remember when

i was just having one of those moments.
reminiscing.
back to a time 'before'.....
i had to go a way back but i found a time before i discovered the road. i had always dreamt about it, don't get me wrong; ever since i discovered i was born in england and had travelled round europe i felt a need to go back, to re-explore (aged 4 i made this self-declaration). and i was just trying to think of my first trip. was it the one where i went to australia and met up with my girlfriend kirst? we did a road trip up to sydney where we met another girlfriend vaness and partied out for new years...
no. not then.
was it when i went to bali with my ma for my 21st?
no. not then.
all aboard to australia with my folks when i was 16?
crumbs.
i remember a time when the 4 of us (my bro, me, my ma and pa) all packed into their old MGTD (two seater, me and my bro in the luggage bit, the luggage- my dad's old scout pack, strapped to the spare wheel, strapped to the petrol tank) hit the road, off for the weekend to go and hang out with other like minded folk and camp in an old shearing shed (tis a kiwi thing- where sheep have new hair-dos) for the weekend... aged 9. i learnt to ride a motorbike this weekend.
with adventures like those it was no wonder i was going to spend some 12 odd years exploring.
but the little details, you know the bits that pop to mind when you're hanging the washing on the line- like waiting for a bus in malaysia where the busticket selling dude tells you that, yes, there will be a bus. this afternoon. some time. and you have to be patient with that.
or when you're seaching a particular colour ( saharan sunset) or a particular flavour ( green mangoes and chilli and sugar on the train- how do i do that at home??)

but do you remember a time before blogs?
before email?
before travelling with a single piece of plastic that will suffice for funds worldwide?

i looked at calix and realised he will never not know these things. he'll only know mp3 and not records. mobile phones- video calling!! (man, that was the stuff of sci-fi) and all this fellow year of the rats, well, the future for them is unimaginable....

these days, i still imagine one day being on the road again; sometimes i even imagine going further than the shop!

but with plans for tree planting and future harvests and with memories as full as these i know i'm all stored up, like a squirrel, ready with stuff stored to nibble on, from time to time.