Solitude

At moments like this one at Rhossili the other week I really empathise with these surfers.  Peace, space, solitude and a sense of sharing with any companions.  Does everyone need a time like this or is it just me?  I think this is what draws me to the hills, to sea and to islands. To have a chance of being at one with nature - Bliss.

Don't Despair, take The Chair!

When all seems wrong with the world, your life, anything and everything, I can highly recommend a dose of The Chair.  These Orcadians are the ultimate band to dance to and they have so much passion and energy for their music. It should lift any situation and is certainly better than sliced bread.

Here is a track online to get you started, although a live session  or two (5.30 in.. ;)) is much better.
The rest of the album listing is as follows and any respectable search engine should bring them up:
1. The Folky Gibbon
2. Planet Ork
3. Rhythm Impossible
4. Lily & Diana's
5. Cluck Old Hen
6. The Biscuit Set.
7. The Jigs
8. Et Dodium
9. Slow Reels
10. The Muillean Dubh
11. Beef
12. The Lazy Boy Chant (live)
13. The Folky Gibbon (live)

Enjoy and I wish you luck banishing Depression to the farthest corner of the cupboard.

All at Sea

I thought this was an appropriate title for a Marine Biological researcher. It sums up so aptly the way the world actually is.

Science is all about asking questions and trying to find out the answers, but you are never quite sure what to expect and have to have an open mind to the unexpected.  At that point you again need to re-evaluate whether the result you obtained is actually reasonable and realistic. In essence – Is it possible?  It is this sense of unknown that attracted me to research and I suspect pulls other  researchers into the field.

To take the above argument further in biological research you often are not faced with a stark yes or no.  If you were to create a circuit, or a computer program it will either work or it won’t. Yes there are several ways to achieve a working end product, but when you flick that switch the lightbulb will the light come on?  The fact that you have a middle ground where your creature will do what you expect In Some Situations (!) makes analysis of results much harder to comprehend.  The usual problem is that it is not simply one factor which is to blame for the movement/feeding/speed of swimming, but a combined effect of several things and teasing apart the factors is a challenge, as is working out which factors are actually to blame.

There are days in my research where I feel like I am banging my head against a brick wall and the only result is going to be depression. Finally, if I am lucky, something may click and I’ll suddenly have an enlightened moment and find one of the results. It may even result in several days work to calculate the extent of the effect.  Then I’ll be cast back onto the sea of irritation as I seek to find a new solution to the problem.  The unlucky scenario is that the idea is fruitless for one reason or another and I am back searching for ideas immediately.  Such is life.

While the science in the laboratory and on the computer provides the outputs in the form of scientific publications and reports, it is the time in the field which some of us live for overall.

I suppose the main reason for blogging this idea was to reflect the time I have spent out on the sea. A variety of ships from a small dory right up to the 73m long Cefas Endeavour have kept me afloat as I seek to discover the secrets that lay beneath our vessel.  Being at sea, never knowing what might come up, the long hours, endless horizons, or maybe some land and trying to figure out where you are, is fascinating! I particularly enjoy the magnitude of what we are doing in the middle of the night, when there may be the light of a fishing boat, a handful of stars, or jellyfish drifting past in the stern lights.  You are afloat in a world of your own, dependent only on the people around you, responsible for those who are asleep beneath you. It is frankly awe-inspiring. 

Best of all is the moment as the first light comes across the sky and the sun is within an hour of rising. That magical moment when you look around and remember you really are All at Sea.

Why Blog?

Well here I am, the start of a new venture - a blog!  Why would I want to do this?

For a while i have been considering finding an outlet for my thoughts and feelings. I seriously considered starting a diary. However with a diary I would feel I ought to write every day about what went on and how i felt about it. That isn't how I work at present. I don't have a period of time every day where I could dedicate it to writing my diary, my life is too busy. Although come to think of it that might be a good idea.  So came the idea of a blog, most people I know have one, why not me?

In thinking about the blog I know what I like about other people's musings, and I definitely know what I dislike!  What really galls me is how people appear to mention everything that happens in their lives in their blog and if you are an avid reader you have nothing to talk about when you meet face to face or talk on the phone. If you fail to read their blog they assume you know what they have already said and so there is also very little to talk about.  Facebook was just as bad, but i have broken the addiction of updating my status all the time and not been taken by Twitter as yet. Online messengers have the same problem, but i haven't found a way to do without them yet.. I like talking to people!  All in all these ways of expressing yourself have done away with the main reason for writing letters. What a sad state of affairs. It is so nice to receive a letter and possibly made more special nowadays by their rarity. Do you keep all the personal letters you receive?

So what do I like about blogs?
I suppose I can see them as a way of recording aspects of your life which might otherwise go unreported; a way to vent your feelings and a way to be artistic.  I am increasingly realising that while I think like a scientist, I definitely have an artistic urge. This commonly comes out in my photography, although it is not to everyone's tastes thinking of a comment from my father a few years back about a few of my photos that they were "too arty".  I may well aim to use my blog as a way to express my current way of thinking through an image, but most of them will remain on my website (here).

I also have silly thoughts, crazy ideas, and random moments which usually get shared with a few close friends if I have the urge.  This blog may well provide an outlet for those too.

So, for the future, I may surprise, I may grumble, I may even inspire, but most of all I am likely to be me.


Happy reading! 

Feel free to post comments if the urge takes you or catch me as I drift pass and raise the subject.