Everybody hurts

Sometimes.

My wallet hurt a little but today having spent 1400 baht for breakfast at the not so very Five Star Royal Phuket Yacht Club. A little disappointing to say the least.

That photo is where I am staying at the moment btw, The Happy Elephant, better than the Yacht Club I reckon. Infinitely better value anyway.

Had a chat with a young friend of mine and he's hurting a lot, has some personal troubles with his life imploding on the girlfriend and parent front. Reminded me a little bit of a younger me. It's good being able to listen and offer some advice. Horses for courses, but he seems to be a very thoughtful and genuinely caring soul so I've advised he get some counselling if he can so he doesn't get lumbered with echoes in his mind.

What else hurts? My hip, but not so much today.

I even had a conversation with someone about tattoo's today, are they a good thing? or a bad thing? "They are beautiful" "But you are already beautiful" "But it's a part of me that I want to express" "But you already express yourself". What is the right reason and what is the wrong reason? Is there a right reason? And is there a wrong reason? I don't know. Do I really care. Guess that I do.

Guess my thoughts are hurting a little bit too just this very second, which sometimes happens when I reflect back on time and I'm momentarily feeling sorry for myself again. Wishing I had a map to find my way out of the place I am in as I still can't even find the light switch in this tunnel. But it's not that bad as I seem to be developing "a system of touch, and gentle persuasion.... " Anyone remember what song I have just lifted that line  from? One chufty badge point going if you can. And I'm not developing a system of gentle persuasion at all, quite the contrary, but I do like that song.

So enough of the melancholy as life is great and my God it could be a lot worse and the whole point of it is to make it better.

The great thing about "travelling" is that you kind of become a part of a new ever morphing jigsaw puzzle, not in a puzzling way, more in a way that you step out from your usual oddly shaped existence and background, to become part of a newer less familiar picture. One that seems to shimmer and change a lot more, as if your piece is able to change shape, you start to realise that you have some influence over the shape and position as well. Whether you are the sky, or the hills, or the sea or maybe just a road sign. You seem to realise that you do in fact have a lot more influence on the lives of those around you and more importantly that you actually have one yourself. And I guess the most important part, like any piece in a jigsaw, is knowing that you are actually very important, you are needed and the puzzle would never be able to be complete without you. And if this all follows through, then this is a continuous state and I need to remember this analogy if and when I am back home wondering what it's all about - your life is a jigsaw puzzle, and not a box of chocolates Forest!

So whilst everybody hurts, a song that I have never really liked to be honest, if you actually let the noise fade away to a nothingness (Which is good as that song is just too bloody well depressing, I have never listened to it all the way through) it's good to know that you are still here and that you can still influence your own and other peoples lives - and hopefully you can see that you can and should do so in such a very positive way.