I feel the tension just below my left shoulder blade first. Even before I get in the car, even before I leave the apartment and walk downstairs. Like someone has a hard, gnarled rope and has somehow tied it around me so the pressure is centred on that bit just below the shoulder blade. That is how I feel before I get into the car to drive through Vilnius. It takes every bit of concentration to get through the streets and avoid other drivers who have little concep...

Monday 17th September We all had a decent sleep in this morning- then woke up being Vanessa's birthday on both sides of the world. As Bruce Cockburn once sang - Panger of Love. So wishing I could be there with her- or better still , she and Is and Lu and Sam could be here with me. So feeling like this it was a quiet Vilnius day. Some wandering around - a bit more souvenir shopping... Then I went to organize the big event for the evening. We had to catch a bus...

We awoke early and walked through a little fir forest to get to the lagoon. Then breakfast in the forest courtesy of Rita. We packed up and headed down to Nida. The southern most Lithuanian part of the Coronian Spit. Beyond that is Russian territory - a section of land that is geographically separate to the rest of Russia. Kalingrad is in that section. We walked up massive sand dunes that gave us a view if the lagoon on one side, the Baltic Sea on the other, and...

Saturday 15th September The drive from Kriukai to the Corronian Spit. So we get up early to discover Rita had arrived in the night. We also discover that Mindaugas is not coming on the trip but Kazimiras, his father will be driving Rita and Mum while we would travel behind. ( reassurance for dad following- he was on strict instructions to not drive over 100 as we were following - and he stuck to that). We drove to Siauliai - to the hill of crosses. An amazing ...

Friday 14th Sept. Got up nice and early and headed into the shower. Inside this old house they have this bizarre cylindrical cubicle. It is a complete unit, not built in that gets plugged in to a power point to get started. There is a circle of bright blue LED lights in the centre of it. It looks like a prop from Star Trek has been beamed down into the bathroom. Then I turned on the hot tap. The rankest foulest smell came out with the water. Rotten Eggs reached ...