Once again, time seems to have slipped by quickly and easily since I wrote my last blog post. It really is very relaxing not to have to produce a blog on an almost daily basis, as I did for over two years. I haven’t been doing too much, simply writing as much as I can when Moe is off at work, and hanging out with her and the kids when they are all around at the weekends.
The book is going well, and I am about 90% complete on the first (very rough) draft. I hope to have the first draft completely finished by the end of this week, then the long process of editing and re-editing will begin.
We have had many visitors over the past few weeks, and since I have been here we have hosted thirteen different couchsurfers from four different countries – USA, Italy, France and Germany.
Over the weekend we had four people staying, as two groups both ended up here at the same time, so along with Moe and the kids, and Moe’s two neighbours we had ten of us for dinner.
It’s fun to meet with other travellers and hear their stories and experiences, and it’s nice to feel that I am giving back to the travelling community, after being a traveller for so long myself, and being so openly welcomed by others.
One of our visitors, Phil from Germany, was wondering why there wasn’t a local Whitehorse CS group, and why there were no local meetings of couchsurfers and their guests. In Rio, invited by my host Fabio, I attended one such gathering, and had a great evening, meeting many other travellers in the city to enjoy the Carnival.
So inspired by Phils questions and comments, I set up a Whitehorse Couchsurfing Group. I also arranged the first gathering, and on Friday 27th August made my way into town to see who else might show up. Already there were Phil and Sebastian, who had stayed with us the previous evening. Not far behind them were our other guests, Bob and Mary-Beth, on their way to Alaska to make a fresh start there.
Throughout the evening more and more people turned up, and by the end of the night we had a total we had fifteen people. A good result for the first meeting, I felt.
I am planning to try to arrange a regular gathering, on the last Friday of each month, the next one scheduled for Friday 24th September.
