KawaiiPunk @kawaiipunk@sunbeam.city

We finally worked out why Dutch bikes do the backwards pedalling brake thing! My theory is it’s so that you can smoke a spliff in one hand and drink a beer in the other whilst cycling and still maintain full braking abilities. Really smart once you think about it. Risk management.

Hacking the planet continues, as does the Surinamese food and the beers. We seem to always be gravitating towards WORM of an evening. Went for a brilliant cycle through industrial Rotterdam. Atmosphere abounds. Went to a few dive bars. Generally just an excellent time with people I love dearly.

I suspect that the peeps in my co-op that were able to make this trip will come away with a new appreciation for the common bonds that hold us together and also a clearer understanding of the challenges we face.

With generally really sunny weather, we had blissed out after four or five days of being together and sleeping in the hostel. I needed some time alone to think. I wanted to be in motion.

I got in touch with H, my friend and fellow co-op founder who was my next stop in Duisberg and asked if I could arrive a day earlier in Duisberg. H, being one of the nicest people in the world tried to make it work but it really wasn’t practical. So, I decided to message C, who lives in Hamburg and see if there was any chance of a wild last minute trip to see him. He was down! I collected my washing and rushed off to Rotterdam Centraal to get on my way.

The sense of jubilation when getting through the ticket barriers with my Interrail ticket was really something. Everything went smoothly until my train to Duisburg was delayed and I missed my connection. Sometime I wonder whether DB stands for “Don’t Believe the hype” because there seems to be a problem every time I take a big complicated multi-leg journey with them.

I composed a short abstract poem about my experiences:

Oh bloody bollocks, I forgot to download GermanyI’m turning into that trainspotter Tik Tok twink

Train stations in Germany are really weird things. They all seem to have a model train set diorama of the station and surrounding area in them? Honestly I’m here for it. I also kind of love that they have really shitty malls in them. The UK has cottoned on to making station shops really bougie whereas in Duisburg there is a shop selling fake Nike’s and another selling models and tabletop miniatures.

Slightly disorientated, I managed to buy some extremely mediocre noodles with veggie chicken nuggets in them and a totally un-carbonated mate drink. I also possibly got ripped off and bought a EU USB plug for like 20 euros. Need to keep my wits about me.

Luckily for this longest leg of the journey (around 3 hours) I managed to get one of those booths that DB ICE trains seems to have. I could finally spread out all my possessions and setup a little office/dining space/nightclub in my booth and pretend to be on some sort of Soviet train like in my favourite James Bond film and games Goldeneye.

Here are some pictures of trains that I spotted:

Dutch intercity trainDutch high speed Thalys trainDutch local trainMy DJ booth

https://travel.kawaiipunk.xyz/pedalling-backwards/

is there #Hometown hosting?

how hard is it to switch from a mastodon instance to a hometown one from the admin standpoint?

I want someone with that lip gloss to kiss me.

We made it! Well barely. There’s something about a Megabus. My 30th party was a success. It was about 30 degrees inside Artefact, the worker co-op arts-space where I put on my party. This meant that people could only dance for 10-15 minutes before overheating and having to head out to the garden area. I don’t blame them! DJ Sexy Roy was magnificent as always. My USB sticks were a mess as always. We got invited back to put on a party on Saturdays, once a month.

The next day was a frantic start. I managed to give some solidarity down at two RMT picket lines on my way to my coach. First leg of my trip was flawless in air con luxury. Turns out C was getting the same coach as me after the Manchester stop. Got to chat and catch up as we hadn’t seen each other for a hot second.

The second leg was a sweat box. Air con wasn’t working on our section of the coach. Much grumbling and inter passenger solidarity, constructing fans out of anything we could find. Person next to me had moved from London to Hull for a quieter life and I can’t say I blame them.

Hull was lovely and sunny and the people liked my hat. There was a feminist punk busker and we found an amazing Italian cafe in a indoor market. We had pasta and drank Sardinian. When it comes to people shit talking cities, don’t believe the hype. Everywhere has stuff going on.

More trouble came at the port. We’re pretty allergic to borders. Turns out there’s no booze allowed on the ferry so they can sell you theirs. We were outside the ferry terminal drinking fizzy Cava and beer.

Turns out you’re also not allowed to bring weed onto the ferry. Such killjoys. Me and C barely talked our way out of arrest or fine with that one. All cops are bastards but some are less bastardly than others. We made it with hours to spare.

The ferry was a ex-Caribbean cruise ship and you could tell. It had multiple bars and a stage where a band played some rock standards and there was some attempts at musical theatre. We found the cyber zone but it was closed. The kids area played the same 10 minute episode of Tom and Jerry on loop. We ate more delicious Italian food from the cafe and decompressed after our brush with the law. The vibrations of the boat were strange. 10 seconds of calm then “bzzzzzzzzzzzzz” as the whole bed shakes. Very strange dreams that night.

After docking in Rotterdam, the coaches to the city centre were full. We hitch hiked with a nice couple who were on their way to helping their son move. D’s apartment is incredible. Plants and radical literature everywhere. Total life goals!

Our hostel is also lovely. There’s loads of free clothes and coffee. We got kitted out. D also helped us get cheap municipal Dutch bikes where you have to break by pedalling backwards. I got to live out a life’s dream and message our Signal group saying “Centraal station. 10 minutes. Hack the planet. I keep cycling into oncoming lanes, too used to being on the left. We cycled around outside the beautiful Rotterdam Centraal station learning how to not crash into things.

I’ve always loved Rotterdam and this visit has been no exception. There’s an amazing tech art scene. We saw a great degree show at WORM. I feel like the techy art people are making here is much more advanced than in the UK and much better funded too. Remembering back to a previous visit where we wondered into an Architect’s office and asked why all the buildings were so amazing here. He replied “we dare to dream”. I think the UK has a lot to learn. If only we would stop trying to fuck our own flag all the time. We ate Surinamese food which is possibly the best cuisine in the world.

We cycled across the city. The cycle infrastructure here is insanely good. Why isn’t everywhere designing cities in this way? Cycling is brilliant because unless it is raining, you always arrive at places feeling better than when you set off.

We did some co-working at a cool house owned by Anarchist artists, listened to records and ate Pizza. T showed us his routine for breaks. 6 minutes meditation, 6 minutes mending and 4 minutes stretching. We continued to hack the planet. It rained on the way back but that was ok because we took the cycle tunnel under the river. It had great acoustics.

https://travel.kawaiipunk.xyz/riding-the-boat-and-the-autonomic-rotterdam-swarm/