Black Dog

Many places have a story of a ghoulish, ghostly black dog that haunts the buildings. On the Isle of Man it is the Moddey Dhoo, and his place of residence is Peel Castle. Like a madman I climbed the adjacent hill to take this picture, which shows the ruins of the cathedral inside the grounds. Pretty much bent double into the wind which I would describe as battering ram strength. The state of the seas in the background give some indication, but I think that the stillness of the building clashes nicely with the ferocity of the waves!

Clover Over Dover

In a strange way I've never posted any pictures from the mainland UK, I realised that I don't actually have too many photos of the homeland. So I thought I'd post one of the more famous pictures. This picture is from the Dover-Calais ferry, I was on my way to Belgium at the time. It struck me as we sailed past just how beautiful they were - also on this occasion so close to the Remembrance Services the view they gave to troops crossing the channel and for the aircrew crossing them. Every time I take that ferry I always take time to stop, think and give thanks.

Earworms Part II

I couldn't get very far into this little idea without mentioning this track. Its one that I've listened to over and over - especially travelling as the whole album has such a chilled out vibe - plus Trevor Lawrence's sax playing sounds so good! anyway the track is T Plays It Cool from the Trouble Man soundtrack by Marvin Gaye. I'll be the first to admit that I've never seen the film, and that I only heard the track through a mix CD in the Another Late Night series by Fila Brazilia (Some details... although the allmusic review makes very interesting reading!)

Ah Mr Bond we've been expecting you...

Once again back to Thailand. The thin island is called Ko Tapu - locally its known as James Bond Island as it was featured in the Man with the Golden Gun. Bond duels with Scaramanga on the beach in front of the island just to the right of the shot. Unfortunately its full of small shops peddling very touristy merchandise. Its real shame. The soundtrack to this photo sounds just as it should in a tropical jungle - the classic soundtrack!

Why I Write...

I've tried a few times to write something down as to why this blog came about - I've wanted to write this for a while as its really the culmination of a lot of earlier posts. Each time its been neatly saved in the drafts folder for future perusal.

So where does Past and Future Tense come from - well it is a reference to a good many things. I adore languages and I always remember the struggle of trying to come to terms with the different tenses. It seems so easy in English, but so hard to remember elsewhere...

Put simply its the finer things in life, the small things around me that I find fascinating. The small things that pass us by in life. I enjoy writing about them because it feels like you are in real contact with what is going on. I have to admit I adore the natural world.

When I started writing this blog I spent a couple of months unemployed having left a job I had only recently started. The situation with my relationship wasn't great, and came to a head very quickly; its no comfort to know that I messed up big time - and brought it on myself. Its one of those things, they go that way sometimes.

After righting myself I realised things had to change (Ben Folds and the week that was). Because things didn't feel quite right, you can keep plugging away but ending up in the same situation just didn't seem acceptable. Blatantly there's no big excuse for this, and as I've kept saying in the grand scheme of things in the world its no big thing, and believe me I know it isn't.

Writing gives me a bit of a release. It lets me put my thoughts down. I write instinctively - I'm a very poor editor. Its my way; I know what drives me, those little things. Unfortunately in taking the job that I did I lost a lot of the little things that kept me motivated. I've always said if I can do anything to prevent one person going down the route I've gone I'd do it.

But I'm not here to complain, because I know it doesn't help me. I've spent (too long) a time thinking about what went on. I have to admit I just wanted to find some way of solving things, but that wasn't the way it came across. Its that bit of real life thats important - the small things in life. Thats where the motto of needing to change things comes from. I suppose I kind of got mired in self-help, as I realised I had to do something. The crunch came when I read stuff that about happiness in yourself - maybe I misinterpreted it maybe the cases are hard to make out.

Unfortunately it isn't something that is a given right, or that will happen by magic (I spent years waiting for things to pick up - then got surprised when they didn't...). Its something you have to create (I figured I had to do something about it and challenge myself a bit more). I spent too long listening to various people extolling the virtues of why I should take a particular job. I forgot one thing, myself - I let myself get persuaded by too many factors that weren't true to me (if you're wondering money, power, perks and expectations as well just any old way to avoid the credit crunch). That wasn't the main thing though the prospect of spending 8 hours a day alone in an office, another 3 commuting by car then a quick supper and bed for the rest of my life without personal contact was the thing that made me snap - plus I didn't really care about the work that I was doing. For me the prospect of that life, that job hit me hard; but I let it impact all areas of my life and I shouldn't have.

Its a hard admission to make but at a colleagues (bosses boss) leaving do in my previous time there (8 years ago or so) I got told to my face in front of a number of people to go out, get a life and get laid or failing that just go get a prostitute. At the time I was shy and scared boy who didn't say anything and walked out. I wonder what my response would have been now sometimes - I suspect it may well have resulted in dismissal for a wide range of offenses. However, the guy was probably right in the get a life stakes - I did and it improved things no end. Unfortunately going back brought back the bad reminders...

Not just that, but as something I've hinted at before (Looking Around) I feel very selfish for walking out on a job when there's loads of people looking for work and the world economy is going down the pan. People lack the basic human necessities, earthquakes, typhoons and flooding dominate the news and I'm sitting here thinking something is up! Yeah perspective! Truth is my life is pretty ok in the big scheme of things (I have my health, and I know that I actually have a bit of choice about what I do) but maybe the little things were wrong. The fine grain of ourselves, but that is something we can take power over and make steps to put right. I'm not saying forget the big things. - I certainly haven't and don't ever intend to - I'm not making false promises here!

I leave this post with some wise words of Billy Connolly:
"Never trust a man, who, when left alone with a tea cosy, does not try it on"

So Here We Are

Another on the PhD travels... This time from Prague, more specifically Dejvica (Prague 6). I was staying in a rudimentary (travelling PhD student=as cheap a hotel as possible) but fantastic little hotel (the breakfast was something to be seen to be believed...). Its one of the first times I'd found myself alone in a city so I took some time to explore. I got thoroughly lost! Anyway winding back I came across the rail lines and this photo kind of struck me, I've never quite been sure why as I've never been one for the railways - I think it was purely to do with the straightness of the lines at that point just as the Sun went down.

Brush the Cobwebs Out of the Sky

A photo from the south coast on Cuba. A really great evening, though I got bitten to death by midges actually getting the picture. I spent the evening watching a Cuban version of Boyzone drinking espresso by the bucket load - that wasn't a great plan as I didn't sleep for about 3 days afterwards...

I had a few attempts at this picture, it isn't perfect as there is a lighthouse in the bottom left corner and I wanted to catch the light full on to counter the sunset through the tree. It worked, a bit but the light was really starting to fade fast!