Recap

Well, this past year (and a bit) has been quite the ride.
Let's start from the beginning...

The date was April 21st 2010, the outlook was bleak. A volcano in Iceland decided to erupt into full blown action. This would have normally been a rather interesting event for me however it played havoc with my planes to fly that day. My tickets had already been cancelled, my dreams of moving dashed and i woke up on that Tuesday morning with an aching inside, a feeling that I'm reminiscing just now.
I used most of the time that day to visit relatives before returning home to find a distraction from current events. This, of course, was difficult since the news was being broadcast over almost every type of media. However, there was to come a silver lining on the ash covered clouds.
Her name was - and I'm trying not to be the stereotypical homosexual - my mother.
She called me up at 4 in the afternoon, a hint of excitement in her voice, telling me that because of the ash cloud currently consuming northern Europe no planes were going. It was at this point i abruptly reminded her that this information was not new and (more to the point) not making me feel better. She proceeded to tell me that there were stranded Brits in Bergen, unable to fly back and thus the British government ask a ferry company to send a boat from Orkney to Bergen. Since i was living in Orkney at the time, this seemed like an opportunity that not only had to be jumped upon but darted, tied down and beaten into submission.
I called the ferry company at once, enthusiasm nearly overflowing. After much tooing and froing i managed to secure myself passage to Bergen. This was not going to be an easy journey, my fear of boats coupled with the 20 hour voyage was nearly enough for me to back out but i gathered myself, and my belongings, and prepared myself for the bumpy ride ahead.