What foul Dust floated in the wake of his dreams.

The Volcano was hunting me. Its odious ashy shadow, coming after me and Europe. As fast as I could travel, it came on relentlessly; it was ever the bearer of the long delay. I tried to leave Athens yesterday, but had been bumped by holiday makers travelling across Europe, using trains as their second choice and ruining my first.

So I booked for the day after and went back into Athens. I took a Hostel in Omiania. It is a desperate place, the life and soul of an addicts squat party. Its a bad place to be and worse place to live, especially if that's on the streets. Here Hustler’s hustled, pimps pimped and junkies, mainlined Brown, just of main streets all of this done with the habitual ease of another lighting a cigarette.

In places like this where you become ruthless, a cut your throat for a fiver mentality. I went to a cafe and sat outside on a table next to prostitutes, we were both watching a thirty man brawl outside the crisis centre. Men trying to get beds for the night. It was all elbows and knees, like an endless desperate ruck. I took another sip of my coke and a bite of my kebab. A man, walked up to me and asked for a Europe, I gave him fifty cents. He was shued on by the cafe owner. The prostitutes cackled, they all looked worn out, there was no secret diary of a call girl here. It was all open and all tragic.

In Omnia, the poverty means that people specilaise in the individual sundry product. I had seen this thing before. One man sells just AA batteries. Another Combs. A lady selling one type of slipper and another selling pens. They have all cornered the markets in markets that have no profit to be cornered.

Dont think I didn’t enjoy it, by Zeus I did.  Im a voyeur, the observer, and I like seeing the darkerside of life, but the man injecting, heroin in his toe, that was too Bull for me.

In the evening, I went down to the Hostel Bar, I shouldn’t have bothered. There was an Austrailin women in her late thirties,  I tried to make conversation, but she was a slippery as a greased eel. She gave answers that invited questions, but when asked offered none.

“How do you like Athens?”

“I hate it to many sad memories”

“Then why are you here?”

“You know.... She looked into the middle distance...To...Travel”.

Please this was all getting a bit much.

She didn’t ask, but I told her.

“Nice. Im having a blast round Europe, hitting all the tourists sites and getting boozed on the way, I cant be arsed with any of that hippy crap though.”

She looked at me with cold disdain, but I love being a twat to pretentious tossers and I was beginning to enjoy myself. I added more fuel to the fire.

“What do you do?”

“Travel”

Jesus Christ, I thought

“Where do you get your money from then?”

“Here and there”

I had, had just about enough of this Bullshit. She was paradoxically, loquacious and reticent, I had no patience for this.  If there hadn’t been a touch of historical-fitness about her, I would have chopped it there and then. I ordered another Ouzu and a Beer.

“Cheers then“ I cried boorishly. I tried for another ten minutes, she was going to India, Ha ha, of course she was. But  she was fifty years to late for all the other hippies and about twenty years to late to be “finding yourself”.

Grow up, you fucking child.

I took my beer and went for a night stroll. I am the watchman. It was bad at day worse at night, I got loosed and thought I would probably be mugged. I took my money out my wallet and put it in my shoe. A pimp offered me his  girl, several men offered me “Cocaine, marijuana”. I brought none.

I started walking in ever increasing circles, like the spirals on a snails shell, I use it all the time when I get lost, and I get lost all the time. I found my way back to the square and from there, back to  the hostel. On the way back I had to walk through a group of loiterers. They exist in all cities, young men who just sit around with nothing to do but stare. I looked them all in the eye, my hand tightening around the neck of my beer, I do it in England too, I think it lets them know Im not a pussey. But I am.

I'm a  massive pussey.