After 17 years living in London, Mrs Away From The Noise and I decided to move to Granada in Spain in January 2014. Already 11 years ago…
Since then the term ‘digital nomad’ has become ubiquitous but I am not that. Not just because I am now in my 50s – I know there are ‘more mature’ digital nomads around – but because I identify with a different kind of life now.
Although I have had a life living in different European countries with who knows how many addresses, I no longer feel like a nomad. If the term had existed previously, maybe I would have.
But now and for the first time in my life, I am happy committing to staying in one place. And that place seems to be Granada.
I work from home running a CV writing business, have a space I like to call my studio where I make music, now enjoy writing on Substack and here on the Away From The Noise website, and also try to pop out for coffee or tapas from time to time.
We live in the countryside only about 20 minutes from town, so in order to not go stir crazy being at home all day, I try to get into Granada city at least twice a week for a hit of ‘urban-ness’.
And one of my favourite things to do, now and since forever, is to just wander about listening to music on my headphones bumping into things I like on the way.
Inevitably, since I discovered espresso during a semester as a language student in the glorious Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy in the 90s, this has involved some kind of caffeinated interlude.
I came across the term ‘purposeless walking’ in 2014 and remember it striking a chord with me then and it still does now.
I never owned a car when I lived in London because it was expensive, difficult to park and unnecessary given the public transport system and the fact that London is just so walkable. Granada is much smaller (pop 350K-ish) and even more walkable. But I do now own a car to travel across Andalucia to see other places here including Seville, Jerez, Cadiz, Almeria and we even drove to Portugal for a trip last summer.
Posts for all these places and others coming soon by the way.
And even though I often have a destination in mind, much of my favourite downtime here is still spent purposelessly walking from here and there to wherever.
This morning, I went into town, met a friend for coffee, had a purposeless wander and then stopped off for coffee and some time to read, write and just be for a while. I always feel better. I don’t know why this works for me but it always has.
Some people insist on doing such things in silence, but anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not a fan of silence. I always enjoy having some kind of sound in the background. Often it’s just Brian Eno-type instrumental ambience, a kind of beauty that you can ignore. But it could just as easily be Nirvana’s ‘In Utero’ if I’m feeling particularly anxious. Yes, I know that ages me but, hey, that’s how it is. I’ve always been proud of the music I like from Wham, The Cure and Duran Duran to Nirvana, Kendrick Lamar and Luther Vandross and more contemporary bands like Yard Act and English Teacher.
Anyway, I digress. This morning’s trip was like many others. Nothing special. Just a coffee, met a friend, had a walkabout and came home.
And maybe I don’t know why it works for me, but why do I need to know?
Either way, it seems to be my medicine or meditation. And other than a couple of coffees and baked goods (to which I’m a bit too addicted), it’s free. Bonus!
Do you enjoy purposeless walking? Or do you have an equivalent?
What’s your thing?
Away From The Noise 