Hunting Ghosts.

A shade over 48 hours have passed since I landed back in England. We made it through Spain in 1 piece and got back safely. Dad never did find his lost medication. For me it was break away from it all. Particularly from the nightmares. But guess what? As soon as I got back they returned. Oh for a life without dreaming.

I dreamt very little in Spain but 1 did come that I was expecting. Rare is the day that I dream of the girl I call Rachel in my books. She has been mentioned on here before. I had a very specific reason for going to Granada in particular and that was that it was in that city in 1990 that I met Rachel. It was 4 months before the earthquake that engulfed my life. An earthquake instigated by Rachel. Late on in "Charon's Ferry" I state that I would return to Granada 1 day and now it is gone.

I have spent 23 years hunting my ghosts. I can never really catch them but with each challenge I take the impact of my past diminishes. Many people talk of time healing. I don't think it heals but it does change us. What was important back then is less now. What seemed irrelevant then may be really relevant. Time marches on for all of us and I have now seen the birthplace of my madness.

Without that madness there would be no job, no blog, and no books. Perhaps my life would have been more dull had the path been different. It was the actions of others that propelled me down this route. Eventually I found a way through and my students will say they are grateful for that.

In a week I will be back in the melee. Already the diary is filling up but I will worry about that then. For now I will cook, read, watch, and sleep. This afternoon's attempted masterpiece is Dong Po pork. Think I have messed it up already but there we go, sometimes it does go wrong.

I Heard a Voice.