Robert McKee wrote in Story, , some people believe that there is a direct correlation between happy endings and success at the box office, but more importantly it has to be truthful. Some people don't go to see films that face up to truths about bad things because they associate movies with leisure time, but if you take a look at those people's lives, they probably avoid dark thoughts in general, and never feel emotions with any real intensity.

At my place of work, in a country where death is never talked about without the utmost sobriety, there has been no avoiding it over the past ten days. So firstly, I would like to post Simon Armitage's poem about 'life' and how some people experience those intensities where they're least expect them:

It ain't what you do, it's what it does to you.

I have not bummed across America
with only a dollar to spare, one pair
of busted Levi’s and a bowie knife.
I have lived with thieves in Manchester.

I have not padded through the Taj Mahal,
barefoot, listening to the space between
each footfall, picking up and putting down
its print against the marble floor. But I

skimmed flat stones across Black Moss on a day
so still I could hear each set of ripples
as they crossed. I felt each stone’s inertia
spend itself against the water; then sink.

I have not toyed with a parachute cord
while perched on the lip of a light aircraft;
but I held the wobbly head of a boy
at the day centre, and stroked his fat hands.

And I guess that the lightness in the throat
and the tiny cascading sensation
somewhere inside us are both part of that
sense of something else. That feeling, I mean.

and attending a Taoist funeral reminded me of a Hymn I have no recollection of not knowing. It's probably because the temple was between four mountains through which a river ran and was truly isolated:

I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
My hand will save.

Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?


Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.


Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?


Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will send the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.


Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

Finest bread I will provide,
'Til their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?


Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

Piqnique a la plage

Monday was my weekly day off.
On sunday evening after work, eleven of us set off by bus to the South China Sea. It was 90 minutes away and (I think) quite close to the border with Vietnam.

The beach was dark hen we arrived, but after we'd pitched our tents we managed to get the nearby restaurant to reopen. We ordered our dinner while it was still swimming or nestling at the bottom of the tank.

Before going to bed we managed to steal enough wood and dead greenery (and some discarded clothing) to get a fire going. It was like getting back to my primitive side, in rythm with the earth with a lighter and a can of Nivea for Men.

I didn't want to ast any of my beach time by going to sleep.

On monday I managed to alk the length of the beach and back three times, having some of the locals asking to have their photo with me along the way.

Swimming in the South China Sea is electrifying. The phosphorescence is like nothing I've ever experienced, and in parts, the warmth wouldn't disgrace a bathtub.

We also managed to whoop some Chinese lads in football six a side.

Altogether, the beach camping trip as worth the sunburn and the mozzie bites.