I saw stars fall like tears.....

Something changes the moment you decide you’ve found a person you are ready to reveal parts of your soul to. Something stands out and makes the moment unique. 

A profound multidimensional clarity resembling a piece of carefully gathered stardust; As if you are whispering “finally” and your eyes fill with light and spontaneity. As if you do not care whether your heart will melt or crumble in the process because your brief courage 

undoes your tremendous fear of disbelief. 

You live for these moments; For you are, maybe for one second or more, sweetly forced to surrender yourself to unconditional intimacy. A moment of psychological reward smashing all self-imposed disciplines founded on terror. This is all you need.

~ Anais Nin ~

I remember it, like it was yesterday....

Take off your shoes and charge up your phones ....[in the blink of an eye]....

... that is what we are told isn't it ?.... if we want safe passage..... take off your shoes and charge up your phones...... prove to us you are not going to blow up this plane......

There they were, just any ordinary normal Thursday.... about to board a plane on one of the many of 100's long haul flights taking place that day......

I have used Schipol Airport so many times.... in fact it was the first ever airport I had used for my first flight, I had just turned 17 years old....

I can see every detail of that airport.... it was the airport I created a soundtrack moment...... you can see all the people mingling round..... ordinary every day folk..... and so their time comes..... they step up to security...... they take off their shoes..... and they have charged up their phones....... they have done it..... they have proved to who they need to prove to ..... that they do not plan to blow up this plane...

Like many of us I am sure..... they have seen the news reports about Israel and Palestine attacking each other..... or Ukranians and Russians attacking each other...... but that's not our problem, that is a dispute that doesn't affect upon or impact our daily lives..... for those flying from Schipol Airport yesterday why should it affect them..... there was no reason to affect them.... it's the bloody shoe bombers they were worrying about.... or those mad fookers who have learned to make an iBomb from an iPhone........

And so the plane took off, it's passengers and crew safely on board confident in the knowledge that the mad iShoe and iBombers were left behind......

How many times have you sat on a plane, on a long haul flight, made your self comfortable... you look across at all the other seats in your view.... you have even smelt some of your fellow passengers....... You look at them reading their books, working at computers, playing with their tablets, watching what is on the flight entertainment system in the headrest......

You can visualize it now, you can even touch that vision.......

And so it is, you settle your self down...... you take off your shoes..... you pick up your phone..... it is charged, you know it is charged..... and you plug in the headphones and listen to the music.....

And then....... in the blink of an eye..... it ends.......

Confirmed death toll so far

• Netherlands: 189
• Malaysia: 44 (including 15 crew)
• Australian: 27
• Indonesia: 12
• UK: 9   10
  
• Germany: 4
• Belgium: 4
• Philippines: 3
• Canada: 1
• New Zealand: 1
• Unverified:   4   3

Total: 298 human lives killed

298 lives ended...... and those they leave behind destroyed....... why ? for christ's sake they had taken off their shoes, they had charged their phones..... what in christ's name had they done wrong.....

They were just living a good and honest life......

Now I accept that the proof of the cause of this incident is still to be confirmed..... but shame on those who did this, and for sure they know who they are.......

I like the next man has no way of knowing the truth.... but I like the next man, can make a very good guess.....

There are countless pictures out today.... 

but when I saw this one,
of which there a number of such like on a theme......

it spoke volumes to me......

And surprise surprise..... the Ukranians blame the Russians..... and the Russians blame the Ukranians.... make them take off their shoes.... then let's see who the fooker was..... let's see who it was who pressed the red button.....

But for what ?.......... all these 298 people were doing was going about their innocent lives......

Before I heard the news of this tragedy, I had planned a Friday desert island SoD.... but this is not a Friday SoD moment....... instead....this  a moment to close your eyes for longer than a blink......to think about those on board that fateful flight.........and to know that when you re-open your eyes...... everyone is still there, still sat in their seats....watching their movies..... reading their books..... taking off their shoes.... and using their phones......

New Shoes .......

The thing about the internet is it allows us to do things with ease..... ie sitting on your arse..... as opposed to the pre-internet days which required a huge effort to do ...... ie getting off your arse.....

But we still have the opportunity to test one system against the other.....

I never was a huge betting man, but occasionally I have this sense that the odds of winning are so much weighted to the benefit to the punter than the bookie, that well..... there is no choice but to......

So in the world cup at the quarter final stages, there I was, I could see the winners in each game, the winners in the semis, and the final winner...... so armed with this insight I popped into my local bookies...... can I have a tenner for an accumulator bet to predict the winners of each quarter final games, then the semi, then the final ?

No..... came back the emphatic reply..... we can't work out the odds ? ........ err err... I thought you were bookies.....

But on line, they can give you odds of the next player to loose a shin pad outside the area whilst heading the ball...... so that was my answer I would become an on line addict gambler.....

Still it was not easy to get an accumulator bet so the answer was easy, I would put a tenner on the 1st quarter final game and the winnings on the next game, so on and so forth. The odds were not brilliant but a sure fire winner I thought.... And the other wonderful thing about on line betting is they give you free bets....

So with each of the quarter final games, my money accumulated, and at the end of the quarter final stage I was £100 up..... but now I realised why I am not a gambler, I don't like losing..... so for the semi final's I withdraw my cash winnings and used my free bets..... Brazil and Argentina to both win and Brazil to win in the final...... well...... it was a good job Brazil and Germany was a free bet, I..... like Brazil........ got spanked...... as did most of the betters that night.....so I had my 2nd free bet of £75 riding on Argentina..... and thanks to their goalie..... I was 50 quid up.......[on top of my £100 cash winnings].....

Gambling is a mugs game and with Germany-vs-Argentina too close to call,  I cashed in my chips and I was £150 up. Imagine every time you went into Tesco and gave them a £10 note, and in return they gave you £150..... that is the seduction of on line gambling...... it is so easy to loose your shirt.... they make it easy.... they seduce you with free bets..... but the truth is ...... you could be left with nothing......

If you were the Argentine's last night........ that is exactly what they were left with......

But don't be glum boys..... 

look what your victory against the Netherlands got me

the classic icon of training shoes in the 1970's

So armed with my £150 winnings, I was able to go out and remind myself of my youth, and still have cash left over for a crafty pint......

But even the trainers showed the contrast between shop-vs-online shopping........ I found out that seemingly, Sports Direct did the cheapest on line price..... but with the cash in my pocket, not wanting to wait, like the child I am, I rushed out to my local sports direct shop..... only to be greeted with a higher in store price than on line..... £49.99 in store......  But they are cheaper on your website I told the assistant..... well you are in the shop and that is the price.... if you want them cheaper get them on line..... so sure enough, good advice I thought....... and I walked out with my winnings intact and still in my pocket.....

Thanks to the wonderful advice of the Sports Direct assistant, I once again checked on line, and this time saw that I could get them for £28 as opposed to £44 with sports direct on line and £50 in store.....

Another result ! If it wasn't the bookies improving my cash flow, then it was the Sports Direct assistant...

Which all goes to prove to me once again, that if you are prepared not to put the effort in and sit on your arse, with your laptop on your....well laptop.... then there is good reason to believe that you can win against the odds..... and the brill thing was, I ordered my shoes at 8pm and next day I was prancing around in them.....

This calls for a SoD me thinks, 

and tempting though it was to choose 

Paulo Nutini and new shoes, 

I think retro shoes calls for a retro song..... 

aren't these guys just fab....

like my new shoes....

Back to Back.....

Thanks to listening to the Guy Garvey radio 6 show the other weekend I was introduced to a band who have been around for many years but were new to me.....

The Walkmen, recently featuring as band of the week....

But everytime I hear this song....

I then hear this song.......

funny how music does that....

The shirt that you wore.....

As I wandered out for a lunchtime wander the other day........ I spotted some bloke wearing a slogan t-shirt.... it said....

Shut the fuck up

and start fighting

My immediate thought was..... what moron would wear a shirt like that ? ...... well of course, the moron who was standing in front of me.....that's who......but this particular moron was a big bloke so I elected not to carryout any market research by asking him as to why he was a moron...... and so instead I carried on with my wandering....

I couldn't even take a photo.... his T-shirt mentioned something about fighting.....

When I googled for a stock image.... I couldn't believe some of the shit that came up

Seriously would you wear a T-shirt that said..... Sex instructor ~ First lesson free.... seriously would you ?..... Honestly ?

So by pure chance I also tripped up another new age man.... who offered up more examples of the wonderous shirts people wear........ you can only look and think..... oh thank the lord, my DNA was at least imbued with some sense of suitability...

For example number 13

I love the look of contempt on this girl's face

Only one song for it really....
a great band who never
released a full album