I’ll only be away in the Lake District for a few nights and the pure camping experience will clear my final cobwebs. All my equipment is cleaned, water proofed, and ready to go. I can’t not do this. What I’m doing is catching up on myself for years of neglect. That, and escaping the news.

This is the most depressing period of history I have had the misfortune to live through. Giving that most of my life has been through the Cold War that’s saying something. There were times were one misunderstanding could have ended humanity, and there were times when one questioning mind stopped and had a think before firing missiles. But now everything is much worse, but there are many things rolled up and it’s too much to take in. The Amazon Rainforest had been on fire for three weeks before media outlets started reporting on it. On the Brexit front, it looks very likely that we will crash out with no deal, and that means no implementation period. On top of that, climate change is clearly happening much more rapidly than was expected. Iceland held a funeral for a glacier. It’s a country where 11% of it’s land mass is covered in ice, and by the year 2200 there is a prediction that all of the country’s glaciers will be gone. That’s just some of the madness happening now. And 20% of the UK’s population live in poverty.

When the Reading New Town AURN was switched back on, I’ve taken this as a small victory. This had been a pet project for a few months since it stopped recording air quality data back in May 2019. I think some of my action had an affect, because only a few hours after asking for the PM2.5 and PM10 monitoring they were both enabled. Initial figures were all good, but today, not so good.

Circumstances stopped me job hunting when I was on my travels with the Interrail. Now that I’m back on line, there’s nothing to stop except for the fear of failure, anxiety, feeling that I’m giving up my freedom, fear of failure, and not being understood. It’s a wonder I every manage to leave the house, which I frequently don’t do.

I put one of my travelling shirts on this afternoon. Instantly, I felt a little happier, of if not happier, more comfortable. The right shoulder needs sewing up. Carrying a rucksack around damaged it a little, but it’s a good shirt and I will fix it tomorrow. Then it will be ready for a short trip in to the rain.

That’s all for today. I’ve ended up wondering what I’ve done. My place is a bit more tidy, I’ve put some different tyres on my CX, and I feel edgy.