Day 251/516 8

Taken on 19th September, 2009 in Cayos Cochinos, Honduras. Nikon D90, Exposure 1/500s at f/4.8, Focal Length 42mm, ISO Speed 100. Show on Flickr.

A younger me once wrote:

There seem to be many couples travelling together but it seems to me not to be the best way to travel. I mean I'm sure I will do that at some stage in my life but right now it seems that maybe in that situation you would not be as open to meeting new people and would be focused more on the relationship as opposed to more solely on where you are and the opportunities that presents.

Thailand, 2002

At the risk of embarrassing my beautiful travelling companion, photographed above, and descending into the corniness she loves to accuse me of, I think it's time to set the record straight on how I now feel about travelling as part of a couple. I'll leave the really mushy stuff to Nick Cave however, and a song which remains synonymous with Catherine for me:

It's up in the morning and on the downs
Little white clouds like gambolling lambs
And I am breathless over you
And the red-breasted robin beats his wings
His throat it trembles when he sings
For he is helpless before you
The happy hooded bluebells bow
And bend their heads all a-down
Heavied by the early morning dew
At the whispering stream, at the bubbling brook
The fishes leap up to take a look
For they are breathless over you
Still your hands
And still your heart
For still your face comes shining through
And all the morning glows anew
Still your mind
Still your soul
For still, the fare of love is true
And I am breathless without you
The wind circles among the trees
And it bangs about the new-made leaves
For it is breathless without you
The fox chases the rabbit round
The rabbit hides beneath the ground
For he is defenceless without you
The sky of daytime dies away
And all the earthly things they stop to play
For we are all breathless without you
I listen to my juddering bones
The blood in my veins and the wind in my lungs
And I am breathless without you
Still your hands
And still your heart
For still your face comes shining through
And all the morning glows anew
Still your soul
Still your mind
Still, the fire of love is true
And I am breathless without you

Breathless, Nick Cave, The Lyre of Orpheus, 2004