Typical

I was lying in bed last night thinking that this is my typical luck: when I first find a pub that I like so much I would really like to call it my favourite – and it also is a place where I could see myself sitting and writing during the day or afternoon, this place is in another part of the world.

When I moved to England one of the things I said that I really wanted to do when I got here was to get my own local pub where I could go and meet people that I would come to know – you know, kind of like in the series “Cheers”: “Where everybody knows your name”. So far I haven’t done that. I haven’t really been going out that much, but I have visited a local pub called “The Bell Inn” quite a few times and it is a very nice typical English pub and I enjoy going there for a beer, but it’s not the kind of place that I can see myself going to during the day to do some writing.

“Dunes and Tunes” on Playa Del Ingles how ever, that’s different. I found myself thinking about it several evenings there that it would’ve been so great to come in early one afternoon and just sit there for a couple of hours writing. It’s on the beach, so while sitting at the tables there you can actually see the ocean, and I love to see the ocean – that is something that always inspires me. And I was wondering what it would’ve been like to live down there, and to go to this place to write during the day or afternoon. Bringing my notebook and a good pen, ordering sparkling water (actually in my mind, when I picture this, I drink coffee as that seems more right, but as I’m not a coffee drinker that’s not likely to happen so…..) and just sit there and write while I watch the people that do pop in during that time of the day or if there are no people I can watch the ocean. And then, when the afternoon turns into evening and the people start coming in for the entertainment I’ll close my notebook, it’ll be getting too dark pretty soon to see the ocean anyway – and I’ll head back to the bungalow where I’m staying - in a more quite part of Playa Del Ingles but within walking distance from the beach.

And now you’re of course wondering, if this was my vision, why didn’t I just do it when I was there on vacation. Well, first of all, I think it must be my Scandinavian genes, but it’s impossible for me to go on a week’s vacation to Gran Canaria and imagine for even one evening going back to the hotel early and not actually being out partying and drinking beer. It’s just what you do you know, with only one week of vacation – so afraid to miss out on anything – so afraid I’ll get back home and think “damn, why didn’t I go out that evening as well when I had the chance?” Secondly, going on a one week vacation to Playa Del Ingles, it’s not a “writer’s holiday”. That much alcohol and little sleep doesn’t inspire me at all, and I actually almost get a bit stressed because there are so many things I want to do and I worry so much about the time passing by too quickly – it’s impossible for me to sit down for 2 or 3 hours to write. I would not be able to focus and concentrate, my mind would be elsewhere, worrying about all the other things I could be doing.

If I had lived there though, it would’ve been different. I don’t drink that much alcohol when I’m home, and if that had been “home”, well then I would not have been drinking and partying in the same fashion I do when on vacation. Then I would find the peace and quite to be able to focus on my writing. I would not be so worried about missing out on things because time would be on my side and not working against me.

So, as I started out saying – it’s kind of typical isn’t it – when I finally do find a pub where I could probably get some writing done, it’s just too far away to be useful for me for that purpose. And I couldn’t really move to that part of the world just because I like a pub there either, could I?