No use crying forever, because there's too many fish in the sea

Watching the lobster in the fishtank made me wonder out loud how little lobster managed not to hurt itself with its brittle antennas.

My brother watched the lobster and said that "when it breaks its antennas on the rocks it hurts a lot, so the little lobster then starts crying his eyes out. That's why the sea is salted"

I'm blessed with a biologist as a brother. It makes me understand the world so much better.

Wake up, the bird is up singing

The early bird catches the worm, but the even earlier cat caught the bird still snoozing. I opened my eyes when I felt Basil's skinny paws pattering on the mattress. I could have easily spend a couple of hours more in my bed with the Bob the Builder duvet. After sleeping in a bed for kids, I took a shower with showergel for men and compensated it with a miniskirt.

After many tiresome weeks I took a breath of fresh air and watched the ugly but ever adorable Dassies sunbathing on the rocks.

I was out in the bay bay bay, they all go dum dum dum

A friend once said I would make a fine drugs courier with my innocent looks, but since they stopped me at customs I have scratched that possibility of my career options list. A genuine surprised face doesn't prevent from be under suspicion when you manage to give four different answers to the same question. After a while the man realised there was a greater chance of stupidity than criminality and I could finally leave the airport.

I reunited with my brother, but there wasn't much time to observe his environment as we immediately hit the road. I tried to keep my eyes wide open and absorb everything, but once we were past the first few kilometers of the currogated iron township houses I drowsed off. When I woke up we had arrived in Mosselbaai where we spend the night at Gail's house. We drank rooibos tea on her terrace and watched Mosselbaai from the top of the hill.

Departure, I'm carried away

After being stuck in Belgium for what seemed an eternity, I finally got the time and opportunity to travel again and see the world. Destination: South-Africa. It had been three years since I last travelled further than just across the country borders, and twice as many years since I last travelled by plane. It felt like I was new at the game arriving at the airport with my passport in hand. But like a teenager on his first day of high school, I was determined not to show .

By the time I was landing in London I had started recapturing the far distance traveller in me. I bought myself an overpriced bottle of water, installed myself next to a large group of American teenagers. As I watched them I felt loneliness creeping up on me. I considered looking for a conversation partner but decided to pass the time with my shabby iPod instead and tapped the time away to the tunes of Archie Bronson Outfit.

When I finally got on board of the flight to Capetown I was curious to meet the passengers next to me. I put the hopes of a having a twenty-something Londoner who's travelling alone aside , when a British middle aged couple shooed an older lady away and claimed the seat next to me. I looked out of the window realizing that for the next twelve hour I was stuck with rude strangers and a woman who kept cooing about Brighton while kicking against the back of my seat. I turned my head to the couple again and managed to fake a smile. After all we had to find a way to endure each other for another twelve hours. Twelve very long hours when I found out my television set was completely fucked up. The couple showed their more kind side after a while and the woman behind me lay her head to rest, probably dreaming about her city by the sea. I watch the plane fly above clouds and over the ocean, counting the hours till the sun would rise again and I would set foot in South-Africa.

Steve's memo

I was doubting whether I would continue on the Road to Calgary. I wouldn't abandon the path, but perhaps I shouldn't leave notes lying around. After all it was never my intention to be the fool writing on a white wall. But the next stop is South-Africa, and it might be too good not to share.

Steve send me a memo before I left : "Darling, you're almost leaving . Sadness. Here are a couple of things you shouldn't forget:

- thoughts of me
- two cheap wedding rings if you quickly want to get married
- enough place on the aeroplane if you want to bring your new man along
- a picture of Marijke and Isabelle so you wouldn't forget you're actually gay
- love for everyone"

Dancing with closed eyes

When I first met her she was a diffident girl, the type you had to force not to be impressionable. Then somebody told her she should always dance like nobody's watching. But people always watch as she discovered. So she danced for the limelight and got blinded.

I thought about her today while I was dancing. I was dancing with my eyes closed. It's a dangerous thing to do, but I won't go astray because I'm the type who forces people not be impressionable. I know what it leads to.

The signs didn't deceive

Two old photoalbums were lying on the coffee table in my grandmother’s house. Thumbing through the albums I saw my grandmother in her youth, my father as a toddler dressed up for church and many baby pictures of my youngest uncle. Then I came across the photograph with a grim foretelling sense.

The boy fiddling with the motorcycle is my oldest uncle. Twenty years later he would become a motor mechanic and start a garage. The boy on the motorcycle is my youngest uncle. Twenty years later he would lose his life behind the wheel.

Hang me up to dry

Last summer the doctor adviced me to turn my habits around and change my lifestyle. It would turn out much more difficult than expected. I wanted to live healthy and sane, but the urge to live fast proved to be stronger.

Seven months later and exhaustion feels as familiar as a birthmark. Last month it marked my skin. Today I sat on the tram with cold sweat on my forehead and trembling hands. Hang me up to dry please, or I won't last till the summer.

Leave a door of opportunity open

The Germanic god Wodan had two ravens Hugin and Mugin who reported what happened in the world. Hugin represented thought, while Mugin personated remembrance.

I started this Hugin in February of this year and yesterday the perfect Mugin finally landed in my hand. Black, streamlined and with the eye of an eagle. Others would probably refer to it as a Canon EOS 450d. Perhaps it's now time to kick down the brick wall behind closed doors?

Waking up in an empty bed

The girl and the sheets were cheering, but I still woke up alone in someone else's bed.

Some loss, few gain

Lately there seems to be two flows: one that's going rapidly and with an uncertain course; the other one strong but lingering.

Some loss, few gain and what I know seems to be hazy. This image is not what I wanted to achieve when I pressed the button, but it is very illustrative for the last couple of days.

Those tiny towns

They say people from the city are arrogant and impudent. This is a misconception: city people are ignorant.

Don't shoot the messenger, I'm a city girl myself. I've grown up in a city, I study in another and if I'm not in either of them, chances are I can be found in the capital city Brussels. One thing's for sure: city people know where to get the bargains, how to move around quickly and which alleyways to avoid. But we don't know we have to lower our voices, we have to show our public transport card on busses, nor do we realize that asking someone if he knows his dad isn't a self-evident question.

So if we act rather impudently, please remember, you can get the girl out of the city, but you can't get the city out of the girl.

Total eclipse of the heart

"Once upon a time there was light in my life, but now there's only love in the dark. Nothing I can say, a total eclipse of the heart."

Singstar at Jackie's place. It's the first time we hung out together since she returned from Newcastle. Nothing has changed since; it felt like yesterday when I first beat her at Franz Ferdinand and she beat me at every other song. With Bonnie Tyler on repeat, the list of songs we'll carry with us on the road has grown. "Forever's going to start tonight"

The first steps...

Writer Ayn Rand said, "All you have to do is look straight and see the road, and when you see it, don't sit looking at it- walk".

When I looked at the horizon I read my life lines as a road map and took the first step. On my way to Calgary.