Around the World in 1,095 Days
He was 7 months behind schedule and starting to get a bit frantic. He had travelled across 2 continents and lost the woman he loved to this obsession, he couldn’t afford to fail now. The rest of Europe beckoned. As soon as he conquered the south west of England he could move on but months of research had found nothing worthy of his collection. Losing hope, he kept finding himself in the ladies toilets of the Starbuck’s near his hotel. It had all begun in an identical toilet in his home town across the Atlantic. It was his bladder, he’d always had a weak bladder. Desperate after one too many chai tea lattes, he had headed for the nearest bathroom – which turned out to be the ladies. He realised his mistake as he relieved himself. There was a sign that read “please don’t put anything down the toilet”. As the smirk faded he continued to stare at the sign. It only took him a few seconds to make up his mind. He shook off, zipped up and got a chai tea to go. He knew what he had to do.
Compared to this little corner of Britain, the Americas had been easy. He had resulted to local knowledge on numerous occasions covering Ireland, Scotland and Wales but he’d never been this stuck before. The people of those Celtic lands had been fascinated by his tale. He always compared himself to storm-chasers but people would laugh and say “don’t you mean stamp collectors?”. He took it gracefully. It wasn’t the pursuit of local knowledge that found him staring into his fifth pint last Sunday. Sorrows needed to be drowned. The trips to his quest’s spiritual home weren’t working and the hours spent trawling the internet were fruitless. How could he have staked so much on this? He was on his way back from his tenth visit to the bathroom, calculating how much the last 3 years had cost him, when he overheard a conversation. Something about elephants, words and an image. He couldn’t make much sense of it. All he knew was that he had to get to his laptop, stat.
He wept with joy when he saw the image. He wanted to go back to the pub and thank the people he’d eavesdropped on but there was no time. He grabbed his cameras, stuffed his things into his battered rucksack and headed for the hire car. He didn’t care that his bladder was full again and that he was probably over the limit. The despair was gone and the old excitement was back. He gunned along the A31 like a maniac, only stopping to take a snap of the sign for Three Legged Cross. He reached the coastal town of Lyme Regis just before dark. He parked the car haphazardly and ran towards the sea. He’d gone through about 9 tourists before he finally found a local that could direct him to the Cobb. The sign was hung outside an aquarium that overlooked the harbour. He savoured it before taking the photo. He had 2 categories; amusing and unusual.
And this was definitely his most unusual to date.
