Paris tomorrow then Prague Wednesday morning

My holiday is over.
I left Dave at Victoria station at 8:30 this morning and said good bye to hours of chat about old times and got my head around the week ahead on the two hour drive home. As usual for a Bank Holiday Weekend, its pissing down with rain.
Hanging out over the past couple of days has brought back a flood of memories.
Fifteen year old half forgotten stories of silliness and ill conceived visions of the future..... there's nothing to do but laugh and shake your head.
It was really good seeing my old pal and for a weekend at least, I found myself howling over the stories and how unbelievably innocent and un-jaded we both were way back then.
Both of us were bursting into laughter from one minute to the next as we completed each others thoughts about some long lost adventure.
Man, the years add layers of cynicism to the way you look at the world.
Its nice to flashback to a time when everything seemed ahead of you and the weekend always held the promise of something new and fun.
Another time.
It's only a little more than ten years and has flown by, but it really is a different place I was in back then.
I was so innocent.
That's the only way I can describe it looking back.
Tell me that then and I would have laughed it off.
How will I describe myself now, 15 years on I wonder?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not playing the world weary, world traveller veteran card here.
I just feel different to the person I was and relived over the past three days.
I do admit I was a bit depressed driving home.
It was a nice weekend and reminded me that the here and now isn't the sum total of who I am. I'm going to miss that. Tomorrow I'm taking Euro star to the city of lights and I'll be there for less than 24 hours before taking some budget airline I've never heard of before (Sky Europe) to Prague.
Home on Friday.
Next Sunday I'm taking my daughter on a day trip to Belfast, then walking Hadrian's Wall with my dad for the week after.
If you're so inclined, pray for sun so I'm not waterlogged by the end of next week.
Check back over the next few days there may be a cool pic or two.......
I bought a NEW camera!!!
Love T

Random musings

I tend to be like the guy above.
Head first into everything.
The difference lately has been I'm kind of losing the sense of "fun".
To be more precise I'm having a bit of trouble staying on message when it comes to a smirk now and again.
I could trot out the usual excuses:
Too much work, not enough play.
Too many nights in hotel rooms watching CNN OVER and OVER again.
Jetlag.
But that would be a heap of cliched nonsense.
The thing is I chose this life.
Maybe "chose" is the wrong word.
It somehow happened and I went with the flow.
I get itchy feet when I'm stuck behind my desk; I need to see new things, new people and have pointless discussions over beer and ciggies with strangers (though the places you can smoke are diminishing).
Again and again I catch myself chatting with cab drivers, cleaners, waitresses etc, about their lives.
It's amazing how much people will tell you about themselves.
Really personal things.
The fact that they do it in a language other than their native tongue is mind boggling.
They really have to consider their words, weigh them out and then vent.
Boy do they vent.
A few well chosen questions, sit back and let the monologue begin.
It may be I appear like a circus animal in some places ( Iran for example), which provokes curiosity and that breaks the ice.
Sometimes the stares you get are startling and are way out of context to the place.
Women in Iran gave my colleague and myself long looks which were......... disconcerting.
So much so that we stared at each other afterwards:
"Did..... that ...just...happen?"
Maybe going places where I'm "different" is the point.
I hope not.
I've had my fill of expats who consider themselves special. This becomes such a mindset that when they get back to where they're from (a place they constantly romanticise and talk about when they're posted abroad) they can't adjust.
Their "specialness" vanishes and they're just like everyone else.
Nobody takes notice of them. The flickering of the eyes that they've grown used to by the locals is no longer there. They find that its they who are doing the flickering when strangers appear in their midst. The easy camaraderie of a fellow like minded westerner, yank or whatever no longer comes into play.
Being the stranger in a foreign land is a powerful drug to the psyche let me tell you.
Taking it seriously can make you into an asshole.
Back to the first bit of this ramble:
From time to time, I find myself wondering what all of this means.
Is there an end to it or will it all just play out over and over again?
The days blend one into another and it becomes a bit numbing.
Things that seem important at certain points in time can illicit a struggle to remember what the big deal was at others.
Are we all so random and relative that we move on a never ending conveyor belt of shifting priorities and objectives?
When I go to places where people profess to live according clear sets of principles and points of reference, it all appears rather contrived.The cracks in the facade become more what you remember than the core values that were put up as the road map.
The more rigid the rules the less "objective" morality, whatever its colour, convinces me.
I'm not going to get into a "sticking pins in a baby's eyes is always wrong regardless of the context" argument as that belongs in a classroom of earnest college freshmen.
I'll assume you get what I'm saying.
So, are all things relative?
I'd have said, no not so long ago.
My daughter for instance is a constant in my life.
I think about her every day.
But the fact is I see her once a week if I'm lucky.
She's important sure, but to say she's the center of my life would be stretching it yet I'd come to believe that.
It gave me a sense that there was something different and pure at the core of my life.
We all spend a huge portion of our lives working, so you could believe this may end up being central to who we are.
" Central" seems strong.
In my case I work a lot, and devote quite a bit of time to it (thinking about particular issues etc), but in terms of talking specifics about my job with people I don't work with, I'd say its absent in terms of a central focus.
Its more about places I've been rather than what I was doing there.
So what is the central focus to our lives?
Or rather my life?
Its hard to say and probably my confusion around this is the source of this ramble.
I think that obsessing about it is much the the same as obsessing about anything. It takes on a monstrous significance and the process of introspection becomes more of a problem than the original issue.
I have to quit smoking at some point though.
Enough!
G'nite all.
T

but sometimes it doesn't

Well no
It doesn't
But sometimes it throws you a curve and you need to read the swing of the ball.
If you do that then you just swing the bat and you get another strike and that's the way of it all. Stupid and incomprehensible but true.
Terry

Blah

Sometimes Life sucks

Random, jetlagged induced musing

When the first Muslims fly on the space shuttle or similar spacecraft orbiting the earth, how will they sort out the prayer logistics?
For some reason this has been puzzling me. Why it makes me wonder I don't know, but it does.

T

Airport Lunch

Yum. Gave it a miss, and lived to tell the tale

Delayed in Beijing airport

Hour three of my delay and Air China has thoughtfully provided me with this lovely box of chow. Its lukewarm, scary mystery meat quality is tempting, but I believe I would be in serious trouble a couple of hours from now if I give in to my hunger. I have to catch a connecting flight in Australia from Hong Kong, and as the hours pass, this is increasingly looking unlikely. Wish me luck!
I can't seem to load the box lunch picture....I'll try at a later date
8:45 pm May 1st- Sydney time
After a mad dash through Hong Kong airport at 1 am, I made my Melbourne flight, but only after dodging around a group of livid Italian tourists at the transit desk. Being a prick and pushing my way through was the only option. I spent 5 hours in Melbourne then got a flight to Sydney after, long soul destroying meetings. Here I am in Sydney, a little unstable on my feet, but off to yet another dinner.

T

Darling Harbour Sydney.

Three day sprint

I have the day in Yokohama then leave for Seoul tonight.
I fly to Taipei tomorrow night, then Beijing on Wednesday and arrive there about midnight.
Its been interesting being in Japan again after 5 years of absence. This is the first time I haven't stayed in Tokyo proper, but I can't say that Yokohama which is after all really a suburb, (albeit a city in its own right), is much different.
Japan is pretty unique in Asia. It has its own strange business etiquette as well as complex social rules. When I was walking around in the drizzle last night, I couldn't help but think to myself how all that I know about this place is subject to constant revision. The more I think I know, the less, it becomes apparent, I really have a grip on.
I wonder if the Japanese find us as incomprehensible in some aspects but familiar in others?
There is a whole list of strange things:

• The obsessive cartoon motif that bombards you from the minute you step off the plane
• the school uniform fetish that both young men and women seem to adopt, wearing school type uniforms long after highschool graduation
• The rebellious 20 somethings, who dress outrageously, then like a switch in their heads is flicked at a certain age, adopt somber grey suits and business attire- Its different from western rebellion , believe me.
• The salary man schoolgirl fetish
• 20 minute silences in business meetings, which if broken signal a lack of patience and tact
• Pachinko http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2065.html -If you want a vision of hell, just step inside a Pachinko parlour.
• Japanese baseball fans and crowd behaviour

There's quite a bit more, but that's enough to give you a flavour.

I'll post as and when I get a chance, but as you can see,I 'm going to be mucho run off my feet for the next few days.

T

29 Hours of travel and counting

Japanese people are very clean.

I'd forgotten it seems that every toilet in hotels in Japan have this little device. Warm water cleans your bits without mess. Comapre this to the device in the business lounge at Dubai airport....

I've finally arrived in YOKOHAMA. I am jet lagged beyond belief, but unable to sleep, so I'm off to the hotel "english pub" for a £10 beer. I will leave you with one of the incomprehensible signs I saw at Osaka airport while waiting for my connecting flight.

Hope this post finds all well wherever you are.

T

Santa Monica Beach

Before reading any further...... read yesterday's post again......



On the beach beside Santa Monica Pier there is a quiet, dignified protest though it would probably be better to describe it as a memorial.
No chants, no yelling or manfest expression of anger.
No, "I hate Bush" t-shirts.
Just a collection of middle aged people in shorts and short sleeves, soft smiles on their faces and sadness in their eyes. A reminder that the images on your TV screen are not a video game.

Brothers, sons, dads , sisters and daughters, of all religions and colours have gone away and are not coming back ever.
No more Sunday dinners, family battles, or silly dramas sorted out with heartfelt talks, tears and soft words.
Probably lots left unsaid and never to be put right.

The memorial sits right beside the pier and weaves around an unrelated piece of art called "walking LA "or something similar...Its a giant roller that seems to sit amongst the crosses. I don't think they picked the spot by mistake..........

Living in Europe as I do, I tend to come across a lot of knee jerk anti-american sentiments and rhetoric. I'm a Canadian/Brit, but believe me I know who I feel closest too. I grew up watching American TV, listening to American music and though I don't feel I share every piece of the American dream, I do know I believe in much of it.

I 've had the chance to travel and see much of the world and I think that from what I've seen on balance, the US is a force for good.

I supported the war in Iraq at the outset.

I never believed that it was about "weapons of mass destruction", but more about good and evil. or at least a job that shouldn't have been done halfway the first time..

'm not so sure now.

I don't really know what I think.

I do know that as I bitch and whine inside my head, about how crap my life is at the end of this mediocre, jetlagged day, whilst downing a beer and listening to music on my itunes, I'm thankful that I didn't have to pin a message to a loved one on a little protest cross in the sand in california.

Sleep

Yesterday I spent ten hours packed like a sardine into this flying bus...sitting, wayyyyyy at the back. I'm very tired, and though I slept most of the day, I'm heading back to dreamland after this post.

I stayed at this place in Santa Monica. It's right on Ocean Drive, and I could see the pier from my window. The hotel has some history, and was interesting and friendly. The art decco style reminded me of South Beach, and its location was hard to beat.

Across the street there's a sort of park area, and beyond that, a bridge over the road running along the beach. Yesterday morning, before heading to the airport, I had a brief walk around, and was astonished by what I saw. They say Santa Monica is the "home of the homeless". In the space of half an hour, and maybe 500 meters, I took these pictures....not all were homeless, but most looked like they were..........the pics match my present state of mind....

Not all the pics came out, so I've missed out a few, but you get the idea. Remember, I was walking around a place that is RICH, RICH, RICH! There were plenty of rollerblades and silicone flying past as I clicked away.

According to the National Coalition of Homeles Veterans, 23% of the homeless population are US military veterens: 67% of them served for three or more years; 45% of homeless veterens suffer from mental illness,and more than half have substance abuse problems.

Just before I left for the airport, I saw an interesting, saddening exhibit on the beach, which seemed rather poigniant given the stats above. I'll post what I saw tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone

Terry

Tomorrow is 10hrs and back to London...but a teaser of posts to come in the meantime

Its 2 am....and far too much drink to comment with any intelligence.....however...I will talk about the following in days to come.......
Before I do...Today I read something that rings very true......read it to the end as it appears a bit trite at the beginning..... but is quite cool when you get the last line.


Recipe for happiness: an insatiable curiosity, a joy of discovery, quick to forgive, hold not grudges, love without condition, stay loyal to the death, see the best and ignore the rest - wow, we can learn a lot from man's best friend:
Society, is clearly doomed when Starbucks provides a poignant thought of the day..........








Love to all......
T