Jeremiah's Strange Times

Breakfast was easy:  cheese wrapped in flatbread.  Paying my bill was complex.  So devalued is the Iranian currancy that 1000 has its own shorthand, 'Toman' this mixes freely with other forms of standard and unspecified monetary slang and it was something I never really came to a full understanding of.  Here, on my first morning, I was at the beginning of that particular doomed ascent into comprehension and so for the first time of many, thought I understood it all completely.  I nodded  "Ah Yes, of course!" and strode out into the dusty alley. With only the tiny map on the back of the hostel's business card to work from I headed first away from and then towards the Metro.  It was still busy and it was still confusing.  At one crossroads I encountered a contented looking mime, while I glanced, alarmed at his static smile, a lady, half glimpsed, brushed close and left me with a bunch of white flowers.  She was gone before I got a chanc...

Its been a long time since I wrote anything in this blog of mine.  Of course the times have still remained strange. Times always seem to remain strange anyway.  I'm back in Cork at the moment and once again the future is a terrifyingly open book.  I was tired, so I came home for awhile; I brought along a pile of old journals, they sit alongside me today as I type.  Travel Journals specifically.  The idea was to do something with them at last.  All those words I've scribbled over the years, they ought to be good for something. But first I decided to boot up the old desktop computer in the box room of my home in Cork.  Buried in the infested rattling old hard drive I found the document reproduced below.  It is an account of my first ever travel entry, it makes reference to later events so it can't be a reproduction of the original diary entry (lost long ago in Kilkenny) but I quite like it.  I can't remember why I wrote it, but sti...

This will definitely be the final part of my correspondence home from the Middle East in 2004.  It finds Eoin and myself in Cairo, preparing for the trip home.  Fri, 10 Sept 2004 15:39:38 +0000 Subject : Penultimation and Jubilation Hello from sunny Cairo Yep, still in Cairo, Its as busy and bustly as ever.  Good city, again I'll say its nothing like I imagined it, those damn Egyptians are far too independent to exits merely as an old fashioned holiday destination for the pleasure of us posh Europeans.  Nope, its not like 1920 here, why did I think it would be like that? I don't think I did consciously, but I did on some level. Its just like any other big big capital, brassy, shiny and busy. I like Cairo though, its a good city to pick as a final destination. The last two days have basically involved us meandering around, seeing what kind of city Cairo is, trying to grasp that whole Cairene feel.  Yesterday we awoke with the inten...