UNHOLY PILGRIMS
Tom Trumble
Sometimes
the slow road can be the fastest way to sort things out
'The
idea to walk 800 kilometres across northern Spain was not my own. My good friend
Dave had convinced me. This is a statement of fact rather than an attempt to apportion
blame. That said, he knew from the beginning that in spirit and physique I'm not
exactly what you'd describe as the 'pilgrim type'. As a man with a taste for tobacco
and saturated fats, I am not amenable to long walks. And yet I can't dismiss the
whole exercise as born of misplaced exuberance; it wasn't a commitment made in
a fit of drunken stupidity. This was a calculated, well-thought out decision that
began with a pledge.'
Relationship-challenged, with the résumé
of a vagrant, Tom Trumble is at one of life's crossroads. So he takes up an offer
to go on a seriously long walk - the ancient Christian pilgrimage of the Camino
de Santiago de Compostela, the domain of the devout.
Despite
his good intentions, Tom's route takes him into every bar along the way while
crossing paths with the loopy and the wise, the pious and the distinctly ungodly.
He finds himself contending with song-happy evangelists, unlikely scholars and
enlightened globetrotters, and randy backpackers out to bed every pilgrim they
meet.
Not to mention his own very restless demons, some of
which lead him to confront troubles he thought he'd left at home. 'Unholy Pilgrims'
is an irreverent and engaging take on figuring out what the hell to do with your
life.
Tom Trumble has lived his whole life in Melbourne, and
has made a range of poor career choices involving hospitality, journalism, policy
development, data entry, envelope stuffing and book retailing. He has studied
music and journalism. He is looking for a real job.
'Unholy
Pilgrims' is available now.
