You know you are in a repressed, strictly controlled, killjoy society when you see signs and hear announcements every few minutes at a reasonably large, not particularly packed public beach on Lamma Island that there is no ballgames, frisbee throwing, kite flying or dogs permitted. So eating and drinking from glass containers is OK, as we witnessed a man having broken glass dug out of his feet by the killjoy attendants who enforce the rules. Presumably casual sex and drug taking are probably OK, unless they are already outlawed under some other law. I am surprised that potentially hazardous or annoying activities like sand castle building and sun-bathing were not banned. Taking of photographs of western children seems to be OK, despite the obvious capacity for illicit activity to result.
So revealed are a few of my pet hates about my newly adopted country and its people and visitors.
I am sure I will write more about same in the coming months.
Notwithstanding the above, Lamma seems like an interesting place and despite my wife's traumatic toilet experience after dinner in a local seafood restaurant, I think we will be back to explore the southern part of the island and the beaches a wee bit further away from the power station!
Monday, 26 April 2010
Thursday, 15 April 2010
Grab it by the b*lls
Life has an uncanny ability to sneak up on you and pull you in different directions from the path you thought you were happily heading down. Usually that pull is not without an emotional impact and / or other knock on effects. Sometimes that pull is more than that, life actually jumps up and smacks you right in your face, knocks you down and sends you backwards, with a few kicks to the backside as you go sprawling.
So, what are you going to do? Lie there or learn from it, pick yourself up, dust yourself down and get moving again. But sometimes it also good to lie for a moment, catch your breath, stand up slowly and put your hands on your hips and take it all in. Figure out what happened. Why it happened, how come you didn't see it coming or how come it happened to you. And sometimes you can say "I don't know," "I didn't see that coming" and "it wasn't my fault". That is OK for me.
In the past few weeks I have lost two people in my life who were very close to me. One had not been in our lives for very long, while the other had been in my life for probably 30 years. The former had only entered it and already we had become used to the idea of this new person being around. We hadn't met him or her yet, but we sure as hell were looking forward to meeting them and watching them grow. The other was old and ill, but their separate passing has delivered knock down blows. They both have made me pause for reflection before ploughing ahead down this road called life.
I enjoy a good walk or a good drive. Iain Banks talks about Great Wee Roads for an exhilirating drive. My life has been a great wee road so far and I think it is only getting towards an even better stretch. It's going to be challenging driving, I know I will need to be focussed and aware, relying on my experiences to help me corner and choose the right gear. But the journey for me itself is the pleasure, not just a means to get to the end destination. A devout Christian or proponent of the afterlife might disagree. But I don't care, standing with my hands on my hips for a few metaphorical minutes I am of the mindset, once again, that this is it, the detsination can wait, right here, right now is what counts. As I am taking my great wee road I am going to take a look around, take in the view, see the beauty, appreciate it with the ones around me and be happy I am sharing it with them. I am going to look in the rearview mirror and see the past disappearing behind me, but still in view, catching my own eye as I look (can I look at myslef in the mirror - say, yes I can). And I am going to look over at my passengers frequently, the people who are relying on me to choose the right gear and see the corners ahead and know in myself that they are in safe hands, our road is paved well, our vehicle is safe, well maintained and tanked up with plenty of fuel to take us down that journey.
That is fighting talk for a serial prevaricator!
Enough already of the vehicle and road metaphor. We all have one life and we better make the damn well best of it. We better jump up and grab it by the b*lls, lest it knock you on your ass, as it will. None of us is immune, none of us is getting even a second younger, so carpe diem and enjoy it.
I am loving my journey, my passengers are the reason to make it. Now let's choose some great wee driving tunes (Sean's yelling "You've been......Thunderstruck!")
So, what are you going to do? Lie there or learn from it, pick yourself up, dust yourself down and get moving again. But sometimes it also good to lie for a moment, catch your breath, stand up slowly and put your hands on your hips and take it all in. Figure out what happened. Why it happened, how come you didn't see it coming or how come it happened to you. And sometimes you can say "I don't know," "I didn't see that coming" and "it wasn't my fault". That is OK for me.
In the past few weeks I have lost two people in my life who were very close to me. One had not been in our lives for very long, while the other had been in my life for probably 30 years. The former had only entered it and already we had become used to the idea of this new person being around. We hadn't met him or her yet, but we sure as hell were looking forward to meeting them and watching them grow. The other was old and ill, but their separate passing has delivered knock down blows. They both have made me pause for reflection before ploughing ahead down this road called life.
I enjoy a good walk or a good drive. Iain Banks talks about Great Wee Roads for an exhilirating drive. My life has been a great wee road so far and I think it is only getting towards an even better stretch. It's going to be challenging driving, I know I will need to be focussed and aware, relying on my experiences to help me corner and choose the right gear. But the journey for me itself is the pleasure, not just a means to get to the end destination. A devout Christian or proponent of the afterlife might disagree. But I don't care, standing with my hands on my hips for a few metaphorical minutes I am of the mindset, once again, that this is it, the detsination can wait, right here, right now is what counts. As I am taking my great wee road I am going to take a look around, take in the view, see the beauty, appreciate it with the ones around me and be happy I am sharing it with them. I am going to look in the rearview mirror and see the past disappearing behind me, but still in view, catching my own eye as I look (can I look at myslef in the mirror - say, yes I can). And I am going to look over at my passengers frequently, the people who are relying on me to choose the right gear and see the corners ahead and know in myself that they are in safe hands, our road is paved well, our vehicle is safe, well maintained and tanked up with plenty of fuel to take us down that journey.
That is fighting talk for a serial prevaricator!
Enough already of the vehicle and road metaphor. We all have one life and we better make the damn well best of it. We better jump up and grab it by the b*lls, lest it knock you on your ass, as it will. None of us is immune, none of us is getting even a second younger, so carpe diem and enjoy it.
I am loving my journey, my passengers are the reason to make it. Now let's choose some great wee driving tunes (Sean's yelling "You've been......Thunderstruck!")
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
