sometimes i just sit back and think about my situation. i have no doubt in my mind that i am one of the luckiest persons alive. Why am i so lucky? well i dont really know. A few gambles a few lucky chances and bam – i am out of the rat race that so many of you brits find so loathesome, yet impossible to break free from.
not only am i out of it but – i find a house on the southwest tip of portugal, overlooking miles of south and west coastline, that is just inside my budget. i find friends from all across the globe who all share similar values and likes as me, i find work within days of arriving, winter work within 6 months of arriving that takes me into a different country fresh and empty sandy beaches all winter long and very few worries indeed.
naturally, this stirs my imagination and makes me think far too much.
Finally, just the other week, a friend of mine finally made me realise what it is about sagres, with a few careful words. many of my friends have visited now, most of them like the place for what it is, a place relatively untouched by progress and tourism, but my friend martin summed it all up in just a few words.
he said
sagres – if you dont surf, you just dont get it !
The guy was so right too. I cant begin to describe how the place makes a person feel. one visit is rarely enough, many travellers who intend to just pass through, end up staying and staying and staying. Of course for me, i found the place completely by chance when planning a surf trip some four years ago. my plan was to drive the west coast of portugal from lisbon down and stop at some good breaks on the way. when we finally landed i decided to head straight to sagres – where we stayed for 10 days. the folowing year, we did the same again although on the return to the uk, my house was sold, my car loaded and within one month of leaving, i had returned, lock, stock and barrell to sagres.
sometimes along the way, i stop and think of all of the events that have happened in my life. think about this for a moment, if any single one of those events had been different, maybe i wouldnt be sitting here now typing, or if i were, would you know of me to be reading? there are times in our lives where we feel completely unhappy, useless or disheartened but if you ask yourself a simple question, there wont be many of you that will have a bad answer.
ask yourself, for all of the bad things that have happened in your lifetime – are you happy with where your life is today? it is a simple yes or no answer !
my guess is that all of you will say yes, for all of the problems we encounter, we are overall happy with where we are.
for some of you , that will mean, marriage, children, mortgages, big mortgages and multiple mortgages, divorces, parking fines, speeding fines, hang overs, stressful jobs with long hours – the list continues. please remember though, before you start moaning about life, you are happy with where it has led you. if you are truely unhappy , change it. one thing everybody posesses is the ability to make changes.
Ok, so mine were a little extreme, but at the time i couldnt see why people were making a fuss. looking back , i guess it was a minor upheaval but now, i am happy with my life. 6 months in portugal, 6 months in mallorca, house paid for, classic 1996 peugeot surf bus paid for, two surf boards to ride and a whole shed load of friends from all over the world.
Ok granma, i am sorry that i never got married. i have always believed it would be better to spend my life alone than to spend it with the wrong person. can you imagine that i was with someone who didnt really make me happy when out of the blue i met the woman of my dreams ( is that why at 37 i still wake up with a monster hard on most mornings?) and she wasnt interested in me because i was already with someone? That, would be a wounder.
While i am still in search of eternal fun regardless of my age, i always keep one eye on the road for dream woman. i am sure she is out there somewhere, i just gotta be in the right place at the right time and that is something that fate must decide.
The other week, i was taking a coffee in the dromedario when an old guy walked in wearing a black T shirt. In big white letters across the front it read
F**k Golf
Normally i am just not into that whole abusive t shirt thing, the whole FCUK thing. If you want to say "FUCK" just have the balls to say it, dont hide it behind something else.
Anyway, this T shirt moved me. Moved me so much that i decided to talk to this stranger. The whole golf thing had me mesmerised. Any middle manager out there that has been shafted by senior management or directors because of who they played golf with the day before will appreciate that T shirt.
So i spoke to the dude who also turned out to be french and on holidays in sagres. The dude was 54 years old and still surfing. 54 years old, just when you might think he would be taking up golf as a hobby he was still peddling his trade on a long board. i just hoped and still do today that when i am 54 i am still able to paddle my way out back and hit the waves that i want. i was envious of this guy but that was stupid. i still have at least 23 years of surfing infront of me, he has much less. maybe he was jealous of me, but i doubt that, he knew that he had done much more surfing than me and probably seen much more.
anyway, i waffled a bit there and now there is some english fool behind me talking too loudly so it is time to leave.
i have a temporary number at the moment, it is +34 697 458 736 but as soon as i can fix my phone problem i will revert back to my original. Today is a holiday in mallorca, " Day of the Dead" hardly anythingis open so no chance of fixing phones or buying groceries. for those of you that know how to use it, my address here is on my contact card.
finally, max, what is going on in your life?
The November Archives 
November 2nd, 2006 at 00:58
Too much work, is what is going on right now…… i have a long day today 7 a.m till 8 p.m had one yesterday too, have another tomorrow…….. but quite a bit has happened which i will tell you about later, so have fun honey speak soon. Max xxxxxx