Cycles and Punts

A title that needs to be handled with care. Today was the last workshop for the Inspired Light photography course, as we turned up fully loaded and ready to shoot everything that moved or threatened to move in the beautiful city of Cambridge. We were not blessed with sunshine, but it was reasonably mild and we were able to find  pictures in a range of unlikely places as we deployed our newly-found and polished photographers' eyes. For me, the title sums up the main themes of my pictures.

And so back to work tomorrow....

Affinity

It was curious to note that when we were waiting at the baggage reclaim indicator board on our return from Iceland - and please take a look at my holiday snaps! - , four of us were standing in the same order as we were sitting on the plane. This unplanned occurrence suggests that the flight had created a strange affinity between us - notwithstanding that one of the people in this airport tableau was my wife - even though we had not interacted with the other two passengers during the flight. Maybe strange gravitational forces are created due to speed and altitude that persist when we disembark. This needs to be researched further, lest one is prone to follow a fellow passenger through the wrong exit channel at Customs, or even to the wrong car park, bus stop, hotel, town...the consequences could range from the embarrassing to the catastrophic. It could be conceptualised as a form of aviation imprinting.

There was a brief echo of this during my supermarket shopping this morning - a woman apologised for talking to me because she thought I was her friend. Maybe sometime in the past we shared a flight.

Defrosting

I'm sure no-one expected me to resume blogging last night after such an early start for the return journey from Iceland. Everything in its own time. A lovely if rather hectic few days, the holiday equivalent of "Supermarket Dash" for those of you who remember the TV show. In five days of travel, we boarded 4 planes, 4 coaches, 2 buses, 2 mini-buses and 4 taxis. However, we eventually got to see a subtle display of the northern lights despite the cloud cover and the light from a full moon. We brought enough clothes for an Arctic expedition, but in the end the temperature did not drop lower than 2 to 3 degrees Celsius. Ironically, it was colder in Leicester when we were shopping for cold weather clothing.

It was strangely moving, a reminder of our insignificance as individuals, as a species, as a planet in the eternal story of the universe, kindling feelings redolent of those I felt when watching the Hale-Bopp comet in1997 - a sense of cold isolation and desolation, doomed to hurtle through space for eternity unless rescued by a collision with a larger object. Maybe there is a message here about life itself as we follow our respective paths and orbits under the illusion of  having control and choice.

Blog on Ice

This blog will be put on ice for a few days while I am on holiday in Iceland. I look forward to entertaining you further on my return. Keep warm.

And the Winner is...

Here we are on the eve of the Oscars ceremony again. I was expecting a call this time, I thought I might have been short-listed for best supporting psychologist in a foreign film, or as best director for "CBT - The Movie" (strap line - " Just when you thought it was safe to think again..."). As it is, I spent most of the day shopping in Leicester in preparation for our imminent trip to Iceland - which I believe is going to be marginally warmer than it is here in the UK.

It was lovely to have a big bowl of home-made chips in The Globe in Leicester. This was apparently once a jail for women awaiting execution in the nearby Gallowgate. Chips and dips with a history lesson.

Friday at Last

The teaching did not take place today due to an administrative hiccough, but had it gone ahead my voice was in fine shape today. Two drives to the lovely ancient town of Dunstable due to bad planning on my part, and thankful that I was able to do a swerve today and get off the M1 in time to miss a large tail-back due to a vehicle fire. For once, the traffic reports worked in my favour, even if they interrupted my enjoyment of my Motown Anthems.

Some interesting issues have arisen in my work with clients this week. The challenge of hearing voices from two Gods, and the distinction between being "picked on" and "chosen". We live within boundaries of varying degrees of permeability, and I think that understanding this is fundamental to understanding our relationships with others - how the lessons from early life become translated or manifested in our later lives. Are we all doomed to repeat the mistakes of our past? Formulation is like completing a jig-saw puzzle, but we can never be sure that we have all the pieces, and without the picture to guide us, what we think is a sunflower in a vase may turn out to be a dandelion in a cracked tumbler.

Oh, this is too much for a Friday night, especially now that I am on holiday for a week!

Martial Arts for the Partially Artistic

From the excitement of photography class last night to the reality of martial arts training this evening. I may be a Ninja photographer, but my moves in the Do Jang would not merit an exhibition - they lack focus and composure. I am in the remedial class for the differently gifted. Oh well, it is about the journey and a little humility is something to be proud of!

I'm also losing my voice, which bodes well for my teaching tomorrow afternoon. A little red wine for lubrication now is a good use of red wine. Did I tell you I had an alcohol-free January to raise funds for Cancer Research UK? Please donate a little if you have not already done so - I'm keen to post some more embarrassing photos of myself! Time is running out, and like most photographers I need a little exposure.