Sunday’s Inspiration: I Bought A Bed, It’s A Brand New Start

“I’m going to clear out my head.
I’m going to get myself straight.
I know it’s never to late to make a brand new start” – Paul Weller.

A few days ago, I re-published the Don’t Stop Living Facebook Page. For good. It has been a huge week of change in my life. Sure, depression is still with me and will likely never leave but I have been fighting it daily and winning since July 2016. You know I love lyrics, poetry and wisdom. Today, Paul Weller – Brand New Start.

All of us are on a journey through life. We are all equal. Nobody is better than anybody else. That’s right, even Roger Milla is not better than us, as much as we love him. Or Juan Cayasso…

“Flag stays down and the ball goes in…”

But this was Green Day textbookic:

“Another turning point, a fork stuck in thon road” – Green Day.

I might have hung up my backpack in the unlikely city of Gdańsk, Poland in 2016 in a sadly well documented tale of backpacker woe, despair and depression. It was all too sad and real. After I moved into my new flat in Gdańsk, things weren’t quite as they seemed. I sunk into loneliness, despair, depression, boredom. My new life didn’t change things, or last long. Before I knew it, I was moving to Warszawa and using Gdańsk as a second city. I secured a few more writing contracts and started teaching professional English again and the need for Don’t Stop Living had faded out of view quicker than Neil Masters Northern Ireland career. I loved the calmness of my flat in Gdańsk – by Brzezno beach but suicide was never far away. I toyed with that shit.

I was glad to be back living in Europe though – first time I had done that since 2009. In Warszawa, I first lived in the Nowa Praga district, I also lived in Ochota and Srodmiescie and tonight in Bielany, as I boiled a kettle for a cup of tea, I realised I had now boiled a kettle for a cup of tea in all these places, that I was actually a resident…

1.Bangor, Northern Ireland
(Marlo, Ballycrochan)
2.Belfast, Northern Ireland
(Dundonald)
3.Ballyhalbert, Northern Ireland
4.Bournemouth, England
(Charminster, Springbourne, Central, Lansdowne, Southbourne, Winton, Moordown)
5.Poole, England
(Wallisdown)
6.London, England
(Shepherd’s Bush)
7.Dartford, England
8.Parramatta, Australia
(Westmead)
9.Devonport, Australia
10.Poatina, Australia
11.Lam Tin, Hong Kong
(2 flats in Pik Wan Road)
12.Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong
13.Ma Wan, Hong Kong
(2 flats in Ma Wan)
14.Gdańsk, Poland
(Stare Miasto, Brzezno, Aniołki)
15.Warszawa, Poland
(Praga, Srodmiescie, Ochota, Bielany)

And these places for a while too

16.Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (3 months)
17.Montevideo, Uruguay (3 weeks)

35 dwelling places, in 29 districts, across 17 cities/towns/villages in 7 different countries. (I decided to count minimum of a month or at least a contract for a course or rent of longer than a week.). I estimate I had 150 different flat mates in that time too.

And yesterday I headed “shopping” to buy a bed. I have NEVER bought a bed, a television or even a wardrobe in my life before. NEVER. That changes now, so my life has changed. I went to Ikea in Targowek in Warszawa, and purchased a bed!

The biggest thing (in physical size) I owned was always my 2 backpacks. My most expensive thing (in physical item) was always my laptop. Now, both are eclipsed by my bed.

The bed arrives on Tuesday. Yes, and I will own it.

Anything else new in my life?

No. No new girlfriend. I’m more single than ever before and I am at ease with that. I don’t date bitches, liars or thieves. I don’t make friends with them either after the times with Panny (she made up a fake story about sharing email and Facebook addresses, and told my Mum who I had to block) and others. I’d rather be alone.

But a new flat, a new room, a new local pub, a new flatmate (who I have known for 2 years) so it’s a new start.

I will try and put those 200 draft blogs into life at some point and make the blog as good as it once was.

But my life and my health is number one priority and to own a bed is the first crazy step for me in a new life.

At one point, I was sleeping in 200 beds per year…

So just a quick update. Yes, I have a bed and I will try and blog more as times continue. I prefer Northern Irishman in Poland to Don’t Stop Living though. It’s a better blog and by having the flags on my logo there, I feel much more at home on that blog. I’m not really a global guy, I’ve always been a Northern Irish nationalist. Power to the people in the country!

#tourist #dontstopliving #whackpacking #buyingbedsinikea #northernirishnationalist