Long Cloud Ride by Dew Josie

Author:Dew, Josie [Dew, Josie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Hachette Littlehampton
Published: 2011-04-07T04:00:00+00:00

My neighbour on the campsite here in Akaroa was Greg from Thatcham, Berkshire. He was cycling in New Zealand for about six months (with two months left), only he was travelling by bus at the moment because he’d left his bike and Bob Yak trailer back at a bike shop in Christchurch to get some new bearings put in. This was his first ever cycle tour. He had backpacked around New Zealand in 2001 and kept seeing people on bikes so thought he’d give it a go. ‘In only three years there’s been big changes,’ he said. ‘More traffic and I don’t remember campsites like these resembling car parks.’

Greg was right. At most of the main campsites here hardly anyone turned up under their own steam. Those in tents mostly arrived in a hire car or a 4WD. But mostly it was retired couples travelling around the country in caravans, campervans, motorhomes or big buses, like America’s recreational vehicles.

Greg was a bit of a deep person, and always looked slightly troubled. When I asked him what he did at home, he said, ‘Be unhappy mostly.’

I got him to elaborate. ‘I’m not happy in Britain at all,’ said Greg. ‘The TV’s crap. So’s the radio. And I see people around me and all they want is a little house with a little car with little children and a little two-week holiday. Is that all there is to life in Britain? I’ve owned my house for twenty years and I thought: I’m going to move. Get away from the area. Start afresh. But then I thought that after a few weeks’ frenetic activity you are back in another little house and it starts all over again. You go to work, you go to the supermarket, you go on your two-week holiday. I hate the things in the UK that people there consider important. It makes basic human existence so meaningless.’

Not so long ago Greg had gone on a trip to Alaska. ‘It had been a childhood dream,’ he said. ‘A wild animal thing. I had to pinch myself when I saw my first moose.’

Then he came home and got involved in a long-term relationship with Sally, a divorcee with two small children. ‘It was all going well, I was happy and thinking this is everything I ever wanted. I thought I’d get the house together – maybe even get married. We used to have this big ritual where after breakfast we would all go upstairs to the bathroom to clean our teeth. Sally would sit on the edge of the bath and her little boy would stand beside the basin while her daughter stood up on a box to reach and I would brush my teeth making silly faces at them to make them laugh. One time we were doing this and it was summer. The window in the bathroom had frosted glass, but the top window was open and I looked out and I saw this incredibly vivid image of the Alaskan mountains.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.