Bon Voyage Ben.

Last night I met up with my friend Ben. We first met at University where it was discovered we were never going to be the loud and raucous members of the group but had a similarly disgusting sense of humour. Ben taught me about Belle & Sebastian and Sufjan Stevens and I will forever be in his debt for that.

The reason Ben and I met up last night is he had a couple of hours to spare before he moved to Valencia. I tried to explain to him how cool this was, and how admirable it is from the other side of the looking glass where I am most definitely at. He explained once you get over the original shock of a new location you quickly settle into the same routine you would undertake anywhere. He just needs a bit of space, a coffee shop and a supermarket to function.
Ben turned up with just one bag, small enough to be considered hand luggage. That’s all he is taking. He performed a similar trick last year when we met at London Bridge days before he flew out to Granada.

Ben is lucky in that he can take the work he does; and thanklessly enjoys, anywhere with him. Technically I suppose a lot of people do that but we are worlds away from the hypothetical here.
He has promised to write more personal stuff this year and I’m looking forward to it. It’s rare to find someone with such drive to go where he wants to go and let everything else settle around him.

I just wanted to take a moment to wish him the best of luck with the move, and to tell him that he’s on my rolling list of personal heroes.

“Come out and see me” he said as we said goodbye at the train station.
It’s looking awfully tempting, it really is.