UK Tour 2002

Day 20

When I get to the end of these Diaries I do it’s often hard to write the last day because as soon as I get home my life is filled with other responsibilities. I’m probably also a bit reticent to finish because finishing off any creative work is one of the hardest aspects in the creative process, mainly because there’s a lot of pressure to go out with some kind of finale. But a journey home is actually filled with for the most part a lot of driving. And today was no exception, I drove almost 600 miles today. For me the highlight was stopping near Newcastle to see some old friends of mine. Helen lives in Newcastle so I dropped her stuff off at her place and then her and the other two in town for a few hours while I went to see George and his family.

George

I met George when I was 19. He’s now retired, but back then was a policeman. At that point in my life I wasn’t generally enamored with the police but George struck me as such a kind and thoughtful man that I could not resist becoming friends with him. Over the years I’ve watched his kids grow up and him go grey, and me grow wider. There are some people in life who you have an instant and almost unbreakable connection with. Sadly I did not have such a connection with the others on this tour, and neither did they have one for me. That is just the luck of the draw. But this journey wasn’t primarily about meeting other people. It was however about journeying through the UK and simultaneously taking a journey in ourselves.

A painting I’d done and forgotten about on George’s wall

Another painting I’d done for him I’d rather keep quiet about

As I write this I’m listening to a song whose lines are “Farewell Northumberland, roll on Geordie boy”, quite apt as Newcastle is in Northumberland. After seeing George, his kids and wife, George drove my car into town where we picked up Colin, and said good-bye to the other two. It was a quick and honest good-bye, there was no love lost, but now (I’m writing this 6 months later) I feel sorry we didn’t connect. I miss Helen a bit, and had a lot of time for her.

The Angel of the North and Colin (Colin’s the one on the left)

Colin and I, who’d gone back to George’s place for a snack made our way back to London after the rush hour passed. We stopped off at “The Angel Of The North”, a large statue, but from then on it was a fast run to London. I gave Colin a hug goodbye when I dropped him off, he looked quite surprised, but for me the hug was more about the sadness of the argument we’d had.

I got back to my place shortly afterwards, raked through the post and prepared for the big changes which were ensuing. The building work, the change in career direction, the change in an important family relationship. Now six months down the line these changes have occurred and mostly for the better, but what’s funny about the trip is how often it comes to my mind.

I’m sorry if the end is not a finale after all, however if you did manage to read all of this diary I have to congratulate you. Writing about a familiar environment has been much harder than more foreign ones, so I hope you enjoyed it even so.

Thanks for reading this, please come back occasionally and read any new diaries I do.

Bye for now

P.S

Here’s some other files from the trip