A bus to Brussels | “I’ve got to break free from it all” | Seat 1A

May 11 2024 | Maastricht - Brussels - Maastricht

Today I meet my daughter Savannah in Brussels. She is flying in from South Africa, via Istanbul. I am on a bus, a Flixbus (€20 return), a 2 hour amble from Maastricht, seat 1A, top deck, an empty seat next to me. Best seat in the stadium. It is cold, minus 5 but clear blue skies.

I have a book (author Peter May “The Lewis Man”) set on the gorgeous Isle of Lewis off Scotland. I will be there, bikepacking, in September, our neighbor in Maastricht has invited me to stay with her parents who live on the attached Isle of Harris.

In my backpack is a thermos flask of hot brewed coffee, two apples and two oranges. It is early in the new year after all, the excess of Xmas still resides. I’m listening to the latest Rolling Stones album “Hackney Diamonds”.

“Dreamy Skies” is playing, a beautiful slow blues song (with harmonica). The chorus line “I’ve got to break free from it all, to a place where no one can call” hits the spot. I play it again.

I’m thinking of the Freedom Trail, where I’ll be for four or five months from Feb. So good, so damn good. A place where no one can call.