6 weeks being on the farm...

6 weeks have passed, a lot of life has happened.

I have learnt how to: rotovate & strim fields, plant various vegetables, make a compost heap, make & use a composting toilet, install a wood burner, pick olives, get said olives turned into oil, prune grape vines, prune pear trees, water a field!

I have now officially eaten olives & actually for the first time in my life enjoyed eating them (that's a big thing for me! Pete & Gary I am thinking of you guys).

Not a lot has really changed in/with the house. 

I took a wall and some ceiling down, thus creating a room for us to put a wood burner and have as our lounge area until we re-model the inside of the house next year.

There's a lot of work to be done inside the house, in time it will get done.

We are getting some new windows & a front door sorted soon. Currently you can put your hand through the top & bottom of the front door, I mean... it's only a hand sized gap, nothing too much to worry about! (you can see the gap at the bottom of the door in a pic below!)

We have now added a strawberry patch, some blueberries & raspberries, onions, leaks, garlic, lettuces, pomogranite tree... Who know's what will happen tomorrow, let alone next week! 

I feel like I have been to the gym everyday for the last 6 weeks (minus about 4-5 days of doing as little as possible, which inevitably ended up with me doing some sort of moving something about).

It's not like work, it's like living life and I love it... 

Keep watching this space for more updates.

Some photo's... Enjoy 

Mind the gap (under the door!)

Mum & the previous family sorting the olives out.

630kg of olives off to the mill

Mum with some of our own Olive oil!

field 3572 strimming...

strimmed field

rotovated field

Pomogranite 24/11/15

blueberries

waterways

waterways

Onions, garlics, lettuces, cherry tree, turnips

strawberry growbag!

Major Thanks to Antonio for being a star & coming to annoy us every few days to keep us on track and show us the ropes & teach us more Portuguese. Without him I am sure we wouldn't have done anywhere near the amount of work we have, he's like a motivational tutor of sorts...

Peace 1 <3

WMD

Arrived and moved in... Lets talk toilets...

Life happens so quickly sometimes that you don't really have time to stop and think, let alone blog! (although having the internet helps with that aswell)

For me at least, that has been the last 6 weeks of my life.

We have now been in Portugal for just over 1 month. Having moved into the farm house 16 days ago, it took a week or so to orientate ourselves to the lifestyle changes that were required for the place that we are living...

First things first... We had to sort out a toilet as soon as we moved into the property as there was no bath room...

This is a bit of an interesting one. After taking Mum to the Be-In Gathering at Boom land in June for the Summer Solstice, we both had the pleasure of using composting toilets, which got us talking about the possibility of using composting toilets here at the farm. Mum did quite a lot of re-search on the subject and also found a few books on it, one such book - The Humanuare Handbook has a lot of helpful hints and tips on the subject.

So with no hesitation, I found and ordered 5 buckets through Amazon and had them delivered to our UK address. Also bought a toilet seat as we knew we would be needing one!

Once we were here the race was on to design and build some sort of "toilet throne" to be used...

After around an hour, it dawned on me... Why not use one of the chairs that had been left in the house...

Used tissues, Toilet Chair Mod & Sawdust

So this is now our toilet... It works amazingly well, requires very little maintenance (other than emptying when full) and believe it or not, it does not smell!
The concept is essentially very simple, the bucket on the stole is full of sawdust (from the local mill if you can obtain it) ours is from Agriloja (an agricultural shop), the bucket/toilet throne is a chair with a bucket under and toilet seat. The bucket literally touches the bottom of the toilet seat so there are no gaps. You put around 2-3" of sawdust in the bottom to start with, then when you have done your business, cover with a few handfuls of sawdust until you can't see what you did anymore... The bucket to the left with the lid on is where you put your used toilet paper to be burned later...

It does make you face what you did in the toilet... I must admit, it took me a little longer to get used to it than Mum did!

So we had our toilet sorted... hurray... Now to get rid of the buckets that we have filled with crap, pee & sawdust... hmmmm...

After just over 1 week, we had 2 buckets, pretty much full of crap, pee & sawdust to deal with...
The book suggests that you build a compost heap.

Somehow it took me 2 days to complete, but finally I had created and finished the chicken/cat/dog proof compost heap for our toilet waste, garden waste and kitchen waste to be emptied into.

I used a couple of sheets of scrap metal that were laying around, a few boards, some chicken wire, 4 posts, a key, some screws & nails...

Dug out a small concave hole in the middle, applied some garden waste/shrubbery and then added the 2 buckets of 'humanure' to the mixture and covered with more 'shrubbery'.

Again, to both of our surprise, No Smell!

That was just over a week ago now, I have another bucket to empty tomorrow along with kitchen food waste. There is endless 'shrubbery' on the ground to be added so that will never be a problem to source.

Toilet = Check
Toilet waste disposal site = Check

Peace 1 <3

WMD

2 weeks left...

2 weeks and 1 day, to be precise...

Finally, we have the tickets sorted for our crossing into France. We have chosen the Eurotunnel, as it was actually £30 cheaper than the ferry. We are going to be in the van with the trailer, so it was surprising to us that the train was cheaper.

We will be driving our belongings and selves to Castelo Branco, Portugal on the 24th September.
Most probably staying over in a few towns in France and Spain before we eventually arrive at our almost final destination in the village of Alpedrinha.
I am expecting it to take us 2-3 days as we'll be towing the trailer which will be full along with the van. Planning not to use the Peage (toll roads) but we will see how it pans out.

Once we get to Castelo Branco, we are going to stay in the local camp site in the bell tent. Then we will be checking in with our estate agent, paying the final settlement, signing contracts and getting the keys to the property. Hopefully all in that order!

Myself & Mum are really excited, if not a little bit apprehensive (to be expected) but really looking forward to seeing what we have got ourselves in for.

It is going to be an amazing journey just getting there let alone what we have before us. It is truely the beginning to something that a lot of people would love to achieve and dream of. I am so grateful to be able to get the opportunity to do this and with an amazing person in my life, my Mum.

Check list of things done:

• Van is insured, registered in the UK, Mot'd & taxed. (It was Polish & before that German, I might go into that at a later date!)
• Trailer is brought and getting serviced next week along with the van.
• All contracts to the apartment have been cancelled, internet, gas, electric, etc.
• Passports are in date and still good for quite a few years.
• Train booked.
• Health Insurance sorted (we both have our European Health Insurance Cards).
• Most things packed into boxes and in our storage unit. 
• Contract, insurances, documents required all in a safe place that we ACTUALLY know where they are!

What's left to do at this stage...

• A little bit of packing, moving the large items, fridge, washing machine, etc.
• Charity gig, leaving party to raise money for the Pilgrims Hospice and say good bye to friends (Ramsgate Music Hall, Friday 11th September) EVENTS PAGE
• Some final good byes with friends and family. 
• Packing the van & trailer.
• Leaving!

At this stage, I am a list master (Pete would be proud!). Daily lists are created and ticked off/destroyed by the end of the day. It has helped massively to know what we have left to do and what needs doing still. 

TBC as things happen, as and when... 

Peace 1 <3

WMD

Removals...

We considered using a removal company to move us from England to Portugal.

However, after getting a couple of quotes it seemed like a big headache and waiting game. We don't have a lot of stuff to take with us, I mean probably half a garage load of stuff in total and the couple of quotes that we received were around £2500. With the knowledge that we would receive our stuff sometime in the next 3-6 months! 

We purchased the VW T5 on the strength of knowing that we will want to shuttle people/stuff around once we are in Portugal on the farm. It has a tow bar with an electric hook up, so just made sense to get some sort of trailer.

Having had a look around on Gumtree (which has turned into a bit of a thing now, as this is where we have purchased and sold quite a lot of stuff) we found a relatively good sized trailer that we figured would suit our needs for moving our belongings nearly 1800 Miles across Europe.

Having had a look around various second hand sales websites I found one relatively close (180 miles away) via Gumtree. We settled on a Rice Horse Trailer. I am not sure of the age of the trailer, but was informed before going to pick it up that it was solid and had had a new flooring put in place not long ago.

Arranged a time to go and have a look with the proviso to purchase and drive away that day. Drove the van down to Lyneham, Wiltshire. Met a lovely couple (Hi Lorna, Scott & baby).
Had a look underneath and all around the trailer and paid £650 for the privilege of driving it home on the back of the van.

The van hardly noticed that there was anything attached to it...

So now we are the proud owners of a Van & Trailer... I have been trying to sort out becoming self employed for most of this year and becoming a food vendor... Now we have a trailer & van, all we have to do is get it to Portugal with all of our stuff and convert it into something fun!

It was late at the services, but you get the idea... 

Peace 1 <3

WMD

Stress & reality...

Since my 30th Birthday things have all been getting very real.

Recently (I mean like, literally the last few days) I have let stress and anxiety almost take full control of my life...

Trying to be in control of things, live life in the now and not constantly worry about what the future has in store, can sometimes be the hardest thing to do.

I have noticed that writing, has been a great escape from letting my mind wander off into future, what if's. Even so, there is a lot of power that is given towards the levels of future thinking and past thoughts. It has taken me a long time to conquer and get out of the habit of doing so.
Why is it back ?

Trying to keep your mind at ease can be simple... Until various situational circumstances force them self upon you, even when you were entirely aware of them in the first place.
Up until these last few days I thought I was pretty much in control of what was going on...

Literally about a week after getting back from Portugal both me and my Mum have been grinding our teeth in our sleep... (big sign of unconscious stress)

Moving can be stressful, we are all aware of that... Well, moving to another country apparently is even more stressful, especially when you don't speak the language and you are going to be literally countries away from anyone that you know... But hey... what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger right.

If you don't push yourself, who else will... That's right, no one!

The count down is getting more and more real. Things are getting packed away, I am leaving England for possibly the last time to live here. It is a true end to an era, people and stuff are vanishing out of my life... New paths are getting ready to be laid...

Bring it on life... I am ready, just be gentle, please!

Peace 1 <3

WMD

Continued.... Pt 2

Continued... Whilst we were still in Portugal......

We went for a walk around in the city and stumbled upon a few estate agencies...

Seeing as I hadn't been smoking for probably 5 weeks by this point, my spontaneity and willingness to do things was great, so with no hesitation we decided to book a viewing at one of the estate agencies straight away!

Being the "Man", I had to deal with all the questions and answers about what we were looking for, which we both hadn't actually discussed as it was all off the cuff... So I gave a price range and a rough idea of what we both had in mind from the various talks that we had both had in the last 2 1/2 years since thinking about doing the whole moving abroad/finding somewhere to live sustainably thing... Made a viewing appointment for the next day and left.

We wandered over the road to another estate agency, asked what they had available, were told to come back the next day as the owner spoke very good English and would be of great help to us. So we obliged, made an appointment to go back in the afternoon of the next day and left.

Went back to the campsite, had some lovely food and crashed out with our alarms set for the following morning. We were woken by the alarm at 8am, had breakfast, ran around a little and eventually made it into town for 10am... walked into the estate agency and spoke to the lady, who seemed a bit puzzled, we were there for our meeting/viewing at 10am... She was like, yeah, that's at 10.... then it dawned on us that we hadn't changed our clocks from French/Spanish time to Portuguese time, we were an hour early! Well that makes a change... DOH!

1st Property we viewed

Wandered around the city for a bit in the glorious sunshine and eventually made our way back to the estate agency for the correct 10am meeting. Drove around 45 mins away to have a look at a lovely little property with woodlands at one end of the land, house situated in the middle and a river running at the bottom of the land... Lovely... around 2-3 acres of land, woodlands, a river, 45,000euro, illegal house, no residence permission... But entirely off grid, no electricity, water, gas, etc... Possibly a bit of a headache. But it's a start. We had seen our first property.

Got back after probably 2 1/2 hours and arrived back in Castelo Branco. Said thank you to the estate agent and meandered over the road to have a look at the other estate agency. Looking through the window it was clear that they had some lovely properties for sale, a lot more than the previous one. There was one that really caught my eye, but no price shown. It was for a property with 3.2 hectares of land and 4 bedroom house... WOW... but no chance that was in our price range...

We were a bit early for our meeting, so we were just stood outside in the blazing sunshine looking at the pictures of houses for sale, talking about the previous place we had seen, until suddenly the owner just turned up, he had quickly parked up as he saw us loitering outside waiting for him to open.

He introduced himself and I introduced us to him, stood outside in the sunshine, whilst we waited for his daughter to turn up with the keys we started to discuss what we were looking for. Then to my surprise the first thing he started speaking about was the property I had seen in the picture! I was like no way... Coincidence or what...
We went into the shop, sat down at his desk and then proceeded to chat for a good hour discussing what we were interested in and how much money we had to spend, etc. To our disbelief or at least my disbelief, the property with 3.2 hectares and the 4 bedroom house was actually in our budget! Get in...

A view looking down on the house

He discussed with his wife about a few different properties and decided that there were a few that would be a really good idea to go and have a look at. So that was it, off we went there and then to go and have a look at some of the properties... No coming back tomorrow, just right there and then... Boom... lets go have a look...

30 minutes later we found ourselves sat in the owners 4x4 land rover, being thrown from one side of the car to the other, heading down a dirt track to look at the 4 bedroom property with 3.2 hectares...

The house

 Both me and Mum looked at each other with a "THERE IS NO WAY" kind of look on our faces... as we headed down, the what seemed to take forever bumpy road with walls one side and a small fall into gardens the other... Eventually arriving at the property, surprisingly enough, still in one piece! The owner happened to be there, so he offered to show us around. We started off by looking at the land... Well, I don't think either of us were prepared to see what we had gotten ourselves into... we spent 2 1/2 hours wandering around the property limits and then eventually in the house itself! All I kept hearing myself saying was "But have you seen that view?" and "what, and this bit as well?"... Both of us were truly blown away by the scale of land, house, work and time that could be spent pottering around on this farm. It was overwhelming to say the least...

The thing that was in both of our minds, was just the scale of what we had been shown. It was EPIC, and at 65,000euro it was just in budget! It had a 4 bedroom house, 3.2 hectares of land, electricity, no gas, no plumbing, lots of fruit trees, olives, grapes, oranges, cherries, apples, pears, figs, lemons, plus more, 3 wells fed from 24/7 running water from the adjacent mountain... I mean it is heaven.

We wandered off back down the crazy dirt track to join civilisation with the amazing property in mind to go and have a look at 4 more, to give us an understanding of what was out there and what else we could achieve with our budget.

19,500euro

Small Stone Building

Another of the properties we found was for 19,500euro. It had around 2 acres of land, a massive well and a small stone building that could be converted to a living space. The drive leading up to the property was around 400 metres, so very private and away from the small main road. But no electricity or other amenities. This one was pure off grid living. The price was just crazy cheap, works out to around £15,000! If I was doing this on my own, I would have grabbed this place as it was idyllic for 1 person to live and exist very happily.

We went to Be-In Gathering, had an amazing time, didn't even really think about any of the properties. Then finally left after 4 nights and 5 days of chilled vibes, amazing people and atmosphere to go back to reality again... 

Arrived back at the campsite in Castel Branco. Phoned the estate agency. Booked an appointment to go and have a 2nd look at the 4 bedroom farm house. 

This time, we drove there. Down the crazy bumpy off road track, that actually wasn't that bad at all, I just didn't fly down it at mach 5! We were pretty much decided almost straight after we had finished driving up the dirt track, when we realised, actually, that wasn't that bad if you went slowly! 

We spent around 2 hours looking around the land, taking it all in a lot more vividly and getting a real vibe for the area and place. It was amazing, the air, the view, the fresh water running from the mountain... the view, did I mention the view?!

We went back to the office, decided that this was the one for us. They wrote up the contracts, we went through them (in Portuguese with a lot of trust on their side) and Mum signed away... We then left and had to then wait for the other party to sign to then be able to transfer a deposit... So we went back to the campsite, spent a couple more days in Castelo Branco, finally leaving to catch our ferry from Calais, at midday 2 days later... 

The signed contract came through the door in the UK a week later... all signed. We had a copy of it so we had sat down and translated it, with the power of Google Translate (that thing is a god send). 

Once our copy was received Mum transferred the 10% deposit... and we then had 120 days to oblige the contractual terms... That all happened 7 weeks ago...  

The VW T5

Before we left Portugal we got our NIF numbers and opened a joint account. Once we were home we watched the Euro fall and Mums money become worth a bit more and transferred it all to our account in Portugal... Now we have a few things left to get rid of. We have replaced Mums car with a LHD VW Transporter T5, I wanted one before when we went away with the Transit and the caravan. But actually this time Mum felt it would be a good idea as we will need something bigger to take all our stuff down with, but also use on the land and to shuttle people around when they come to help with the harvests. Strange how these things happen sometimes...

I get to go and be a farmer... This is going to get properly interesting... Expect a lot of Go Pro videos in the coming months!

I am so lucky to live my life, my Mum is amazing. Without her, I wouldn't exist. Remember, we all have amazing Mums. Just remember that she loved you and cared for you from the moment you were born... You can forgive and forget and so can she. You just have to be a grown up to realise that she will always love you for you.

The only thing I can suggest, if you are interested in finding a property abroad, stop looking online, we spent months, even years doing this. Have a rough plan of action, know what it is that you want to do, have a rough idea of what it is you are looking for, have the money to do it in the bank, know that you are the greatest force behind you. If you can do it, you will. Be confident in yourself, no one is going to hold your hand. I found that I was the some of the driving force behind this, but ultimately it was Mums choice and decision to make. We both pushed each other to get into this situation and most days we back each other up that we've made the right decision.

We are both fortunate to be in a position where money will not be a major worry, due to Mums pension, but that's not going to be there forever. We also made sure that the property we have bought has the ability to create an income straight away. There are a few tons of fruit growing throughout the land to be harvested and sold each year. I will also be creating a Music studio and Art studio for both of us to use. So watch this space... 

Life, is constant change... the quicker we get used to it, the better. 

I have until the 21st of September until I hand the keys back to the apartment... Once that has happened, we are staying with my sister for a couple of days and then heading off to start the next big part of our adventure... I hope you can join us. 

If you have got this far I assume you like to read... I will most likely carry on making epic posts.

Thanks for your time.

Peace 1 <3 

WMD

Just a point to make clear....

This whole thing started for us when the blog started back in April 2013...

I will tell you this now... my Mum is an Angel. She is retired, she split with here partner in 2013, sold the house and got half of what they sold it for... Since then she has worked as a live in carer and enabled me to go Travelling in Australia for 7 months, along with loaning me money for a car and some general food costs here and there. Without her I would have not experienced a lot of things in my life. I am so grateful to her for a lot of things.
Don't get me wrong, we've had our ups and downs and I actually didn't speak to her for 3 years after my Dad died in 2010. I spent a lot of time in my own head and pushed everyone away along with smoking a lot of weed to deal with the loss.
However, now we both feel very lucky to have each other back in our lives. Without her I literally would not exist. Since we started this journey in life together, I have vowed that she will never end up in a nursing home, being cared for by people that just need a pay cheque. I have been in them places. They are life destroying places, you wouldn't want to be there, don't put your parents there. They created you, the least you can do is be there for them in their final time. I feel very strongly about the connection I have created with my Mum. She isn't just family. She is my best friend. She knows more about me than absolutely anyone in the world, I wouldn't change that fact for anything or anyone.

No one likes to talk about money... but we all should be a lot more open, so, here it is...
Mum has around £65,000 in total from the sale of the house and savings. That is all we have collectively.
I have been out of work for most of this year trying to sort out being self employed at the job centre, which I will tell you has been no easy feat, I have actually almost secured a business after having my business plan sorted out along with courses planned and getting help from all the correct angles...

We have worked with £50,000 as the base for buying a property and having a buffer of £15,000 for any works we need to get done, plus living expenses etc. Mum is retired, so this is one of the main reasons we are able to do this adventure and not worry so much about working to live. I will however be living off the land and growing as much fruit and veg as possible.

I Love You Mum, You Are My Angel. Your Little Boy William xXx

WMD

Peace 1 <3

Life is Amazing... Just look up... Pt 1

Got back from Australia April 2014 after having an epic 7 months there and getting to travel around for a month and go to 2 amazing festivals. Also getting the chance to play at 1 of them. I almost played at both, but couldn't find my friend who had my DJ gear, so missed out the chance to play at Rainbow Serpent, but what an amazing festival, I had the most fun I have had in a long time. Thanks to some amazing friends I was able to play at Maitreya on the Sunday night, at midnight when all the other stages had shut! What a rush that was, hitting the play button with no one around, then looking up 20 seconds later to see around 40 people in front of me, then another 20 seconds and around 100 people infront of me.... then to have around 250-300 people dancing in and around the tent was just WOW, what a buzz and what a sound system to play on (got to love that Funktion One). Thanks Ralph and various others, You guys and gals are amazing. You know who you are :)

This inspired me to travel to Portugal in September 2014 to go to Boom Festival. It was an epic journey that I took with a very good friend (Hey Gary). We ended up driving down with various tents of friends in Gary's car. We spent 2 days getting to the event and a good 8 hours waiting to get in. 8 hours sounds a lot, until you start hearing other people's stories of waiting 18 hours!
Once we had got ourselves into the festival the previous 3 days seemed to vanish into obscurity....

What an amazing festival, people, weather, food, culture. We had an epic time, I highly suggest you give it a go. Even if you, like me and Gary, don't really like Psytrance, you honestly won't be bothered as there is so much more to do than just listen to Psytrance. We spent 3-4 hours on the Psytrance stage on the last day out of 7! So trust me, there is plenty to do.

After being at the festival for a week we spent a few days recouping ourselves and getting our heads back on our shoulders after a weeks long dancing around, finding ourselves, meditating and enjoying the amazing sunshine.
We ended up heading to Lisbon and eventually home via Spain, France, Belgium and Holland... Oh, high there Amsterdam!

So, maybe 6 months ago, I received an email from Boom festival saying that they have a Be-In Gathering happening. I had a look at what looked to be a very chilled out and nice vibes Gathering that would have a lot of workshops and things that I would love to do and learn, but also something that I figured my Mum would possibly want to attend as well.

So I showed Mum the pack that had been sent out and thought nothing of it... A few weeks passed and Mum was still pretty interested in going. So I booked a couple of tickets online via their website http://madeinboomland.org/be-in and we sorted out the dates that we would need to be away.

A friend at the time was leaving to go to Thailand and was selling his 5 meter bell tent. Had a word with Mum and we figured it was a good idea, so bought it from him. This meant that we were driving to Portugal!

Dinner time, Gacé

Eventually the time came to start the journey. We got up pretty early to catch the ferry over to Calais, found ourselves driving for a few hours and ended up in a Campsite that we had used during our first trip to France 2 years ago. Gacé, a nice little local, quite town (apart from the Church bells!). We set up the bell tent (takes around 10 minutes) sorted out some food, paid for our nights stay and crashed out.

Got up the next day to a deserted campsite. We're not early risers by any means, but it is funny when you're still bumbling around at 11am packing the tent down and everyone else has been gone for hours.

Carried on driving for several hours and eventually found ourselves in Saintes staying in a small motel type place...

The hotel room

Very funky little 2 bedroom place... You can check yourself in via a machine if the reception is closed. It reminded me of Futurama and benders apartment, but it would have literally only been benders closet, not the rest of the amazing apartment!

It was better than sleeping in the car by all means... So no complaints. The Bathroom was tiny, all clean and fresh. Definitely worth a laugh. We both had to be careful not to roll over and hit the other person from our single beds... They were pretty much butted up against each other or you couldn't open the door to get in! After a peaceful night sleep in the tinyest hotel room we left.

We ended up spending most of the day sat in the car waiting for a garage to sort out the balancing of one of the wheels to stop a vibration problem we had picked up due to one of the weights in the wheel coming off making a great noise and uncomfortable drive. We then spent the rest of the day driving down to Spain in the hope of finding somewhere else to sleep....

It got to around 3am and a lot of the places in Spain were closed... Eventually we found a nice lay-by, that seemed good enough to catch some sleep in. Got our sleeping bags out and set up camp in the car! To the shock of my sister when Mum spoke to her about it! It's what road trips are all about though, right ?! I mean, it's not a road trip if you've not had to sleep in the car once or twice...

We woke up at sometime in the morning after actually a pretty relaxed sleep. Had a cuppa and a wet wipes wash, jumped back in the car that we had now been sat in for a solid 24 hours, fired up the car and sat nav and carried on, to our destination.

BLT crew...

I had stayed at a lovely campsite during my visit to Portugal in 2014, so was aiming for Castelo Branco in the region of Castelo Branco, Portugal. Eventually we arrived at the campsite. Everything felt very familiar. It had only been 11 months since being there before. It didn't seem to have changed. I could even remember where the shops were.

We made our camp under some nice big shaded trees. Mum will hate me for using this photo, SORRY Mum.... I asked her to say "BLT" whilst having a mouthful of Portuguese BLT (it was a thing me and Gary created during our drive to Portugal in 2014... we had a BLT in every country we went to, but using the local ingredients! You should try it).

That was it... we had made it to Portugal... Now to spend the next 3-4 days waiting until we could go to the Gatherinng... At least that's what I thought...

TBC...

WMD

Peace 1 <3

Smoking...

It is amazing how life can sometimes give you a slap of reality.

I have been seamlessly bumbling around for a long while, in a hazed bubble of cannabis smoke.

3 months and 3 days ago today I decided to change all of that and stop. I was one of them smokers that denied that I smoked, because I didn't smoke cigarettes, just joints.

What this has taught me, is that we can create our own self denial of a situation.
In the most literal sense, nicotine, is the thing that I was craving, but because I had linked it to wanting to smoke a joint and get high, it was the high from the cannabis that I wanted.

Don't get me wrong, I love smoking pure bongs & blunts. One of my favourite memories was a good friends 21st Birthday. We smoked 21 blunts... What an epic day that was, such good fun was had, I was so high... haha. Good times.

I class myself as a Master toker, I have definitely mastered the art of smoking weed.

I gave up cold turkey, which I have done 3 times prior to this time and has been the way I have always stopped. Something this time was just different. I am not sure quit how to explain it, but it just felt different and the right time to do it.

OMG was it the hardest thing... Not the stopping, but the brain melting numbness I felt of not having nicotine in my body. I had 4 weeks of the most unpleasant mind & body feelings. It was like being depressed and anxious with a next level of crazy thrown in for good measure.

The not doing it, is really the easy part. The idea of going back to it now is not appealing at all. I am so over the idea of ever smoking Tobacco and consuming nicotine again. The weed may happen, but I will treat it with a lot of respect as I believe it was supposed to be treated. Not like in todays times where we abuse absolutely everything that we can get our hands on. Food, drink, drugs.... We want it all and we want it all NOW...

I had always been a non smoker until the age of 18. I had tried a joint, which was the first thing I ever smoked. But what really made me start was when I started to work at the Casino, I got heavily into smoking hash as it was a great way to get to sleep after 8-12 hour night shifts.

That has then turned into a lifetime of smoking cannabis in all it's various forms, even digesting it as a refined cannabis oil, dabs, hash, buds... you name it, I have done it.

I have all of the experience in getting high, what more could I want to do.

It is a great procrastination tool. If you have nothing to do and want to do nothing then smoke cannabis.

Yes it is great for listening to music, it is great to DJ, do art, be creative etc etc... You can make all of the excuses under the sun that cannabis is the most amazing thing in the world since sliced bread, especially sliced bread toasted with cannabis butter on it... mmmmm But I digress...

When I was 21, my brother in-law told me "there is a time and a place to smoke" and also "he'd smoked more than I could ever imagine"... well I think I proved a point that I smoked more, but I also realised that I have had my time and it has had it's place in my life.

Since stopping I have realised actually how boring smoking weed makes you. The conversations and level of concentration that is used when smoking is just mind numbing. My brain is so fast and quick off the mark since stopping. Every day it gets faster and more excelled in wanting to be active by doing things. It is not complacent to just sit in a stuffy smoky room, chatting about next level conspiracy theories, playing computer games, munching on crap and generally just being a stoner.

I can say this because I personally have done it, for 13+ years of my life. I have been that "stoner" of the group. What about that time when you run out of weed... OMG... we've all been there, it's like 7pm, you can't get hold of your dealer, or you can, and you can't seem to get weed for hours... You eventually phone that guy that you really don't want to phone because his weed is crap, underweight and damp but you decide it is better than nothing... What was the point... Just to get a little bit high so you could go to bed because you've convinced yourself that smoking is the only way for you to sleep.

The thing that really escalated stopping smoking to me this time was the fact that I was hydrating a lot more (at least 2 litres of distilled water a day) and smoking 2-4 grams a day. But the weed wasn't getting me stoned. I am your general .3/.4g roller... I like a tasty joint (weed & tobacco). I have smoked a lot of pure bongs & blunts in my time. I can handle a lot of smoking. Congratulations me... but what was the point in smoking 3-4grams a day and not getting high... Maybe I needed something stronger or it's time to stop...

What stopping has actually created for me is the realisation that we are not motivated to do anything for ourselves when stoned. We do a good talk and the generalisation of, yeah, I can do that, but I will do it tomorrow. But somehow tomorrow never seems to actually ever happen.

Now if I say I will do something, I actually do it, there and then, with no hesitation. I am very spontaneous. Even writing this blog has been about being bored and wanting to do something with my time.

What better way of being creative than spilling your brains out all over the internet for friends, family and randoms to endure pages and pages of life....

Thank You, if I know you and Thank You if I don't.

WMD

Peace 1 <3

1 year ago...

1 year ago today I left Australia and spent 24 hours flying back home...

After being here for 12 months it feels like I actually left my home and have flown somewhere else.
How is it that being in a foreign country can make you realise so many things, yet when you get back to your comfort zone everything feels so out of place.

Australia I miss you... I can not wait to come back.

Rest of the World... I miss you even more but I don't even know it yet!

Peace 1 <3

WMD

That moment when...

That moment when... you realize that you've not written on your blog for a few months and that life is just happening around you...

It has taken me a while to settle back into the reality that I am currently living after the travels of the last year+.

Meeting friends again, sitting infront of the computer for hours on end, partying like there's no tomorrow, shopping for food, listening to music, reading books, catching up with Mum.

Some of the things that I have been doing and not really realizing the impact of my own life and the others around me.

Sometimes I realize that we are all in an inherent mechanism working for/with/against each other to some extent or another to complete goals or push something forward or to destruction.

It has been very interesting catching up with some friends and acquaintances and people that I admire.

2014 for me has so far been one of the most fun filled years that I have experienced so far with a lot of ups and downs for good measure.

It pretty much started with a Big Bang whilst in Australia and the New Years celebration in a park in Melbourne (Edinburgh Gardens), with lots of friends and fireworks... compared to this years Nye which was a very different occasion... spending some time with some good friends and just generally having a laugh. A lot more subdued than when being in Australia, I can tell you.

It certainly seems to me that when you travel you put yourself out into the world because you are out of your comfort zone. In putting yourself out into the world it certainly makes you work harder to get out and experience things that you would otherwise not do.

If a situation is there to be taken and experienced then go and do it, don't say "No I will do it another time" because that time will blink past you and before you know it another year will have passed and you still won't have experienced that thing that might have changed everything for you.

I have had the chance to do some amazing things in the last 20 months. A lot of it I am sure will come flying out of my hands at some point or another and onto this blog as yet some more life experience and stories.

Some of my favorite experiences of 2014 have definitely been the festivals. I was lucky enough to know amazing people and got the chance to go to Rainbow Serpent, Maitraya and Boom Festival! Wow what a diverse scene and connected-ness lay between these type of festivals and the amazing people that create, go to and enjoy them.

I had the chance to briefly meet a DJ/Producer that I have always admired at Rainbow Serpent and by the end of the year had the chance to meet and spend the day with him, under very different circumstances at a Meditation course he was running.

It seems to me that we can create a scenario and we can then make that scenario come true with enough thought behind it that it will manifest into our reality.

For instance... when I lived in a hostel for 3 months (an epic hostel at that, in Melbourne - The Nunnery) I found that I had enough energy to pick up the whole hostel and get people interacting with one another, generally being out there and making connections with people that I otherwise wouldn't have even looked at or spoken to had I been at home, but because we all didn't know each other I felt compelled to get to know everyone and everyone to get to know everyone else!

I am a bit rambly... Clearly my brain want's to purge... Well here's to 2015...

Many Happy Blessings of Love.

Peace 1 <3

WMD