Today is Friday and it has been a busy day for me trying to do some gardening, but at my age everything is more difficult, and this chore takes a long time before it is done properly; I say it is a chore but I do not consider it as such because I love gardening; I always wanted a proper garden and now that I have retired I enjoy being outdoors and seeing the product of my handy work. It is lunchtime and as I started to eat a sandwich I remembered that letter I received this morning and I proceeded to open it.  I started reading the letter and I could not believe what I was reading, my hand started shaking and the memories started to flow. Achill Island of course was one of the places I used to travel to, I can say I have travelled around the world but I am surprised that I still can remember beautiful and tranquil places like Achill; it seems like yesterday.  I must say I used to enjoy my job, even though I was travelling most of the time on trains, buses and aeroplanes, but I did not mind because I had the opportunity to meet people.  Well, that is how I met my dear wife, at the end of the journey we were holding hands; that was love at first sight; but I am not going to think about her, because I was hurt to see her go, yes she died not too long ago.  I always promised myself not to think about sad moments especially now that I live alone.  Where was I?  Oh yes, the thing I used to hate was packing my bags, it was boring choosing smart clothes for every occasion; I had to have a suit for my job which I had to have more than one for the presentations, very expensive indeed but I was earning good money then; another suit was for those special dinners with some of the business people; we had to keep a good relationship between our agency and the owners tourist accommodation where we used to do the tours, I knew the words by heart, and I tried to add a bit of humour to keep the visitors amused. 

This letter is making me think about the time I was teaching at college,  I was teaching Tourism before I decided to become a Tourist Guide.  I really enjoyed those days, I gained a lot of experience there because that was my first job after I graduated.  I found that the students were very pleasant despite being so young, especially one international student, I keep thinking about his name but I can not remember it, this memory of mine!  He was always asking me questions, how can I forget him; I heard that he decided to be a schoolteacher in Germany.

I wonder what the time is.  I have been sitting here for a while and I have not finished my sandwich, now I am very excited and anxious at the same time about the whole journey ahead of me,  I better think what I am going to take with me.

It is Monday and I have been unable to sleep for two consecutive nights. I was feeling like last Friday, anxious and excited at the same time, but this morning I do not feel like getting up. It seems cold outside and I usually do not get up early but I stay in bed and read the newspaper or watch the early news.  I wish I could do that instead, but I get the feeling that if I do not get up  I may be late to catch the train to go to London.  I feel these days I take a long time to do anything and I still have to make my bags; but where are they?  I have not travelled since I came back from Wales and that is about ten years ago; this making of my bags is bringing a lot of good and bad memories and I cannot help having tears in my eyes.

Time has passed and I am getting on the train and people keep pushing me trying to get a seat without noticing me, but I can see an empty seat near a big man in a red jumper; it is such a narrow space, but it is just right for me, I suppose, as I do not occupy a lot of space.  I look around me as everybody does and I can see this well dress man reading a magazine but sometimes he stops and looks at me and pretends he is still reading,  some how he is worried about a brief case that is next to him and I wonder what his profession is.  Oh no!  somebody is trying to sit next to this man and he is leaving his guitar on one of the seats.  He had a newspaper but he was not reading it, he was humming a song, a song I could not recognise; everybody stared at him, but he looked like he had a good reason to continue with his humming, how I wanted to tell him to be quite but I did not dare in front of everybody; what made this young man to stop was the well dress man's angry look sitting next to him; I felt sorry for this young man and in order to cut the bad atmosphere I started to ask him some questions about music and the relationship with his guitar; he kindly told me he was planning to meet a friend of his, who had A DRUM and this opportunity could open the door for a better future.  I decided to stop asking him more questions and I smiled at him in approval of his words.

On my left there is a young couple indifferent to what is going on around them and again I cannot help the memories coming back; I have promised not to upset myself but I loved my wife, a love I have never felt before; she was everything to me and she was so attractive; we had so much in common, when we met we could not stop talking and that was when I was going to Scotland to work and she was going to visit her parents since she was living in London. The train stopped and it made me come to face with reality.  I noticed an envelope on the floor, and I wonder why nobody noticed it.  I picked it up easily since it was near my feet; I looked at it and on the envelope the Achill word was written, I do not know why I said it aloud , so everybody looked at me, I was so embarrassed but I tried to ignore them by closing my eyes to avoid any confrontation.  With my eyes closed I kept thinking that I could find out later on who this letter belongs to, apparently the person is going to the same destination and that is quite interesting.

3rd Episode: Waterloo to Brussels

The train stopped at Waterloo and it was time to get off the train, but my legs were shaking, I do not know why, perhaps I was nervous after reading the letter I found on the floor. What was his name? Never mind! it will be very interesting to meet him after all. The train was very crowded as usual, and while I was reaching the door I heard somebody asking me if I needed any assistance. Here they were, (marina'a)the young couple that I remembered very much in love. We got off the train after I managed to move my legs slowly. I asked them where they were coming from, and they told me from Brighton; they seemed a very king couple and I invited them for a coffee. She had a sweet smile and wavy hair flowing on her shoulders and he kept looking at her with loving eyes. We drank our coffee very quickly and we had to start moving again. We were walking together, but I wonder where this couple was going. It did not take me long to work it out, we were getting the Eurostar to Brussels. This time I became suspicious. I could not believe I was seeing the guitar in the green case, the strange man and now the couple; I mean Vasilis and Marina; I am surprised I remembered their names. I wonder if the man who lost the letter is also here. I must find out what is going on. But I did not find out anything because they seemed HARMLESS after all. As soon as I sat in the chair I felt in a deep sleep.

4th Episode: Brussels to Dublin

Later on I found myself at the airport and very much involved in two passengers specially the LAST PASSENGER. The counter assistant happened to say his name aloud.It was Ian; I could not remembered where I heard that name, but it seemed very familiar to me. Of course! the man that dropped the letter on the train in Victoria Station. To his surprise I handed the letter to him. He was really very happy that I found his letter that he invited me for a drink in the Grand Place in Brussels. We had something in common and soon we were talking about the journey to Achill and Brian O'Donnell.

We boarded the aeroplane and we were soon sitting on our chairs, but unfortunately the guitar in the green case was in my way. I did not understand why somebody had to leave a guitar on the chair next to me instead of being with the rest of the luggage, but anyway, it did not help to complain, I had to put up with it for the rest of the journey.

By this time I was getting thirsty I wanted a cup of tea but I was discouraged by some passengers, they were complaining about the fact that coffee was being served with salt instead of sugar and more than one person was disgusted about the incident. I am so glad that I do not take any sugar with my tea or coffee.

5th Episode: Dublin to Wesport

"How beautiful Dublin was!"
"Especially the lovely TEMPLE BAR full of young people laughing and enjoying themselves from one bar to the other." "How I remembered my good days when I used to go out for a drink,." Really it was not only one pub, my friends and I used to move from one pub to the other and finished in a sad situation, but now I prefer not to have any alcohol because I feel too fragile afterwards. The night was falling and I decided to have a light meal, and guess who I saw again? It was Ian and he was talking to the waiter in a friendly way; the waiter had a particular look, with dark hair and a Spanish air in the way he behaved. I was feeling a little bit lonely and I wanted to join them but I had the feeling it was not correct. I decided to have a quite meal and to go to my hotel room to have an early night to feel fresh in the morning to go to Wesport station the following day.

The sun was shinning and a bright ray was filtering through the curtains, and a lot of noise was heard from the street. I looked through the window and a big party of people was getting ready to travel. I did not recognise anybody else except Ian and the waiter who was shaking hands with Ian. I realised then that everyone was going to Wesport.