Day 23: Karma Police

If you read my post from yesterday you will know that I slept in a tower perched high about Bristol. What I didn’t tell you about was some of the serendipity / luck that followed me. Desperate for a hamburger (and being a person that only eats grass fed beef) I left my tower in search of food. As luck would have it the first restaurant I came across not only served Grass Fed beef burgers but they were also locally sourced and the chef could tell me the name of the farmer — in my world that is pretty much a perfect meal.

I got chatting to the barman, and actually offered him my spare ticket to Dismaland (which he was disappointed he couldn’t take) and told him about my experiment. He decided to put Radiohead on and played me Karma Police — maybe not quite the right message in the song but it’s the thought that counts.

Today after meetings I headed to Dismaland still with a spare ticket burning a hole in my pocket. On arrival the lines were pretty confusing. One line for online tickets one HUGE line for all the people who had waited for hours on the chance that they could be let in. As I asked some people which line I needed and I also asked if anyone was alone, and wanted to come with me — and Ligia jumped at the chance.

So I got to spend a wonderful 3 hours with a new friend enjoying Banksy’s bemusement park, and even scored a lift back to Bristol. Ligia had been waiting in the line since 10am so a good 5 hours when I rescued her and was a fun, and grateful companion. She offered to pay me for the ticket and I told her not to worry (it was £5), but she insisted, and told me I was mad to not try and sell it for more, but it seemed against everything that Banksy was trying to do. After all he could have set the price at £100 pounds and people would have still flocked to Weston Super-mare so it seemed against his very principles to take advantage. That said the hoodies for sale were £40 each!

Ligia told me that I should expect something wonderful to happen thanks to my good deed, and it made me reflect on that. I started to dream about what that could be — maybe the perfect job to land in my lap, or the opportunity of a lifetime to travel and talk about what I am passionate about, work on exciting projects that change the world, a place to live that I love, there are so many things.

But then I stopped. To wish for these things based on a kind act seems silly because really I have been rewarded, already. I am travelling the world talking about what I love — and you are reading it. I have wonderful opportunities ahead of me, sure none have landed yet, but then I am not really ready for them and all of the places I have stayed have been great in their own way. And most of all I cannot dare look over the fact that for the last 23 days I have had friends from all over the world support me, donate to my crazy mission, and make me feel like one of the ‘lucky’ people.

Epicurus said that we need only three things in life — Friends, Freedom and Thought. At the moment I feel rich in all three — so maybe I am already experiencing my good karma.