Familiarity

There are five of us
One in Switzerland
One in New Zealand
Three in The Netherlands
Last night we dined together
The time before that was 4 years ago
It felt like last week...

I have left New Zealand and started actual travelling. One thing that is clear about this journey is that I am not in çontrol. I did want to learn to go with the flow, little did I expect the flow to take control over this journey so thouroughly and even before I left. Tomorrow I am flying to the South of France to begin an 800 KM walk along the ancient El Camino de Santiago de Compostella in north-western Spain, so I thought. Glandular fever got hold of me the last few days, triggered by pre-departure stresses of dealing with possesions (selling property, storing stuff, shedding stuff, dealing with banking, and all sorts of bureaucratic systems one becomes part of in regular life). It is so much harder to entangle oneself than say 20 years ago. Anyway, no way will I be able to begin my pilgrimage with fever sapping my energy. I will fly to France from Holland tomorrow as booked and see what this forced-slow-down will bring. It is interesting that I choose to write about this unexpected turn of events, maybe because this effects my physical well being which is easier to write about that other forms of well-being. It will ceratinly be a challenge. I am anxious about it yet I welcome it too and will keep observing. All changes regarding this journey had very good reasons for being so far, often only in hindsight. I hope to uncover the reason for the fever as well in due time. I will not be able to post images untill I reach my artist-in-residency location in Slovakia on 23 October. Posting text without images feels a bit incomplete to me, but I may be tempted. Otherwise, till October. Thanks for being present, Marcel