Wow! Great sailing/windsurfing/kitesurfing/waterskiing video!

Sometimes I wish I'd been born black

How does a human body move like that?

A beautiful song

This post is in no way connected with the post below. It's just a beautiful song.

Verse 1♥
I wanna feel your love for me
Can you show some interest please
Why should I beg for your attention
Can't you just give it willingly

Pre-Chorus♥
Are you all out of love
Am i not good enough
To make you stay

Chorus♥
Tell me what I should do
But please don't go
I'm still so in love with you
I can't let go
So please don't go

I really hope we're not too far gone
I'm coming to you desperately to fix all wrong
So please don't go

Verse 2♥
How can your love just fade away
All these years why did you stay
I can't believe this could be over
It's a regretful mistake
How can you walk away

Pre-Chorus♥
Are you all out of love
Am i not good enough
To make you stay

Chorus♥
Tell me what I should do
But please don't go
I'm still so in love with you
I can't let go
So please don't go

I really hope we're not too far gone
I'm coming to you desperately to fix all wrong
So please don't go

Bridge♥
I would have given my last breath for you
But you don't deserve it
you've done damage you can't undo

www.myspace.com/natalieannmusic

Internet dating: Episode 5,374.5

I met someone in Nottingham about three weeks ago. We drank our coffee, I thanked her for meeting me and then left. 'Nuff said.

Then there was 'L' from Bromsgrove. The usual messages had been flying around for a couple of weeks so we swapped phone numbers and spent a few hours chatting before arranging to go on a date. That was last Thursday. It went great! We got on really well and sparks were definitely flying. The date ended with me walking her back to her car, followed by a hot snog! Kewl! We arranged to see each other again and I drove home feeling on top of the world. We spoke on the phone several times over the weekend and I called her a few minutes ago, as I said I would, to have a natter and double-check plans for tomorrow. She then tells me, rather sheepishly, that before we had started swapping messages she had been swapping messages with someone else too. No problem. So had I. Then she tells me that she went on a date with him on Saturday night (I recall her saying that she was seeing friends on Saturday night) and they got on great and she's arranged to see him again and she's just being honest with me. WTF?!

I feel gutted.

Gonna take myself out for a long drive.

A significant argument against man made global warming?

This fascinating film runs for just over 15 minutes. Click on the image above to watch it. A text version of the presentation is available from here, for those who prefer to read rather than watch.

There is no question that climate change is happening, although the exact cause of it is the subject of much debate. This film offers an alternative, and to my mind quite a plausible explanation for the cause. It could be the most significant argument against man made global warming yet.

As convincing as the film is, persuading the general populace that magnetic variation is the cause of climate change is another matter, especially in light of all the 'man-made CO2' brainwashing that is going on and the vested political interest, which as we all know is really about increasing taxation. And then there's the many scientists around the world who might lose their research funding if this becomes mainstream. Not that I'm in the slightest bit cynical, you understand.

Regardless of our individual stances on the cause of climate change, what we should not forget is that we, as a species, are consuming the Earth's natural resources at an unsustainable rate, but that's (probably) an entirely different argument. Or is it?

And now for something completely different

Here's what I used to do before I discovered sailing:



And here's a video of an ASW20 - the same type of glider I used to fly:



Oooooo the memories of all that adrenaline come flooding back :-)

Time passes by

Stuff happens. Sometimes good, and sometimes... not so good. Over the last few years a series of things have happened that I'd rather not have had to deal with. One thing is for sure, no one knows what's around the corner - your life can change in the blink of an eye - sometimes in ways that you could not have foreseen. It concentrates the mind - makes you realise what's important and what's not. One of the things I now realise isn't important is spending so much time and effort focussing on a career, which with hindsight seems like a lot of wasted years.

The new direction that I want my life to take is clear, and has been for some time, but at the moment I'm still temporarily stuck here in the middle of the UK - just quietly paddling along, until the next phase of my life begins. As the saying goes, the best things in life are worth waiting for.

Boatyard Pirates

Just added a link to www.boatyardpirates.com. Check it out - it's a great website about a young couple's adventures and boat ownership. Well worth a read!

Dear Diary...

Sometimes I ponder over things that I can't possibly ever really know the answer to. Such as, do things happen for a reason and is there such a thing as fate? Or is it a case of self-fulfilling prophecies brought about by the subconscious mind? And where do my emails go to when I click the send button? Do they just float around in cyberspace for hours... maybe days, before they reach their destination. Or maybe they never get there at all. Some things, even those that have a rational, logical explanation, remain cloaked in mystery.

I once thought that everything becomes clearer as you get older, but now, at 43, I'm beginning to think that all age brings is more unanswered questions. Older and wiser? I remain unconvinced. In fact, I think this could be nothing more than an urban myth. I bet it's even on Snopes. The thing is, I feel more unsure about things now than I ever did. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't part of the plan. Things are in a state of flux. But then, maybe security and stability are nothing more than an illusion?

Note to self

I must pay more attention to the titles of my posts and not miss things like "ing" off the end of words cos it makes me sound a bit fik.

Thank God for the edit button :-)

I wonder if anyone spotted the deliberate error? ;-)

Anyone disagree with this? ;-)

Currently listening to...

Isn't yoochoob great? :-)

Live from Great Hucklow

Watching paragliders at Great Hucklow in the Peak District. I used to fly gliders but you'd never get me in the air in one of these things!

Captain's Log

So I finally got my ass in gear and changed estate agents. Draught* details are, umm, drafted and the new foresail* board is up.

*Do you see what I did there? ;-)

I have to share this!

47.2 knots (that's 54.28 MPH!) in a sailboat. OK, not just any sailboat ;-)

Amazing!

More info here.

A blatant plug

Here's a great blog I discovered recently about a couple who sold their house and moved onto their newly purchased 32' catamaran, without ever having sailed before. It's all about following your dreams, and it's addictive reading! It's updated pretty much daily, unlike my blog! Check them out here.

A random trip

On the spur of the moment I decided to take myself off to the coast and went to Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. It's a lovely place with lots of lovely boats to drool over. Unfortunately by the time I arrived on Thursday everyone and his dog was out to make the most of the sunshine and it was heaving. This was only meant to be a day trip but before I knew it the day was over and I wasn't really feeling up to the three hour drive home so I decided to find a beach somewhere to get a few hours sleep. A few miles away I found the perfect spot except by now the wind was really picking up so a sleeping bag on the beach didn't appeal. With waves crashing on the beach about 20 yards away, I settled down in my car instead. It was a clear sky with hardly any light pollution and I lay there gazing up at the stars. I could make out Orions Belt quite clearly, which reminded me of being at sea a few years ago when I watched the angle of Orions Belt change in the night sky as I was on watch. I drifted off to sleep and woke up just as the first hints of daylight cut through the darkness. I walked along the beach and watched the sunrise with not another soul in sight. I drove back into Wells and wondering round in the sunshine I practically had the place to myself for a few hours, apart from the fish merchant setting up his stall and the occasional visitor to the just-opened newsagent.

My mind was elsewhere and I didn't think to take any pics, but here's me in my car on the harbour webcam!



Check out Wells-next-the-Sea here

I am so pissed off

I am so pissed off with being single. Just thought I'd share that with you.

...I'm sat here in a McDonalds in Derby, enjoying some dodgy coffee and using their wifi and as I look around me there are couples everywhere. Maybe I came to the wrong McDs? There's probably another one up the road with a big sign outside saying 'sad and single' :-(

Badgers!

This may seem strange to some of you, but I have never seen a live badger in real life. I've seen far too many lying dead at the side of the road, but I've never seen a live one. Until tonight. Driving home in the dark, down a country lane about a mile from my house, there it was - jogging(?!) across the road right in front of me. I think my headlights must have dazzled him/her because as I hit the brakes he/she paused at the side of the road for a few seconds before disappearing into the hedgerow. Wow! My first sighting of a real, live badger. I'm a happy man tonight :-)

Cycling by the sea

Saturday: Cycled 15miles starting and finishing at a village near Kings Lynn. Today: Cycled 17miles so far and have about 5miles to go before I get back to my car. From the pics, can you guess where I am today? :-)