Tide and time.

I think I remember writing about Thunderbay before?? My trip to Confederation collage. At the weekend I was at home. (Home, home where is home? I shall leave that for another time) sitting in the Portaferry Hotel having a quiet drink when who should drop buy but one of my fellow Thunderbay people. We used to call him the song master as he would burst into song at every opportunity, and was quite good on the spoons.



Anyway no one ever knew what had happened to him and we had time to catch up. He said what with big Ian and Gerry shaking hands, he had always felt home sick, had the opportunity to move back home and thought now was the time.



It's good to see more people who have lived away coming home to get on with Northern Ireland , dear old Northern Ireland. He originally trained as a glass designer.........and like many other designers in dear old NI there was not many prospects here.



I was recently at a creative choices event and the women there said how every creative person at some time has to decide if they are good enough to be world class or if they are going to go into another role.



I have to say it made me laugh because I know many world class artists and designers and creators in NI it is not that they are not good enough that has stopped them progressing it's the system on top of them. The crust of relationship and inter connective c*** that chokes them when they try. Why is that crust there? Because we are all part of it dragging people down jumping on top of their ideas. Laughing at them when they try and do something different . Voting the same people in again and again and again. It's that good old begrudging . Belfast begrudging that we use to try and keep people in their " perceived place"



I didn't really understand it until I was in the US. The land of the free??? Well lets not go there . But there was a can do attitude. Your a person , I'm a person you have an idea well lets try it.



Not, who are you? what did your parents do? that will never work? and on and on it goes. Lets all drag each other down ,so we can all feel bad together. Drag, drag, drag.



When is the last time you heard someone say, that's great? delighted that worked? well done for working hard and getting that opportunity? it's just a different state of mind a more positive state of mind. A less begrudging state of mind.



Is that possible in Northern Ireland ? to have a less begrudging state of mind? Imagine all the head time, the little brains thinking over time that it would release. Imagine that head space moved over into positive thinking and good thoughts. Would it creative a positive consciousness?

Lift the cloud of begrudging?? Who knows.



One of the things I remember about Thunderbay was Paul coming into collage one day saying in his workplace there was a sign that said " your attitude effects your altitude" ......................we all had to think about it for a while. ..............................................................................but I can't help thinking it was right. So the next time begrudging comes your way stop and consider why you think like that??