It's funny, but you never really think much about breathing. Until it's all you ever think about.

We rise to a challenge and set a course. We take a decision. You put your mind to something. Just deciding to do it gets you halfway there. Daring to try.

I just sit here and tell the story as though I can't help it. There's always something in the day that reminds me, that sets me off all hot and guilty and scared and rambling and wistful, like I am now.

People do change - individuals, families, nations - and the pace of transformation need not be geological.

Surfing is one of the most joyful pursuits a human can take up. But there's no joy in a deadzone. If you've ever surfed in turds and medical waste you don't want to repeat the experience.

The desert is a spiritual place, we vaguely understand, and the sea the mere playground of our hedonism.

Wherever I went I felt like the last person awake in a room full of sleepers