Beginnings

So here we are at the start of something new.

For those of you who know me, this will be a way of keeping up with me, checking I'm safe and finding out what I'm doing.

For those of you who don't yet know me, I hope this blog will in some way allow you to get to know me before meeting me in the flesh.

You should all be warned however, that I'm not given to introspection or revelation. You're unlikely to discover new truths or inner musings. You may get randomness if you're fortunate but your best bet is for a travelogue.

I have never been one of those people who have great passions or desires. I never knew what I wanted to do in life and I'm indecisive to the point of distraction. I feel however that this trait allows me to approach life with an open mind. I don't need to know where I'm going because I'll find out when I get there. If I don't like where I am, then I travel to a different place. I don't look back, I just learn and move on.

My whole adult career thus far has been directed by other people. I had no plans and fell into a career in local government. I made the best of it and enjoyed it at times but it was never my choice. So I opted out. I gave up my job and my home and moved back to my family while I took stock and got to know my nieces and nephew. However, domesticity with one's parents can only last so long and it's time to move on.

I can't even recall where the suggestion originated but following a rare and happy holiday on Crete, I decided to pursue a career teaching English as a foreign language. Learning languages is one of the few things I enjoy with a passion and I thought I had a fairly decent grasp of my mother-tongue. Well, at least I did until I looked at the test for the Celta course. I was accepted onto the course but I have several weeks of study ahead of me. Who would have guessed there were so many past tenses in English?!!

So for once in my life I actually have a plan. How realistic this plan is remains to be seen. Initially I will be in Athens for a four week CELTA course. Apokries (carnival) is from February 17th to March 9th so once my course is complete, I aim to stay in Athens for a while and make the most of the party atmosphere. Then I shall go island-hopping. It strikes me what a strange phrase that is but nevertheless I intend to sail between several islands (ferries permitting). I have romatic visions of arriving at dawn to sun-soaked jewels in the Adriatic, but this will be March and my life so it is far more likely that I will be arriving in a cloud of diesel choked fumes, reeking of the aftermath of seasickness, staggering onto a concrete harbour in desperate search of a decent coffee and a croissant.

But that is February and we are only half-way through December. I have bills to pay and Christmas presents to buy. The temperature is approaching freezing and I expect snow with every icy breath as I pull my hat further over my ears. Athens seems a world away.