Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in …………..Surrey, Croydon, London.

Week 41 (or Week 4 of the new adventure), Saturday 28th March until Friday 3rd April 2015.

I have been watching: “Dara and Ed’s Big Adventure” (eps 1 & 2), “Stargazing Live” (Season 5, eps 3), Doctor Who “Kill The Moon” (Season 8/34 eps 7), 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown”, “Life and Death Row”, “Inside No9” (Season 2, eps 2), “Raised by Wolves” (Season 1, eps 3).

This week I have mainly been listening to: “James Bay”, “Lana Del Ray”, “The Manic Street Preachers”, “Morrissey”. On Xfm “Blur”, “Nirvana”, “The Charlatons”, “The Dandy Warhols”, “Everything is Everything”, “Arcade Fire”.

Reading on Kindle……“A Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire” book 2 “ A Clash of Kings” by George R.R. Martin.

 At work, the mug is a worlds greatest mum mug, i’m not a mum so I covered it with a post-it note.

On the train I stand (and occasionally) sit looking out of the window wondering about all the electricity we use. I imagine often what might happen if all the power suddenly went out (I’ve seen far too many films over the years about that very situation). If it happened on my journey home then of course the train would rumble to a halt very quickly which would be a pain if the train was between stations. The first thing I would notice would be how dark it would be, and how beautiful the night sky is without all the light pollution (I suppose that would be cloud dependant of course). I love to look up at the stars and any chance to see them without yellow street lamps is always a treat. I suspect the first thing i would hear are the screams from the people in the train who had been concentrating on their small illuminated screens, most of them probably chatting with people that they have been sitting next to all day at work. They still feel the need to text or chat informing of extremely important communications such as “I think I’ll have pasta tonight and a glass of wine”. The screams wouldn’t be because the train had stopped and it was dark, it would purely be because there life line there small illuminated screen had gone dark.

  My accidental Frist Class Ticket, I made sure I travelled in the FC compartment.

When I was in Mozziebeak I got used to regular power cuts, some for a few minutes, others of a few hours and a number for a whole day/weekend. Apart from the odd publicised power cut over a weekend you never knew when they were coming. Once i sat in a bar eating a meal while everyone else was watching what they considered an important Rugby game, a few minutes before the end the match everything went dark. I hid in my corner put my torch on and carried on eating my food, while a few metres away their world had ended. During August and September last year it felt like I spent most of the evenings in the dark as the power continually kept failing then coming back on. Some evening the power came and went like a bad smell. In Mozziebeak you get used to the power cuts it’s a part of life in that amazing country. There are of course a lot of people that are not connected to the national power grid so I have to consider myself as one of the lucky people. Over there it was important to always make sure that mobiles, computers and other battery operated appliances were fully charged. You always knew where your torch was and had plenty of candles on stand-by. Yes I am old enough to remember the power cuts in the UK in the 70s, but they were not like the ones I encountered in Tofo regularly.

  Boarded up shops in Croydon, nice paintings and Pigeons.

If there had never been electricity then the chance is I wouldn’t have ever left the area I grew up (I sort of feel like that as I grew up in Croydon and am working there again). I certainly would have never have travelled to Mozziebeak and definitely would have never scuba dived. I would imagine that most people would live and work on the land. Starting work when the sun came up and only finishing when it set in the evening. While I travelled I saw a lot of people that lived like this. I would see a large number of young children who would work collecting water or bread amongst other things first thing in the morning. The lucky ones would then go to school; the unlucky ones would continue to work helping the family all day without ever having the chance to just be a child.

 The Surrey Countryside at twilight.

A world without electivity might make great drama to watch, but it really wouldn’t be much fun. So maybe I should stop imagine the apocalypse and get used to a train carriage of people all staring intensely at their small illuminated screens chatting with their work colleagues who they will see again in the morning, but have to keep chatting and talking rubbish. I better hope the lights don’t go out ……..

 Lovely evening walk with a friend.

It’s been a busy week at work, moving from desk to desk (hot desking) in a new large glass building, with a very squeaky 5^th floor door. I have started to climb the 100 or so steps to the 5^th floor 4 times a day instead of using the glass sci-fi looking lifts. Getting my first pay this made my bank account look healthy for the first time in a long time. I travelled first class for the first time ever after I accidently bought a first class ticket. The look on the guards face as I entered the first class compartment and I showed him a valid ticket was priceless. Walking around London in the rain on a bank holiday (with MOZ), it wouldn’t be half as much fun if the sun had been out. Laughing at the so-called FART in the Tate Modern (on the Southbank) and watching people look seriously at some of the stuff hanging on the wall. Seeing an old friend after 10 months and going for a twilight walk in the countryside listening to all the starlings settle down for bed.

It has been a nice week and electricity made it all possible…