the beginning of a journey

1st august 2005

it is the time of consolidation and pondering. yesterday was my last day at work and i packed my stuff and ready to go back packing to the countryside. i left most of my stuff with one of my colleagues and i only packed enough for a weeks trip. tooth brush, 3 underwear (including the one im wearing) 2 shirts, one raincoat, a sweater, water, map and others. damn, i forgot my soap, towel and shampoo. any how, will improvise when i get to where i want to go.

i decided to take this opportunity of unemploymentness to go exploring to other cities. my first stop after handing out my keys to the manager was to head to oxford town centre and buy me a loaf of bread at 39p. then i was of to my fav kfc where i bought myself a 2 piece meal for 2.99p, which includes 2 chicken, a drink(fanta of course, orange fizzy drink, although this time the fizz was apparently been sucked away, therefore no bubbles or fizz for me). ate my chicken with the loaf of bread that i bought. i think chicken taste better with a medium such as bread. it some how diludes the slaty taste of these kfc chickens! drank my drink, smoked my smoke and of to the toilet.
SAVE ONESELVE FROM SOAP TRAGEDY
today was however, extremely unfortunate . i did my business, dont ask what. i went to the sink and push meself some liquid doap, and thetrust my palms toward the automatic-sensor-water-dispensing unit, and walla!, no water... eh, ...eh, whats happening....bloody fcuk. water aint coming out and i got greasy subsance on my palm, and it looks like i just wanked my self(masturbated, for the not so England english educated street wise punk style talk, most probably learned from rater crude and good english paper such as the daily sport, which rather have many nice pictures of girls and boobs, should rename it daily boobs!,,,, nothing much about sports, more about the female body and also relationships... dont get me wrong , i dont buy the paper, i just picked it up from some sorry sods trash can, tons of it!...one mans trash is another mans treasure).... anyway... back to the story....continueing : FCUK! me hands just wanked itself and no water to wash it off!
to my suprise, girls from the other washroom kept barging in to the mens toilet, looking for water. then a staff came in to inspect the trouble, he said 'no water?' and then just left. ok, there solves the problem. water should be coming now since staff has been alerted to a major serious impendind disasterous problem of major proportions. i waited and waited. minutes pass, new patrons to St. Loo's chuch kept on coming, some of them gave me a queer look upon the glistening substance upon my hand which i trust out from my body. damn! no solution. when all was gone and the chuch of instant relief was empty, i went back to the only toilet booth and flushed the damn thing to see if there was any water that came with the flush. as of now, if you could analyze every instant and steps of this tragedy, you would begin to understand that i did not flush the toilet upon relieving my water properties into it. nobody was around as i looked behind me left and right. some temptation came over me to use the most ridiculous solution that was coming to my frigid mind. to flush the toilet, to thrush palms into streaming water in bowl, to rinse of soapy substance that glistens, and to be rid of problem.... then rationality came over me and i abandoned the silly idea of using the flush to wash hands. my hands are not equivalent to shit and urea. hence, i will have to sacrifice what water i have in my bag to save my self from soap.

came out of the kfc, and found myself amidst a throng of people. now it seems there are a lot of tourist around oxford. one would wonder, what are there to see in bloody Oxford!

of course i have spent 3 months here and the place smell of acrid dull smell. anyway, i found myself hungry for some entertainment, so gingerly walked to the nearest bookstore, Brooks. they have a healthy selection of comic books for browsing. for me, it was more like reading, and nothing is better than a free read. look through the shelfs i once quite frequently visited, there were Akira books, which i almost completed the 6 books series, and also there was Hellboy comic books. i only read to two series of Hellboy, since the other series could not be found in the Oxfordshire Public library. so i read Hellboy: Counqueror Worm. i was ok for a book, just thrashy entertainment to while away the time.

time to continue on my journey of backpacking adventure. i walked all the way from bookstore to train station. i asked for a train ticket from Oxford to Bath. i always wanted to go to Bath since one of my Icq pals who gave me the strengh and courage to brave through english waters, was living quite near there. well, not near in means of walking distance, although one could well die walking trying, but thats just another story. she was living in Bristol, and from what i heared, bristol does not look as good as Bath. just like a comparison of thrash and flower pottery some say. so, persih the thought of going to Bristol. come to think of it, Bristol sure sounds like a brand name of some tooth whitening product, or just some chewing gum. it sure sounds familiar though.

so, the ticket to ride cost 9.90p just for a not coming back trip, that means one way. the train that i borded was indeed as its name sake, First Class. the seats are comfortable and spacious. there is also a table between the seats to put food or any books. it was indeed an exciting time because this is the first time i have been on a train, excluding the subways in London or the LRT in Kuala Lumpur.the scenery around the train is just nice. my train ride was not direct, i had to change trains at a place called Didcot. i came of the train and went into the station. feeling curious, i asked around for a map of Didcot and got it. i over heard a station attendant saying there was a unattended bag at the station. soon promply the police arrived to inspect the bag. such time are these that caution has been put to the maximum, such sad times. so, i went exporing Didcot town, it was truly small, but it has a serene and quite feel to it. i kinda like it. i came across a chinese takeaway shop and i promptly went inside to inquire whether there was any job up for grabs. i left my phone number quietly went back to the station. i took another train that went pass Swindon. passing swindon i saw over the road, many police men, so curiously, i jump of the train... not jump literally, by departed at Swindon station. went down and of to the scene of the crime or tragedy, it sure looks like another bomb threat. sadly no, it was just a collission course between a superbike and a land rover. looks kinda bad from the blood spewed over the road. asked a lady who works in a chinese takeaway shop, saying in cantonese that the bikers legs were flown off.... flown off? what does that mean, anyway, the poor son of a bitch's fate rest with the hospital, not mine. so i walked back to the station and found a bar near it. had a cold beer (2.50) , since it was drizzling outside. swindon has many buildings but i did not explore them all. so i was back in the train, heading towards bath. over the intercom in the train the person announced that snadwiches were half price and is accompanied by a free drink. so knowing it was nearing 8pm, i went to the rear train to get a sandwich and a drink of coke for a mere 1.50p. i did another stop at Chippenham, had my dinner there on one of the benches. chippenham seems like a very small place, just a stop area for the train. nothing to do there, so off i went to catch a train to my final destination at Bath.

i was already dark in Bath when i reach there, the trip from Oxford to bath might have taken around less than 2 hours, but my trip was at least 3 hours pluss because of my curiosity of the stops that the train went by. i found the motel called Backpack travellers lodge. thankfully there was one bed left in the motel. i paid 16 quid for the night and was not expecting luxury. my room was a 4 bedder, two double decker beds the doors cant be locked and the showers spewed forth cold water. that night i did not wash properly, albeit the name of the town was bath. i had no shampoo, no soap, so all i could do was just rinse my body with water. horror of horrors was that the bathroom was unisex and the baths them selves were only covered by a plastic sheet, no doors. truly european experience this is. came back into my room and found 3 european looking girls.... nest time i fill you the details.