Thursday 7th October 2010 - The Parable of the Raft

The 7th October 2010 turned out to be a pivotal day for Dave & Kate.  Only 4 days in and as they found themselves about to check-out of Citadines, they only had two real options for apartments.  One was down the road, on La Ramblas, a small basic studio flat with no internet acess.  The other was in the Eixample district, which they weren't familiar with but was a little bigger and did have internet access.
As Kate was on the phone to the woman who owned the latter apartment, there was a recognition this was the right one.  It could be heard in Kate's voice during the phone conversation.  They both agreed it had to be this apartment, even if it cost a little more.  The woman's name was Susanna, a Spaniard, who was currently working in Oman (an omen perhaps?).

So they attempted to secure the apartment by emailing Susanna just before they were due to check-out of Citadines when they were hit with internet trouble and couldn't connect.  After check-out they took advantage of the free wi-fi in the lobby to attempt to sort things out but still no luck.

The Raft

They made their way towards Susanna's apartment anyway and Kate tried to reach her on the phone.  Susanna was surprised to find they were just streets away from her apartment when they finally confirmed things and she arranged a cleaner to come and gave them a check-in time.  The only money she wanted in advance was for them to pay the cleaner 30 Euros.  It was the day before they left 3 weeks later before she took any rent from them and she had none of their details other than Kate's first name. 

As they had all their bags with them and nowhere to drop them off, they sat for a few hours on a park bench nearby.  They had been there for over an hour, relaxed in the afternoon sun, when a young man approached them on his bike.  In need of directions and apparently in need of a raft more than them, he didn't bother introducing his friend who was behind them.  In one swift moment they were now without their laptop, U.G. Krishnamurti and a bottle of olive oil. 

The Park Bench

A young woman had also approached them not long before that for directions as they sat in a cafe with their bags around them.  She left with a smile but took nothing.

What is that famous parable of The Buddha, The Parable of the Raft...

The Buddha then asks the listeners a question: “What would you think if the man, having crossed over the river, then said to himself, ‘Oh, this raft has served me so well, I should strap it on to my back and carry it over land now?’”



The monks replied that it would not be very sensible to cling to the raft in such a way.


The Buddha continues: “What if he lay the raft down gratefully, thinking that this raft has served him well, but is no longer of use and can thus be laid down upon the shore?”


The monks replied that this would be the proper attitude.


The Buddha concluded by saying, “So it is with my teachings, which are like a raft, and are for crossing over with — not for seizing hold of.”

The Empire Strikes Back

They hadn't been there a day before dark forces started to disrupt their plans.  The money goblins and their over-zealous security halted access to their bank accounts and so Dave & Kate's money was so secure even they couldn't get to it.

Back in Edinburgh the idea was to book an apartment for a month in Barcelona but the right one never showed up.  At the very last minute, on the day they left, they booked a hotel for the first night and would attempt to book further accomodation once they got to Barcelona.  Internet banking security soon put a halt to that.

So after checking out of their hotel the next morning, with nowhere to stay and backpacks strapped to their backs weighing close to 15kg each, not to mention their widescreen laptop raft, they wandered for a bit in the Spanish sun looking for somewhere with free wi-fi access.  They were standing outside Starbucks on La Ramblas, reluctant to give in and go there, when Dave realised he was staring straight across the road at the Citadines apart-hotel sign...  "How about we go there?"

It wasn't the cheapest option but looking like a couple of tired turtles and with limited means of getting to their money, it seemed the only option.  They checked in for 2 nights and laughed at the amazing views of Barcelona from their room - two people who aren't really interested in grand views. 

The stay gave them a perfect place to get back on their feet with free internet access so they could look up apartments and facilities for them to eat in and save money. 

 

Kate felt so at home that she got a job at Citadines...

All of this wasn't exactly what they had in mind when they landed in Barcelona.

EXODUS: Movement of JAH People!

On Mon 4th Oct, Dave and Kate handed over almost all they had - house, job, possessions, personal security - to life, said goodbye to those around them and with only enough money in the bank to last them a month, fell further into the Rabbit Hole. 

All they knew was that they MUST go to Europe.  They didn't know why, for how long, where exactly, nothing... only that an urging was calling them to continental Europe.

Using Kate's HP Intel Dual Processor Widescreen raft to cross the North Sea, they landed on the shores of Barcelona that same night.  They were welcomed by a grumpy bus driver and a smart-arse Russian at the hotel reception.

Barcelona was the chosen destination (or did it choose them?) after Barcelona football strips frequently showed up around Edinburgh in the weeks leading up to their departure and references to the city seemed to appear on tv at timely moments.  One day in Edinburgh Dave found himself roped into the first game of football he'd played in about 10 years with some Spanish students.

As they sat eating tuna paninis in a fast food place that night in a foreign land, the song on the radio sang out:

"Here I am, this is me, there's nowhere else on earth I'd rather be
 Here I am, it's just me and you, tonight we make our dreams come true
 It's a new world, it's a new start
 It's alive with the beating of young hearts
 It's a new day, it's a new plan, I've been waiting for you
 Here I am..."

Before Boarding

The story of how Dave & Kate came to board the Zion Europa Express stretches back to late 2006.  Back then they were living a life much like anyone else.  Then again, maybe not. 

Dave was out of work and devoted to music, somehow trying to make a living out of it.  Kate was in work, doing an admin job she didn't hate but wasn't fulfilling either.  The underlying feeling was "there must be more to life than this".  They had gradually found themselves withdrawing from the world... losing contact with friends, not interested in going to the pub every weekend as their peers did, questioning all of the usual stuff people do, and instead found themselves searching for something else.  The trouble was they didn't know what they were looking for.  They never chose to be like this, to feel this way, to search for anything, it just seemed to happen by itself.

During the winter of 2006 the 'search' brought them to a variety of spiritual sources which had the effect of shattering their world view.  The world as they knew it up until that point had collapsed and what was left they didn't really know.  The attention turned inwards and from seeing that the world around them was not what they had believed it to be, they began questioning their own identity.

The person creates the world as he/she sees it and the world creates that person.  Which is first?

On this realisation all hell broke loose!  The year of 2007 was a year of endings and a new beginning.  Dave's mother died suddenly and completely unexpectedly in March, aged 47, which in turn caused a chain reaction of events... too many to mention but in November Dave & Kate were forced to move from the flat they'd been in for 4 years and this seemed to mark the beginning of a period of calm after the storm.

Kate continued to work as she had while Dave found himself going deeper and deeper into himself.  Everything dropped away, including the desire to make music, and for the next 2 or 3 years it remained this way.

In July 2009 they moved flat again and this now seemed to mark a new phase.  Pretty soon after moving in Music started to announce itself in their lives again.  Europe was also now on the horizon.  They had no explanation but they couldn't see themselves remaining in Edinburgh once they left this flat.  Italy felt like it might be a possibility.

Still they carried on as normal until in the spring of 2010 Kate started to feel increasingly trapped and frustrated in her work.  One day in the kitchen expressing this, the words came out of Dave's mouth very casually - "why don't you just leave then?".  A few months later and that's exactly what happened.

Europe was calling them and they knew this was the time.  They had somehow known this was coming for a long time.  There had always been something about Europe and particularly since a trip they had made there back in 2002.

This time was very different...

Welcome Onboard The EUROPA Zion Express!

On Sunday 3rd October 2010, Dave and Kate took a walk around Edinburgh for the last time with Brother Mark.  The journey felt strangely like a trip in a time machine that stretched back 10 years or more.  At the end of the day a rainbow appeared in the sky.