Send The Bugger Back

I went out at half 11 last night in search of a late tea, crikey it was freezing out. Seriously proper teeth chattering stuff. I needed a hot meal and found one at a little restaurant, roast chicken with rice and a pint of Korca (rich but nice). All for the bargain price of 400 lek (£2.70).

I’m not very I’ll equipped for these sort of meteorological conditions, my hoody isn’t cutting it. One option is to make a hole in the bottom of my sleeping bag and use it as a sort of thermal dress, that could potentially look a tad daft though. Luckily it’s not a huge issue as Greece and Italy are my next 2 destinations after Ohrid.

I can’t get a hostel pickup from Struga tonight but the owner said a taxi should be less than 5 Euros so even if it ends up being double that it’s not too bad.

When I got back I had a long chat with my roomy, Ben from Brighton. He certainly knows his football. He’s a massive Brighton & Hove Albion and is even the official club photographer which is pretty cool, the photos used in this book are his.

It looks like my mates Topi, Pekka, Jimbo and Coopa (and maybe a few others) are going to meet me in Madrid for a weekend in mid November. That should be a good ‘n, I’m looking forward to having a cerveza or 19 with people I actually know properly.

The next leg of my journey after Ohrid will take me to Thessaloniki on the Greece mainland, as is the standard of late, there’s nothing direct which means lots of messing about on my part trying to figure out how to get there.

Albania is well known for high levels of OC, so I’ve amused myself today by weighing people I pass up and guessing if they might be involved. There’s a bit of business in this though too, if I decide to make a move on the scene I have to know who the major players are to take them out don’t I. He’s definitely one, got your card marked now son. Those 3 blokes talking and smoking in the bus ticket office are certs, you’re going down as well fellas, down to Chinatown.

I’ve just danced through a load of high speed traffic like Kinkladze through the Southampton defense, enjoy. Here’s me thinking the green man meant walk for the pedestrian and the red light stop for the Mercedes.

I’m just trying to find a gaff for a spot of lunch now. The strange thing about Albanians is when I ask them if they speak English they say yes, but then when I follow that up with “Do you serve food?” in the clearest most pronounced fashion I can muster, they look at me like I’ve actually asked “How many cyan marbles did the rabid parrot pass to the lazy sea-lion last August in Bolivia?”. I’m starving.

I was trying to avoid fast food but my hunger is not in a mood to be fussy anymore. So egg calzone, fries and a coke are now in front of me in a place that is more like a restaurant than a cafe. At what amounts to £1.40 for the lot it’d be rude not to. Albania is the cheapest country I’ve been to so far without question.

There isn’t really much to see in Tirana, it was a good decision to switch to just the 1 night. I’m glad I’ve come though because it is a city worth visiting for a short while if only to take in the crazy hecticness of it all.

Now while I compose this I’m just having a large bottle of Tirana premium pils nicely presented with a perfectly chilled glass. Well dome Tiranians.

To drown out the omnipresent sound of traffic and Benz horns I’ve been listening to ‘Why There Are Mountains’ by Staten Island’s (I’ve been there I have) Cymbals Eat Guitars today. They're somewhere between Broken Social Scene and Bright Eyes and pay little regard to traditional song structure with the tempo and mood changing at every turn. It’s a very solid debut but there’s no outright stand out tracks really. The important thing is there’s loads of potential and I’ll be keeping an ear out for this lot in the future.

So I’m just about to set out to catch the bus to Ohrid now. I wonder what the homicide levels are like there? I do hope it’s not a case of, now brace yourself, no really … ‘Murder most Ohrid’. And on that note I shall bid you adieu for the night.