I went away for two weeks - and didn’t come home for a year
Bryan left his unhappy home life behind for adventures around the world that have inspired new novel
AROUND 10 years ago, Bryan Blears walked out on his life.
A failed relationship and depression had culminated in him dropping out of his law degree at Manchester University.
He decided to pack it all in and embark on a new adventure - travelling to Europe and western Asia.
As he left his Salford home, he told his family he was going on holiday for two weeks.
But he didn’t return for a year. His journey, in which he slept rough and lived on less than a pound a day, was like a ‘reawakening.’
A decade on, Bryan has revealed the fascinating journey that shaped him and inspired him to write a semi-autobiographical novel.
Bryan, nephew of former Salford MP and Cabinet Minister Hazel Blears, was studying for a law degree at Manchester University.
But after 12 months he dropped out of the course, as a failed relationship, depression, and a broken home took its toll.
He was living with his dad in a council house in Captain Fold Road in Little Hulton, Salford.
His parents had split up when he was 16.
One morning, he left home, telling his family he was going on holiday for “two weeks”.
In truth he just wanted to escape to a world of mountains and forests.
He set his sights on a journey to Europe and then the Syrian border.
He had just two changes of clothes and £100, and told no-one except his dad. He did not return for a year.
His family alerted police as soon as his “two weeks” holiday ended and he did not appear.
“It must have been a bit of a shock for the family, but it was something I had to do for my own sake and so I didn’t really worry about the consequences until I got back to the UK.”
Explaining his decision to leave, he said: “A part of me was suicidal.
“I was feeling a lack of hope after dropping out of university, and didn’t see anything positive in my future. I was fed up of right-wing newspapers, football hooligans, celebrity culture, smashed up bus stops, drug dealers.
“It was a feeling of dejectedness and wanting to escape.”
Bryan was 20 and his friend 18 when they set off on their year away - first flying to Budapest.
During an epic odyssey they slept rough, survived on less than a pound a day; were almost robbed, were spooked by a pack of wolves and traversed ten countries.
“I left home in January 2010 with my friend and we flew as far as we could which was a flight to Budapest.
“I think we must have had something around a hundred quid each.
“I took a few pairs of clothes, some warm stuff, hat, gloves, a good coat, and a sleeping bag - we bought a tent later.
“We went as far as the Kurdish region of Turkey and the Syrian border through the Balkans - Serbia, Bosnia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania - and spent some time in Italy, France, Spain and Morocco.
“We mainly hitchhiked around and sometimes lived off less than a pound a day.
“Sometimes kind strangers gave us food and other times we did what we could.
“The scrapes we had were mainly with dodgy people late at night.
“We did have a run in with wolves when we camped on the wrong side of a river in Bulgaria, another time we were almost robbed by some teenagers who lost their bottle when we spoke to them; and a few military checkpoints in the Turkish conflict areas, and some tense border crossings.”
The journey has provided the seeds for his debut novel which, a decade later he has now written.
He insists the work “is not a memoir” but admits the experiences of the main character, a Manchester homeless lad called Cameron, match some of his own.
The title of his novel is These Walls Were Never Really There inspired by a song by The Streets.
He said: “The actual line, “all these walls were never really there”, for me is really poignant because it’s about the barriers we put up through depression, when you don’t believe you can have a positive future.
“It took some quite traumatic changes in my life to break free of that and believe in myself and be optimistic for the future.
Bryan, who is now an accountant for an Acute NHS Trust, has a literary agent pitching his manuscript to major publishers.
Clare Coombes said: “The story behind These Walls Are Never Really There and Bryan’s journey is inspirational to anyone wanting to write, or who feels hopeless in their current situation.”
I was fed up of rightwing newspapers, hooligans, celebrity culture and drug dealers
Bryan Blears
EPIDEMIOLOGIST Thomas House is adamant – the coronavirus pandemic could not have been stopped.
The University of Manchester disease expert said : “I don’t think it’s helpful for people to think we could have avoided the pandemic. The pandemic is a bad thing like a tsunami or an earthquake.
“It’s something we can’t control. It’s more like a natural disaster than a recession, where it’s a feature of human society.”
While he believes that there are areas where the Government could focus their attention to help navigate our way out of lockdown and improve the long-term picture of health for the country, he added: “We need to be realistic about how to get back to normal.
“People might need to be helped to think about this in the right way. It was never going to be the end of the world. You can have earthquakes, they cause damage, but you can get over them.
“People need to feel proud of what they have done to help fight this terrible thing and realise it’s not forever.
“Not everyone can follow all the guidance - some people can’t wear a mask for good reason. It’s just about people doing as many of those things they can without taking it too far to help us generate enough head room to relax the measures that are really getting people fed up.
“Some people are saying we can’t get back to normal - others are saying we can do it tomorrow. I think people need to know there’s an end in sight but just let’s not mess it up. Everyone is so fed up. But there’s a vaccine and a route back to normal.”
Dr House, a member of a national committee which specialises in mathematical modelling, would like to see greater focus in a number of areas.
He thinks more should be done to support people to isolate when necessary.
As of earlier this month, 22,598 applications for support under the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme had been received by Greater Manchester’s 10 councils. In total 13,390 - or 59pc - of those applications had been rejected. Reasons for refusal varied and included no loss of income for selfemployed people who were already receiving maximum Universal Credit and applications from those living outside the area.
This failure to guarantee wages or offer support means those on the lowest incomes may not be able to afford to follow the rules when it comes to Covid19.
Dr House said this problem was ‘making a mockery’ of all efforts to control the virus. He added: “Lots of people are still being told to go to work when they are coughing. It destroys the whole point of lockdown.
“The reason we have lockdown is that some people could have the virus and transmit it without knowing. If everyone infectious had symptoms we could just focus on isolating those people.
He also believes the Test and Trace programme could be better.
Throughout the pandemic, millions of pounds have been ploughed into the private sector to tackle various aspects of Covid-19.
For example, one of Serco’s contracts with the Department of Health and Social care is understood to be worth up to £410m.
Meanwhile, some executives from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) which helped the government set up and run its testing system were being paid day rates of around £7,000 - equivalent to an annual salary of around £1.5m.
Dr House said: “The next biggest fix I’d do is give all the money that’s going into this directly to Public Health England.
“They are much maligned but I think they have done very well.
“I would have put more of the Test and Trace in the hands of people who routinely do public health work.”
Dr House believes the pandemic has proven once and for all that more money needs to be ploughed into the NHS to ensure its future.
He said: “The NHS is very efficient and that’s because it’s always
workng close to 100 per cent capacity, even when we’re not in a pandemic. But that’s not a terribly good idea in an emergency so building extra capacity into the NHS is really important.”
Dr House would also like to see more investment and campaigning in areas that could improve health and wellbeing more generally.
In Greater Manchester, there are already a number of initiatives around cycling infrastructure and projects to tackle air pollution.
But Dr House believes more can be done, adding: “There are lots of things the Government could do at lower costs.
“These include initiatives to tackle obesity, improving cycle infrastructure to avoid overcrowding on public transport - and better public transport to limit crowding.”
People need to feel proud of what they have done to help fight this terrible thing Thomas House