Excerpt: A Study of Mind and Awareness Through Travel

‘Ah. Off on a Cadet expedition, is it? Aye, I can see you need a good cut. Who did this last, a blind gardener with hedge shears?’
I blamed it on an over-enthusiastic young female cousin, and comfortable in the gentle superiority of men over young females, he washed and cut my hair, a steady flow of talk about football cushioning the air. It didn’t take long or cost much, but I felt a hell of a lot better when he was finished.
‘There you go, lad, you’re proper Army now.’ I nodded, tipped him a few pounds over the charge, and got on my way - having first made sure to ask about buses to Buxton, where I said I was meeting the rest of the squad. It took a few minutes to extricate myself from his direction-giving, but eventually I caught the bus he indicated, then got off a few stops later, and retraced my steps along other roads, but always heading south, up into the hills.