I’ve been back in London for a month now and it feels like the right time to sit down and write down some of my memories from my travels. I tried to do it just after I returned, but it didn’t quite work. I guess, the theory is that by now the unimportant memories will have begun to fade.

That’s not to say that anything below is of any greater importance. Expect half-memories and random thoughts and sentences that don’t go anywhere.

MONTREAL

Summer in Montreal. Walls of rain, debilitating heat. Or both at the same time.

I found the airbnb address and waited for my “host” on the pavement outside the building. I’m pretty sure Airbnb anxiety works both ways. A stranger is letting you into their home for money and you’re paying to stay in their home. The website with its reviews gives you a certain sense of security, but still. It’s the internet after all.

Eventually the girl arrived. My slightly earlier-than-expected arrival had interrupted her birthday dinner, but she didn’t seem to mind. Beautiful flat in a perfect location. And a fat rescue bunny named Jules. A great base for exploring the city.

I spent a lot of time exploring, walking and cycling, eating vegan food or drinking alone in bars. It seems easier in America. If/when you begin to feel lonely you can just sit down by the bar and eventually someone will start talking to you. Googled ‘punk bars’ and 'dive bars’. Drank IPA’s and listened to Minor Threat. Met punks obsessed with ice hockey. I have no interest these days, but found I have enough knowledge of the sport to hold my own in a conversation.

Random bar conversations going nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

“I’m a nerd that caught in the cross fire. I don’t have a computer”

“How many rocks of crack cocaine can you get for a PS3 controller?”

Frank Turner on the stereo in the bar. A random drunk person muttered something about a “dick tattoo”, then laughed so hard he choked on his beer and sprayed it all over the floor.

Late night ice cream downtown. Dr. Alban’s It’s My Life on the stereo in the Ben & Jerry’s shop.

Drunken mind wandering to random things. What happened to my High Dive t-shirt? And the Duke of Uke one? Did she keep/steal them?

Day-time record shopping. Had to make a rule, because records weigh a tonne. No LPs, just seven-inches. And only essential listening that will be listened to over and over again. Bought Avengers, Pointed Sticks, Go-go’s, Black Randy, Max Levine Ensamble.

More late night ice cream. This time in the rain. The Bio Dome. Memories of high school. Teary phone calls. Punk dogs. Bartender birthday parties and late night music videos being filmed around me. Horror film festival. Falling asleep drunk watching Manos: The Hands Of fate.

I’ll come back to Montreal. I get a good feeling there.