Earworms Part I

Its strange when a song gets stuck in your head. With this one I'm quite happy there's no lyrics as its makes it so much easier. I started learning salsa about 3 months ago and this is a tune played frequently - its called Via by Al Delory. Nice, smooth and a great piano led tune that just keeps going!

In Bruges

Out of all the places that I've been, I have to say I would always be happy to go to the Benelux - not that I've been to many of them but they are somewhere I could go back to time and time again. Out of them I have only visited Belgium, but there is something about the place that keeps attracting me back. Its fair to say I'm one for cafe culture, and from that its very easy just to sink into these places. I have this very European attitude whereby I can quite happily sit in a cafe all day providing the coffee is good and watch the world go by - the same thing just doesn't seem to work in Starbucks.

The first photo is from Bruges, its quite the famous photo but taken from a different angle, just round the corner missing the clock tower. Its a special photo for a lot of reasons, not just because I like it as a picture. I also have it as a painting produced by my father which sat by my desk at work for about two years giving me something wonderful to look at!



Moving slightly further, I've only ever spent a day in Ghent. It wasn't really long enough to get a good impression and I need to go back for a while just to soak into the place a little more. But whilst wandering through I noticed some quite astounding graffiti on the side of a shop it really did stop me in my tracks.

Not Perfect

Not Perfect by Tim Minchin

This is my Earth
And I live in it
It's one third dirt
And two thirds water
And it rotates and revolves through space
At rather an impressive pace
And never even messes up my hair
And here's the really weird thing
The force created by its spin
Is the force that stops the chaos flooding in

This is my Earth
And it's fine
It's where I spend the vast majority of my time
It's not perfect
But it's mine
It's not perfect

This is my country
And I live in it
It's pretty big
And nice to walk on And the bloke who runs my country
Has built a demagoguery
And taught us to be fearful and boring
And the weirdest thing is that he is
Conservative of politics
But really rather radical of eyebrow

This is my country
And it's fine
It's where I spend the vast majority of my time
It's not perfect
But it's mine
It's not perfect

This is my house
And I live in it
It's made of cracks
And photographs
We rent it off a guy who bought it from a guy
Who bought it from a guy
Whose granddad left it to him
And the weirdest thing is that this house
Has locks to keep the baddies out
But they're mostly used to lock ourselves in

This is my house
And it's fine
It's where I spend the vast majority of my time
It's not perfect
But it's mine
It's not perfect
But it's mine

This is my body
And I live in it
It's 31
And 6 months old
It's changed a lot since it was new
It's done stuff it wasn't built to do
I often try to fill it up with wine
And the weirdest thing about it is
I spend so much time hating it
But it never says a bad word about me

This is my body
And it's fine
It's where I spend the vast majority of my time
It's not perfect
But it's mine
It's not perfect

This is my brain
And I live in it
It's made of love
And bad song lyrics
It's tucked away behind my eyes
Where all my screwed up thoughts can hide
Cos God forbid I hurt somebody
And the weirdest thing about a mind
Is that every answer that you find
Is the basis of a brand new cliché

This is my brain
And it's fine
It's where I spend the vast majority of my time
It's not perfect
But it's mine
It's not perfect
I'm not quite sure I've worked out how to work it
It's not perfect
But it's mine

Rockin' the Suburbs

I was flipping through a set of photos recently, and came across this one. Its taken on Koh Panyee; the island is a little touristy but not nearly as much as it might. Of the many places we visited that day it left a big impact. Yes there is the tourist restaurant and bazaar. But it was something you could get past, and when you did you ended up in a small school - bunches of kids playing football, just a bit of daily life.

Plans

A slightly older photo today - from Cuba. Its the obvious image and one many people will have photographed. The Ministry of Communications in the Plaza de la Revolución, Havana. I took quite a few photos as the image was so famous - but I noticed a horse and trap coming down the road and it seemed such a strange image that I had to capture it.

Cuba was an incredibly fun place to visit (2004) - I loved the place so full of energy and its pure musician nirvana. Every bar you walk into has a double bass player, trumpeter, guitarist and timbal player who are phenomenal. I'd heard of the Buena Vista Social Club before I went to Cuba, I didn't believe the music would be so vibrant. It was!

All at Sea

Another picture from Thailand 2008... Taken on a day of Island Hopping - I think somewhere near Phi Phi. Just another calm quiet day with a good bunch of guys floating around some islands - bit of snorkeling, some great scenery. Calm and quiet.



The photo isn't quite level as I took it overhand from the boat we were on. Calm with islands jutting out of the sea and the boat quietly anchored. All this misses is the sounds of the island we were close to; a glorious tropical soundtrack.

Connections and Play Misty...

Two pictures today, as I couldn't separate them. About 18 months ago I hiked up Tholt-Y-Will whilst on holiday in the Isle of Man (a National Glen of the island), not as hard as it sounds! On the way up I spotted a lone sheep just standing uphill from me who posed for a quick picture seeming interested some fool would try hiking up the place...



Anyway I eventually reached the top (you arrive looking out at Snaefell just down from the junction onto the Mountain Road and TT Course). Happy I did, first time I've seen snow on Snaefell in April, the road quietly steaming and the clouds drifting across.