gordon and rosemary.

So either the days are blending into each other or they aren't. I'm not sure. Today has been no different to yesterday which was no different to Wednesday. Tomorrow will be the same. I'll wake up around 10, have a few coffees and read 'Keep the Aspidistra Flying'. I'll mill around, answer some questions about Mostar, remark a little bit about the night before, about the plans for the day. At around 2pm I'll head towards the Old Bridge, and I'll sit as close to the river as possible and read more. At just past 3, maybe quarter past, I'll decide that the rocks are too uncomfortable and I should start heading to the main hostel. I'll buy some soup and bread on the way there. I'll get there, and I'll eat my soup. I'll stay in the hostel till around 9.30pm, and then head back home, to read some more and chat with whoever is there. Maybe go out for a drink, maybe not. Then I'll sleep, playing some situations over in my head as I drift off.

So yes, the days are blending into each other. The point is though, that this isn't a negative thing as the connotation usually applies. It's lucky at the moment, as the hostel I am staying in has some really wonderful people in it (I always, without fail, get on with people either from Asia or with Asian family) and both the morning chit chat and evening discussion have been constantly interesting. I've started thinking about it in the same way I would think about pleasant evenings in Liverpool. Often, I'd be sitting with friends and beverages, and I would mentally step back from it and just think. I'd be constantly amazed and joyed to think, 'wow. I'm from a small town in Wales, and I'm sitting in Liverpool with a guy from the south, a guy and a girl from Shropshire, a couple of local scousers and a girl from Northern Ireland. We've all grown up in different places, and our lives have somehow all led to this moment right now. By it's very nature, that is astounding'. This has been happening recently. Just this morning for instance. 'Wow. I'm from a small town in Wales, and I'm sitting in Bosnia and Herzegovina drinking coffee and chatting naturally with a guy from the States, a girl from Japan, 2 (stunning) Australian girls with family from the sub-continent and a Swedish boy, as well as a family from Mostar itself. By it's very nature, that is astounding'.

This summer I have met people from all over the world. I never, never, thought I would meet people from places such as Costa Rica, Luxembourg and Singapore. Not only that, but meet them and converse and build little relationships with them. Whoever said its a small world was wrong, but its definitely a world that is getting smaller. I have still never met anyone from Uzbekistan, Moldova, Peru, and the majority of Africa. I've also only ever spent 3 weeks outside of Europe. I think if I was going to South America now as opposed to 2 years ago, I would be in a much better shape for it, and would do a much better job of it. I probably would have a lot of fun. So as much as I deny it to certain people, maybe that is progress. That's definitely progress.

And I've almost got a beard now.

So I'm coming home for the winter. I have a flight booked, and I know where I am flying from, and where I am flying to. Then its a Christmas and January in Britain, and then the joy of 2011. Maybe some Russia, next season here in Mostar, and an even bigger beard. 2010 is doing a good impression of 2008.