Nearly…

Today I nearly ended up in Penzance. An undignified scramble out of the train following the announcement that the train I had just comfortably settled into, Sunday newspaper and ipad out to while away the hours to follow, was for the opposite direction. Sheepishly back on the platform I greeted another couple, who’d obviously done the same, as if they were long lost friends. We shared our relief at disaster averted and then waited silently, still somewhat embarrassed for the next train, our train, to arrive.

Once sat on the right train and musing over my mishap, I thought about a website a friend of mine is involved in : nearlyology.com. A collection of people’s tales, real and I am sure sometimes imagined, of things that nearly did or nearly didn’t happen to them. Some wonderful tales on there. Check it out.

As for me I nearly ended up in Penzance today and so nearly missed watching one of the most impressive films seen in ages – Twelve Years a Slave. So beautifully shot and such a brutal story. The story of a man who nearly had a very different life.

Some incredibly beautiful images in the film – the colours, the lighting – extraordinary.

Extraordinary images. Cartier Bresson was a photographer known for “the decisive moment”. Photos taken, often street photographs, of a moment in time. The one before or the one after would have been so different.

I’m far from Cartier Bresson, far indeed, but the idea of the decisive moment has always interested me. To finish here is a quick shot I nearly didn’t take as was facing the other way and then for some reason turned round..

Priceless. Shanghai. And I nearly missed it.