The rhythm of my heart is beating like a drum

Posted on July 25, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

With so many readers in Scotland, this week’s TF could only have one subject: The Commonwealth Games.

Many of you will have reservations about the games because of the historical context, the sporting context and the cost. However, it’s sunny, the Games are here, and it seems wise to make the best of them. If nothing else, the Games really seem to be letting Glasgow flourish and it’s worth enjoying the atmosphere, bars and restaurants all around town, even if the sport isn’t for you.

The talk of the town so far has been the opening ceremony. The majority opinion seems to be muted contentment, with only a bit of criticism from some in relation to the opening “tour” around Scotland by John Barrowman and Karen Dunbar.

One highlight for me was that the volunteers brought in chairs for the athletes after they did their dance routine. If the commentary is to be believed, the inspiration for that came from an experience which one of the show’s director’s had at a Scottish wedding. Apparently, there was a shortage of seats at the wedding reception but the local folk saved the day by going home and bringing their own chairs back for the guests.

I have no difficulty in believing that, after I attended a wedding in a remote location near Inverness a couple of months back. The locals insisted in giving the visitors lifts back to their respective hotels and cottages. They didn’t expect anything back in return – they just wouldn’t have had it any other way.

The fact is that the real character of Scots can’t be found in the caricature portrayed by John Barrowman. It’s in the small acts of kindness and hospitality that we tend to do for visitors. We saw our true character in the volunteers who danced and welcomed the athletes on Wednesday night. We will also see it during the next two weeks as the same volunteers keep the Games going by giving visitors directions, officiating and generally doing long hours for no pay just to support a worthy endeavour.

Given all of that, this week’s Tashes must be people involved in the Games.

The first is Prince Imran, the President of the Commonwealth Games Federation, who was unlucky enough to be the person tasked with opening the Queen’s Baton. I have to say that if I’d been Prince Imran, and I couldn’t get the Baton open, I’d be telling the Queen to open her own Baton. However, he’s clearly a more patient man than I and he dealt with the problem with a smile and the help of Sir Chris hoy. It was fitting really, after all, how many times has a Scottish sports team failed to carry out a simple task even after plenty of practise?

The second Tash can only be Billy Connelly. Surely Glasgow’s favourite son, he has all of the characteristics required to become one of TF’s all-time favourites: wit, grit, intelligence and a charitable streak. Pure class:

I doubt the Big Yin would be cynical about the Games, I reckon he’d just get stuck in and enjoy it. I hope you get the chance to do the same.

Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

Todo debe pasar

Posted on July 18, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

This week has been a struggle at TF HQ. Cases of chronic post-holiday-blues have been reported in all departments following an exceptionally successful visit to California:

I daresay that post-holiday-blues is a condition affecting many of us at this time of year. Fear not though, TF is here to ease your pain.

When you start working for TF, you accept that you are never off duty. I therefore took notes of quotes or places that I thought might be relevant to future editions even while I was away. The title of today’s TF – “todo debe pasar” – was one of the notes I took. I think it was quoted by one of the characters in The Jersey Boys (the stage show) as something his mother used to say.

In English, that phrase means “all things must pass”, which is apparently a slight variation on a verse from the Bible:

And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Although TF definitely doesn’t subscribe to any particular faith, this passage seems fairly uncontroversial. I may not be a theologian, I think it’s basically saying that “stuff happens, but it’s not the end of the world”.

I think that’s useful to bear in mind in times where it seems that everything we were looking forward to, or hoping for, has passed us by. It also suggests that we should enjoy the good times as we have them, as they will surely pass in the same way as the bad times.

So go on holiday and enjoy it – it will be over before you know it. Alternatively, if you’ve been away and are suffering as a result of being back, don’t worry – it’ll pass. I recommend asking yourself the age-old question “what’s next?” and making a plan to give yourself something to look forward to.

All that remains is for me to leave you with a Tash. Despite the fact that his attire isn’t really breakfast-time appropriate, I wish I’d thought to look up this week’s Tash when I was struggling out of bed on Monday. I give you Mr Motivator!

If you’re really struggling, you could always try some of the exercises mentioned in Mr Motivator’s music video…

Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

…You’ve seen it all

Posted on June 27, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

In this finale of another season of TF, I’ve decided to let you into a trade secret: not every edition of TF is a spontaneous reaction to the events of the preceding week. To supplement weekly events, TF HQ holds a stockpile of quotes, thoughts, questions, names and lyrics which can be drawn upon as and when required.

For as long as I can remember, the name of that stockpile has been a line from The Secret Machines’ “Lightning Blue Eyes”. I’ve always enjoyed the line and I find it helpful to be reminded of it when I’m struggling for inspiration.

The first part of the line was the headline for last week’s edition: “In your dreams…” As you might recall, I said that there were two ways of saying those three words: in a sarcastic or scathing way or in some other way which I would explain this week.

The second half of the line provides the context which allows us to correctly interpret the first: “In your dreams you’ve seen it all”.

Here at TF, saying “in your dreams” is not a reproach – it’s a direction. Dreams are the brain’s way of processing and rationalising what we have experienced while we are awake. They show our deepest fears and ambitions. In a real sense we have seen all of ourselves in our dreams. Therefore, if you want inspiration, your dreams aren’t such a bad place to start.

This time next week, the editorial team of TF will be visiting the organisation’s spiritual home – Moonstone Beach, California. You may have seen it before if you took a look at the photo at the top of the website:

Above the beach is a hill and, on top of that hill, there is now a castle. The hill was once the favourite spot of a young man called William Randolph Hearst, who used to make a point of riding out there to enjoy the hill’s view of the sparkling Pacific Ocean. It turned out that the hill was more than just a hill to this young man – he called it La Cuesta Encantada. He was so enchanted by the hill that he dreamt of building a castle on it’s summit. Years later, when ownership of the hill passed to him, the dream started to become a reality. It now looks like this:

I’ve spent a long time wondering why I don’t have the drive to do a particular job in the same way as many of you. I wondered whether I might be money-centric (not that I’m rolling in it now) or whether I just had a dull character. Thinking about Hearst caused me to change my mind.

Hearst didn’t spend all his time at his castle – he was a media mogul and so couldn’t be in such a relatively remote location for too long. He went there because he was passionate about the place. I daresay he dreamt about it.

I’m passionate about that part of the world too – I feel utterly content when I’m there. I find myself day-dreaming about it a lot while on the train. Maybe, my dream is to be able to regularly carve out time when I can feel like I do when I’m there. Maybe I’m the kind of person who doesn’t find satisfaction through an occupation but is searching for something less tangible than that. Maybe that’s why I became involved with TF.

Anyway, I shall leave you with the words of Mark Twain – a Tash I have been saving for a special occasion:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Have a great couple of weekend folks!

What is NEXT?

P.S.

An eagle eyed member of TF’s London office spied this in Thursday’s Metro. Hope you win the tournament, Fred!

In your dreams…

Posted on June 20, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

As has become customary at this time of year, this week’s TF is the first part of an end-of-season double-edition.

The end of this season prompted me to look at TF editions from this time last year. It turns out that the second last edition of 2012/13 was titled “what’s next?” – a question which is now a key element of each edition.

I can now report that the question “what’s next?” has become one which many Appreciators ask themselves on a regular basis. I’ve had messages from folk who are making bold decisions relating to their career in which they say they must “dare greatly” and that they feel they are standing on a ledge looking out over the world without thinking about the empty space beneath them.

That’s not because they’ve read TF and experienced some kind of epiphany. I think it’s because they see that being positive and ambitious encourages those around them to do the same. It’s a virtuous cycle which leads to more people being successful and which also provides a support network for those times when things don’t quite go as well as we’d hoped.

The title of this week’s TF is “In your dreams…” You can say those three words in different ways. One way of saying them is the approach which is perhaps more likely to be used by someone who doesn’t have a positive attitude. They would say it dismissively and sarcastically.

The other way is one which I will explain next week – where having a dream, or a vision, or ambition, is the only way to get anything extraordinary done.

In the meantime, I will leave you with a Tash who dared greatly, who did some pretty extraordinary stuff, but who is now in need in a bit of support. His team has dominated European and world football since 2008 but their time has come to an end after being knocked out of the World Cup in the first round. Don’t worry Vincente Del Bosque, we still appreciate you. How couldn’t we appreciate a man with a Tash this good:

Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

BANG ON!

Posted on June 13, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

Just a short one this week, which is ironic as it’s something this week’s Tash would never say.

There are various types of towering totems of Tash toting terrificness. Some men wear a Tash because it is fashionable; others for charity. Some even wear a Tash just to irritate their significant others. However, there are a few men, a very few, who wear a Tash simply because their personalities require it and they would look ridiculous if they wore anything else.

Two of my most favourite Tashes were worn by such a man: Rik Mayall. As I’m sure most of you know, he passed away this week.

I’m not going to pretend that I know much about Mayall’s background or what he was like in “real life”. I read a quote which suggested that’s just how he liked it. What I do know is that he created two characters for whom a Tash was absolutely necessary.

The first is Bombardier Bedford, from the Bombardier Real Ale advert:

The other is Lord Flashheart from Blackadder:

If you have a spare three minutes, this clip is well worth a watch:

The eccentricity and self-confidence of these characters renders it impossible for them to be imagined without their respective Tashes. Whether it’s head-butting and swatting cannon balls out of mid-air while defeating old “Boney” on the field of battle; or admiring a bridesmaid’s beard and saying “WOOF!” in the most provocative fashion imaginable, Mayall’s characters are two of the most amusing I’ve ever come across. The fact that they both sport superlative facial hair only serves to reinforce their excellence.

It’s a shame that Mayall has gone but hopefully, wherever he is, he’s still climbing through his latest conquest’s window – to leave a box of chocolates next to her bed – before machine gunning his phone number into the wall and disappearing into the night to meet her sister.

With that, I shall bid you farewell this week.

Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

Closer To The Edge

Posted on June 6, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators!

I’ve been enjoying two-wheeled racing of a faster kind than usual this week after being captivated by the Isle of Man TT.

For the uninitiated, the TT is a week-long series of races on different classes of motorbikes. The main course – the Mountain Course – is around 37 miles long and involves riders screaming along normal roads, inches from curbs, lamp posts, garden walls etc, at speeds approaching 200 miles an hour. The fastest riders get round one lap at an average speed of over 130mph. To understand just how fast these riders go, you really have to see them:

The other night, I watch a documentary about the TT called “Closer To The Edge”. The film followed Guy Martin (some of you may have seen him in various programmes over the last few years) and his quest to win a TT.

Martin is entirely focused on racing. He’s very exact in how his bike is set up – which is understandable when there’s so much riding on it – and he distances himself from any kind of commitment in order to ensure that as few people as possible will be affected in the event that he is involved in an accident.

The reason that Martin takes such drastic action to avoid commitment is because of the other side of the TT – death. Almost every year, someone is killed while racing. According to Wikipedia, 242 competitors have been killed since 1911. In Closer To The Edge, Martin narrowly avoids serious injury when he crashes at 170mph and his bike explodes. In the same race, one of the other competitors clips a curb while going flat-out and is thrown about a hundred meters from the road, via a stone wall. His list of injuries seems to include every bone in his body but he somehow survived. As I was doing a bit of research about the TT, I read that someone died in today’s main race.

Every single rider I’ve seen being interviewed says that they know the risks and that it doesn’t put them off. That’s despite many of them having families. When speaking about a competitor who has died, almost all of them say: “he died doing the thing he loved.”

My question – and I don’t know the answer to it – is whether it is ever folly to do something you love? Is it possible to dare too greatly?

Most weeks, TF talks about living to the full and taking a few risks. Is that naive though? How many of us would roll the dice on our lives or livelihoods or happiness in order to chase a dream? If we would, how do we decide when the dream is worth chasing and when we’re better off accepting that some dreams don’t come true? What if the dream isn’t fully formed in your head but you know that you need to do something differently? These are questions which bother me incessantly these days.

As I say, I don’t know what the answers to these questions are. I’d be interested to know what you all think.

As one might expect of a section of the population who live life to the absolute limit, Tashes are commonplace among the motorcycling fraternity. It’s been a tough choice, but here are this week’s Tashes:

Glenn – the Biker – from the Village People:

And Paul “Senior” Tuetal, of Orange County Choppers and the Discovery Channel’s “American Chopper”:

Have a great weekend folks. If you’re interested, the Senior TT (the main race of the week) is being shown on ITV2 at 9pm tonight.

What’s next?

Good Samaritans

Posted on May 30, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators!

I was out on my bike last weekend (fear not, this is not a cycling related TF) when I fell foul of some glass on the road and punctured a tyre. The scene at the side of the road was not pleasant:

While I stood trying to look like I knew what I was doing, several other cyclists offered their assistance. Naturally – being a bloke – I assured them that I had the situation under control and bade them on their way. Some of these good Samaritans, however, saw through the facade and made meaningful attempts to assist me. As it happened, even with able assistance, my ineptitude shone through and I had to call for a lift. Incredibly, two people offered to pick me up and I was soon safe at home, hell-bent on becoming an expert in changing a tyre.

As it turned out, the good Samaritans were not just on the road up to Whitelees last weekend.

In the centre of Glasgow, as the iconic Glasgow School of Art seemed to be entirely lost to fire, members of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service worked tirelessly to save what they could.

I’m sure they did so at some risk to their own safety and you might think that, as soon as the risk to people had been reduced, the fire fighters would prefer to avoid any risk to themselves. Apparently that wasn’t the case. Even though the fire spread through the building from top to bottom, 90% of the building was saved; as was 70% of its contents.

You have to ask why these fire fighters would work so hard to save inanimate objects (however culturally important) when doing so might put their own safety at risk. The Assistant Chief Officer on the scene answered that question when he said:

“We are of course very conscious the Mackintosh is a world-renowned building that is a key feature of this great city, and that the artworks it stores are not only valuable but also cherished… We are acutely aware this period is the culmination of years of endeavour for students and that their irreplaceable work is inside the Mackintosh.”

I thought it was interesting – in a week when a substantial proportion of the population voted for the latently racist and patently hateful UKIP – that I saw two examples of people go out of their way to help people they didn’t know.

What prompted the help in these cases was solidarity among folk who have common interests in a particular sport and a particular city. More than that, the fire fighters also went above and beyond what could reasonably be expected of them just because they knew that the students had put a lot of effort into their work.

Leaving aside the policies of UKIP, an issue which bothers me persistently is the attitude or feeling which UKIP creates. All of UKIP’s policies seem to be premised on the supposedly shocking state of British Society – “Broken Britain”, as the Daily Mail likes to put it.

Sure, there are aspects of society which are objectionable, but when I see folk helping out others just because they think it’s the right thing to do, I am reminded that people are generally well-intentioned, pleasant and just like “us”. I reckon you’d have difficulty in finding a UKIP supporter with anything close to a positive attitude about society as a whole; they’d rather predict doom and poverty.

I’ll end this week’s TF with two photos. The first is of a “thank you” which was left for the fire fighters outside Glasgow’s Central Station:

And the second is this week’s Tash – Charles Rennie Mackintosh – designer of the Glasgow School of Art.

Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

Helplessness Blues

Posted on May 23, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

This week, I watched the last episode of The West Wing for the umpteenth time.

There were a few TF related points to take from the last 5-10 minutes before the curtain fell on President Bartlet’s regime:

As he stands in the West Wing for the last time, President Bartlet looks out the window onto the White House lawn. It’s clearly hitting him that his time in power is coming to an end and he’s thinking whether he could have done more. His wife reassures him that he “did a lot of good” but he’s clearly not convinced.

Later, at the end of his first staff meeting in the Oval Office, the new president (I won’t tell you his name just in case any of you want to watch it in the future) asks “what’s next?” and smiles. He’s full of ambition and determination to achieve all of the things that Bartlet didn’t.

Finally, in the last scene of the series, President Bartlet is flying on Air Force One to his family home. The new president has been sworn in and Bartlet’s job is at an end. Again, he’s staring pensively out the window as the sun sets in the distance. This time, when his wife asks him what he’s thinking, he simply smiles and says:

Tomorrow.

I suspect that from time to time we’ve all experienced those emotions. We’ve all been full of enthusiasm at the beginning of a great undertaking and, by the time we reach the end, we have all found ourselves wondering whether there’s more we could have done.

That’s where perspective comes in. Once we realise, as President Bartlet did when he looked out of the window of Air Force One, that we are but functioning cogs in this great machinery we call humanity, we understand that it’s an achievement to have made even a small positive change to the world around us.

Peppered through this week’s TF are references to a song called “Helplessness Blues” by Fleet Foxes. The song starts by describing someone suffering from the helplessness blues but in a line that marks a change of pace and message Robin Pecknold sings:

What good is it to sing helplessness blues?

Why should I wait for anyone else?

As much as we all sometimes feel helpless, or that we could have done more, a bit of perspective should change that. The only way to deal with that feeling is to remember that our feelings of helplessness will continue only for as long as we choose not to take control; that we cannot wait for someone to tell us what to do; that we must think of tomorrow rather than yesterday; and that we must ask “what’s next!?”

Although President Bartlet doesn’t rock a Tash, it turns out that the actor who plays him did. Martin Sheen, take a bow, this is a smashing effort:

Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

Walkabout

Posted on May 16, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators!

During TF’s unscheduled absence over the last fortnight, I made a couple of journeys into rural Scotland. The first of those trips in particular was to a fairly remote part of the country and offered some spectacular scenery:

I found being out in the countryside very therapeutic. I’m not sure whether it was the road trip which made me feel like I was totally detached from the reality of everyday life or whether it was the views; but that’s really how it felt.

It strikes me that I am a fairly late convert to the therapeutic properties of leisurely travel and beautiful vistas. Australian Aborigines, for example, would go Walkabout during their adolescence and I suppose that gap years, these days, are a similar thing. Closer to home, there are plenty of examples of folk whose lives have been immeasurably enhanced by wide open spaces. One person in particular springs to mind, as he was born only 30 miles from where I’m currently sitting but ended up passing away 5,000 miles away, after a life devoted to the outdoors.

The chap I am referring to is John Muir. Although he was born in Dunbar, he moved to the US as a child and subsequently ventured to TF’s spiritual home, San Francisco. Immediately after arriving in San Francisco in 1867, he left for Yosemite; a place which would take the breath of even the most indoorsy of city dwellers:

Interestingly, Yosemite’s protection from commercial exploitation was secured by a couple of TF regulars. In 1864, Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, which set a precedent for the creation of the first national park at Yellowstone. In 1890, following lobbying by Muir, Yosemite National Park was created.

The Park’s current form was created after Muir took President Theordore Roosevelt (he of “daring greatly” fame) camping for three nights in May 1903. It was then, after the President awoke under a light dusting of snow on Glacier Point, that Muir persuaded Roosevelt to take the Park into the control of the Federal Government, which he duly did in 1906. There’s a great photo of Muir and Roosevelt up on Glacier Point. If you look at the waterfall on the right side of both the picture below and the picture above, you can get an idea of what the view was from Glacier Point, which in turn explains why Roosevelt took action to protect it:

In times when we are encouraged to broaden our horizons, and look beyond our current circumstances, I wonder how many of us get out to places where our horizons are literally broadened; where we can really experience the size and beauty of the world around us. I also wonder how many of us would be changed if we saw and appreciated the kinds of things that Muir did.

Naturally, this week’s Tash is John Muir. He had much more of a beard than a Tash but, to be fair, it would have been difficult to maintain a clean cut Tash when out in the wilderness. Also, who would have been looking at it? Muir had Yosemite all to himself most of the time.

Have a great weekend folks!

What’s next?

Tick Tock

Posted on May 2, 2014 by tashfriday

Good morning Tash Appreciators,

I was struck this week by the reaction of many people to the death of Bob Hoskins. Overwhelmingly, the first reaction of people mentioning the news was to describe his or her memories of one of his roles. That’s true for me as I immediately thought of his portrayal of Smee in Hook – a film that many of us remember fondly:

Remembering Hook started me thinking about Peter Pan and J. M. Barrie’s story more generally. I have to say, I didn’t think too much about the plot when I was younger. My understanding was essentially: boy v. Pirate = good fun. It strikes me now that maybe I should take a closer look.

Captain Hook (his first name was James, you know) was a swashbuckling and cruel pirate. He plotted and schemed against someone who was a good 40 years younger than him. However, he was terrified by one thing: the tick-tock of a clock in the belly of a crocodile i.e. his doom:

Before he died, Bob Hoskins gave his daughter 11 tips to follow in life, which she then listed on her website. These tips were: laugh; be yourself; be flamboyant; don’t worry about other people’s opinions; get angry; whatever you do, always give it a good go; be generous and kind because you can’t take it with you; appreciate beauty, take pictures and make memories; don’t take yourself too seriously; never, ever, ever, ever give up; and love with all your heart.

I think James Hook could have used those tips. Rather than using the tick-tock of the crocodile as a reminder that life is sometimes short and that he should get on with making the best of it, Hook became resentful and hostile.

As for us, regardless of whether we hear it or not, time is always ticking away. It may not be a crocodile that gets us but none of us will be here forever. I guess the dream we should all have is to move onto our last great adventure in the way which Bob Hoskins seems to have done. To do that, we should maybe remember something which J.M Barrie says in the book:

“Perhaps we could all fly if we were as dead-confident-sure of our capacity to do it as was bold Peter Pan that evening.”

I am aware that several Appreciators are having problems with confidence these days. They are wondering whether they should take the path which they know will lead somewhere safe (albeit somewhere where the may not necessarily want to go) or the path which turns away into the unknown. I would recommend taking a bit of both Peter Pan’s and James Hook’s attitudes into account when making that decision: hear the clock ticking; be conscious of the fact that we all grow up/old; but have the confidence in yourself to fly.

I think it’s time for the Tashes. The obvious example is Dustin Hoffman, in Hook:

Usually, such an excellent example would suffice for one week. However, I was surprised to discover that J.M. Barrie rocked an absolutely superlative Tash, so this week is a double-helping of Tash-based goodness:

Have a cracking weekend folks!

What’s next?

Tash Friday

Tag Archives: Keep Going

The rhythm of my heart is beating like a drum

Todo debe pasar

…You’ve seen it all

In your dreams…

BANG ON!

Closer To The Edge

Good Samaritans

Helplessness Blues

Walkabout

Tick Tock