Latest News...

Things are looking good :)

I have had a great time catching up with friends over the past few weeks…It’s been wonderful!

The exciting news is that while I was in Amsterdam I was introduced to an Australian guy by the name of Tobe. He owns a production company, Forward Motion Media, whose most recent project has been producing a DVD containing exercises for people with Parkinson’s. He is extremely excited about my documentary and has inspired me to really make a go of it.

My boots should also be back for auction around the 20th September. It seems that eBay removed them because they said they were in the wrong category. They can’t actually tell me which category they should be in, but I will be a bit more careful next time :)

Now I haven’t been sharing any of my stories since finishing the Via Francigena, but what happened a few day’s ago is definitely worth sharing :)

It was the worst day traveling I have had in years…possibly ever!!!

My plane was scheduled to depart Heathrow at 15:40, but as the Tube workers were on strike, I figured I better give myself plenty of time to get there.

I had a few things I wanted to do in the morning before leaving so it was a rush from the start. Luckily though, the Tube was actually running better today than it does normally and I arrived at Heathrow with plenty of time to spare.

Everything was going well until my flight started boarding. As I stood up I realized that something was missing. I checked my pockets…my phone was there…my passport was there…I kept walking. The feeling didn’t disappear, I checked my pockets again…my phone was there …my passport was there…where the fuck was my wallet???

The last time I had seen it, I had just purchased a book with my credit card. While replacing the card I noticed it was upside down. I always take as a sign of bad luck and ensure that I change it the right way immediately, but this time before I could right it, the woman at the check out distracted me. That was the last I saw of my wallet…

From the bookstore I had only walked about 30 meters before finding a seat so I didn’t have too far to search. The woman at the bookstore knew nothing about it and the security said it had to be dealt with by the police. They explained that they were too busy and would take two hours to get to me, a lot of good that was going to do me when my flight was leaving in 20 minutes!

So there I was with no cards and no cash having to decided whether to board my plane or not. Morocco was not the place I wanted to be stranded without money!

I was just about to bail on my trip when I remembered that a kiwi guy I knew, who I had been speaking to a week before, was also coming to morocco from Sweden today, and was flying British Airways.

I decided to take a gamble. I figured there couldn’t be too many flights to Marrakesh with BA today, so there would be a good chance he would be on this plane.

The gamble paid off :) On boarding I was the happiest man alive to see a friendly face. He agreed to fix me up with some money so I thought all my problems were over.

Unfortunately I was mistaken…

We had a stopover in Casablanca for 45 minutes, where they asked everyone who was continuing to Marrakesh to remain onboard. While I was in the toilet they decided to do a baggage check of the carry on to ensure there was no unattended bags. Obviously mine was unattended so they removed it from the aircraft!!! There went my video camera, my gortex jacket and my mp3 player, just like that.

I have was informed that they would just send the following day but as I write this two days later they tell me it is still in Casablanca :(

They say that bad things come in threes and today was no exception…

After checking in to my hotel the stress from the day was taking its toll. I had these huge knots in my back so I asked the hotel manager where the nearest place for a massage was. He told me they could send someone to my room…this suited me fine.

About twenty minutes later I get a knock on the door and the manager asked if I was ready. I informed him that I was and he entered…

“You are going to give me the massage”?
“Yes, is that OK”?

I figured that if he wanted to make some extra cash then fine…I was too tired to argue.

The first five minutes were fine but then he went on to straddle me. I thought this was a bit odd and my suspicion was confirmed after he then proceeded to dry hump me!!!

“Mate, stop that”!!!
“What”?
“No, no, no, no, no”!!!
“What do you mean”?

I could see that he was genuinely surprised with my response, so I couldn’t help laughing as I told him that was enough and he could leave now.

What a great day!!!

Losing my wallet…
Losing my video camera, gortex jacket and mp3 player…
And then getting fucked up the arse by my hotel manager…

It doesn’t get much better than that, I’m just glad I had my clothes on or it could have been really ugly!