but for chips and for freedom/ i could die

it's always better on holiday
so much better on holiday
that's why we only work when
we need the money

- "jacqueline"_franz ferdinand

.

i just blew £50 today on a trip to cardiff in 2 weekends' time:

£6.50 for the return megabus trip. £32.00 for 2 nights' accommodation (read: a bed in the mixed dorm) at the Cardiff Backpackers Hostel (don't you love the name. i don't really have a backpack though), which is a stone's throw away from the millennium stadium, wales' rugby shrine, where i'll be watching the wales v japan match (that's £10.70; in my opinion, well-spent).

this means that i'd have been to oxford, newcastle and cardiff in the span of 6 weeks. yay! it relative terms, it isn't expensive to get around the uk, but still the expense isn't exactly dirt-cheap. there's definitely still a nagging twinge of guilt deep within me - i'm here to study, and that's something i won't forget (unless i'm playing or watching a rugby match, heh). but i foresee that travelling will be one of my lifelong obssessions (so will, uh, a certain sport) and i need to start satisfying my wanderlust. now.

(i'm gonna work during the christmas vacations to earn back all the £££ i've spent on travelling and other 'miscellaneous expenses' [read: vodka oranges, bacardi breezers and the like])

i'm also excited at the prospect of going to cardiff in solitude. toute seule. some people think it's scary/dangerous, and i suppose it could be if you're stupid and lack common sense, or just plain unlucky.

i reckon it's just so exhilarating.

at some point over the next three years i'm going to end up in france alone for a month or so anyway (toulouse-perpignan-marseille-grenoble-etc...), so a weekend in cardiff all by myself will be a good trial run.

more about the rugby match: i'm looking forward to seeing wales play; i've got great admiration for their backs. the awesomely nippy shane williams - he's such a f**king brilliant stepper, the blinding winger rhys williams... dunno if wales' style of play has changed much since the 2003 world cup. hope they still play lovely flowing running rugby.

(the truth about why i chose the wales v japan match: all the other autumn internationals are waaay too expensive. e.g. nz v baabaas: >£50. the only other match in the same price bracket as the wales v japan match? wales v romania)

.

overpopulation:

the 'arch-prophet of doom' p. erhlich - "haunted by an apocalyptic fear that spaceship Earth would be blown up by its internal population bomb: that humanity would breed itself into oblivion".

that's such an awesome analogy. from a guy who felt that the "battle to feed all humanity was lost", that "india had 20 minutes to famine".

i'd never dare to believe in something so unflinchingly. to be dead certain i was right. that's terrifying. it just seems extreme.

(source of quotes: h. jones, 1990)

.

tesco. sainsburys. tesco. sainsburys. tesco. sainsburys. tesco. sainsburys.

ah sod it.

.

only i can make myself truly happy. i understand that now.