Breakwater !

by Ebb Then Flood

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North Sea waves piledrive into the breakwater of the harbour at Pittenweem, Scotland yesterday.

The title of this post has an exclamation  mark to bear witness to the velocity of wind and waves that roared and smashed during my stroll along the breakwater at dusk.Spectacular!

Powerful and unrelenting forces of nature versus man’s cunning engineering.

The breakwater protects fishing and other vessels in the harbour, where it is artificially calm.

Of course ,there are a lot less boats owing to the decline in the fisheries.

One day there may be no more haddock, crabs, lobster and prawns.

And,maybe no more breakwater if the sea has its revenge…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Northern Hotel

by Ebb Then Flood

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So, this morning I was waiting around at King’s Cross Station in London to board a train to Edinburgh.

Stepping outside the station for a final,slightly desperate,vape before heading off,I looked up at this rather striking hotel set against swirling skies.

I admit  to accommodation envy  after having to spend four nights  with my family in a tiny and inadequate studio apartment in a part of the city I had never heard of, following a booking screw up which became apparent only at the last minute.

I guess, though, you don’t come to London for the room you sleep in between taking in the events and sights of an undoubtedly great ,northern, city…

 

 

 

Stone Arches Tell No Lies

by Ebb Then Flood

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Curves of a different sort today.

This time around it is a stone passageway in the White Tower of the Tower Of  London.

Visited  there yesterday  and walked the same  steps  and corridors and under arches  as the infamous prisoners and dead of history. Spooky!

History ( the Tower is soaked in it, like blood on  chopping block! ) is linear and a tale told only in retrospect. You know how you got from A to B.

If you put yourself in the moment of a place, as I tried to ,it is all twists and turns, dark corners and bright windows of the unexpected.

Cruel  curves, awful arches…

New Adventures

by Ebb Then Flood

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So, off on the big bird to Great Britain and Spain today.

The thrill of the new ,and of an adventure half a world away beckons.

I really like this quote from Bill Bryson which neatly encapsulates why travel is so beneficial for you:

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted”

I expect to see plenty of things familiar to others, but novel to me, to feed this blog and hope to share them with you.

First things first, though….where the hell are my sleeping pills and earplugs for the 29 hour flight from New Zealand?

This World, Not Simply Visited

by Ebb Then Flood

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I took a few shots of a street mural down the way from my home in Auckland a couple of days ago, and now present a portion of it detailing a world globe.

Very cool… I love maps and globes of all sorts and will give the artist some leeway in the geographical accuracy stakes!

Anyway, I post this as I am off to the other side of the world, Europe, on Sunday, for the first time in thirty years. Just a tad excited, and like all tourists, I have been busy plotting and planning the places I most want to visit in the pretty limited amount of time I have.

Which brings this visitor-in-waiting to the below words from a favourite poet,which certainly give food for thought:

 

” When it’s over, I want to say all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

 

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder

if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

 

I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,

or full of argument.

 

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.”

 

– Mary Oliver, excerpt from “When Death Comes”

 

Four Plants On A Wall

by Ebb Then Flood

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Yesterday’s post centred on the number three.

Another day ,and another number on.

Four.

Specifically , four potted plants in a mural by a street artist on a white concrete wall, behind a bar and a McDonald’s.

Four is usually synonymous with a square or rectangle  –  regularity.

And even though the painted pot plants are evenly spaced there is a sense of funky freedom in this four !

Old Walls Will Fall

by Ebb Then Flood

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Pictured is an old volcanic rock wall in Auckland’s Cornwall Park.

Been there for decades, and will probably be there for many more.

Solid!

But inevitably, left unattended, it will deteriorate and crumble, bit by bit.

Or some sudden event may breach or destroy it (Berlin Wall, anyone?).

And, sooner or later, the walls we build in our minds to protect ourselves from perceived threats have to go too.

They might keep us “safe”, but they prevent new thinking and better ways from getting in.

I’ve had a few old walls fall in recent times, and it is not the end of the world.

Just the opposite in fact…

 

 

Together In Precarious Places

by Ebb Then Flood

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   Gannet Colony, Muriwai Beach, NZ

Back to the beach and birds.

Previously: Return Of The Gannets

Where, and how, they gather together in this place is a marvel.

It’s not easy.

The migration route across the Tasman Sea to this very location, for some of the gannets at least, is a miracle of sorts.

But even the smallest things are difficult.

On a recent trip out to Muriwai, I observed one gannet make a dozen unsuccessful passes  trying to deposit twigs as nesting material to its partner. Landing in the small nest space (indentations in the soft rock and dirt , which they create) was prevented time and again by the swirling gusts of wind. I watched for minutes and the creature persevered, but still hadn’t completed the task by the time I left (it was way worse than any airline delays and technical issues I have suffered through!).

The bird was working so hard for its mate and family.

The entire flock of gannets pull together to survive in this precarious place of wind, sea and clifftops.

So too, vulnerable people need each other just to get by.

Immigrants in strange lands. Struggling sports teams. Addicts in recovery. The destitute and homeless.

Communities formed by necessity and nurtured by mutual reliance. Strength in numbers, for sure.

When the odds are stacked against you, there are no prizes for being a f**king lone ranger…

 

 

 

 

 

A Whole Handful

by Ebb Then Flood

 

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Five fingers, a whole handful, of toetoe plumes in the still Auckland evening.

All you can hold in the moment, and the moment is all you have.

“From one seed a whole handful: that was what it meant to say the bounty of the earth” – J.M.Coetzee

Little moments, even quiet ones, are full in themselves but are also seeds of abundance.