All things come to an end

So here it is, the end of tent life for now. I've been graciously accommodated in Peter's garden for six months and once I finished my final exam at the end of May, I packed away. So the question I hear on your lips is, "Where are you living now?" The answer is - nowhere. I've been travelling intermittently in England and Western Europe and will continue to be without a fixed address until I move back to the US at the beginning of August. My travels have already taken me to a ten-day Vipassana meditation course in Belgium (which I would recommend to absolutely everyone) as well as Stonehenge for the summer solstice.

The past six months have been some of the best in my life. Far from being a lonely hermit at the bottom of the garden, my social life has flourished. The community of Peter's house and surrounding realms of excellence has been enriching to the soul. I was not to be the only squatter at Peter's; for a few months the lovely Amy (henceforth known as the Van Fairy) was camped out in a van at the front of the house and of course there are as always the weird and wonderful couch surfing clientele. I've been able to introduce so many people to the idea of freeganism and (I hope) make people consider where their money goes. In fact I have two friends who are now living in tents! Though my intention was not to convince people that tent living is superior to four walls, I must admit that the fact that people have followed in my footsteps a little bit swells my ego to dangerous volumes. Dumpster diving moved on to the institution of the Freegan Feast every couple of weeks at Peter's whereby I invited all manner of ruffians to the table to eat vegan dumpster food. This was facilitated by lifts to the trashy treasure troves of Nottingham and the cooperation and leadership of friends in food preparation. It has been wonderful to be able to feed the hoards for free. Thank you to all who came to help or eat.

Freegan Feast!

I feel accomplished. I set out to do what I planned and had a great time of it. Yes, the winter was hard and I really did think of giving up at some points (there was a possibility of a house in February), but ultimately I can't imagine having completed my master's degree in a different way. I was able to more actively undertake creative pursuits such as poetry writing and life drawing due to not being stuck in front of a television or laptop.

I must admit that after this point my freeganism may dwindle. Upon my return to Oklahoma I will undertake the daunting task of working for money and possibly buying food (depending on the fruitfulness of my dumpster exploration). I will also be living in a house! So goodbye my readers and thanks for stopping in. I may publish further things in other places but this is the last of Living with[in]tent!