Too Busy To Notice!

Stand out from the rest… whether you choose to be different
or just are, live your life because it is just that…
YOUR life!

One Shoe, One Slipper?

Most people are too busy with their lives to notice what other people think about them. This I find especially true in the mornings; eating breakfast at a hundred miles per hour, feeding the kids their breakfast at a hundred miles per hour, getting the bus to work, geting the train to work, stuck in a traffic jam in your car on the way to work, walking the kids to school, collecting the kids from school.

If you are like me and the above sounds a little like your routine... pause for a few moments during this cacophony of your kids telling you what they want for next Christmas, not the Christmas that is six weeks away - oh no, but the Christmas after that! Their minds are so stuffed full from adverts for "Frozen" merchandise or the crucial topic of who is the prettiest Disney princess! Pause for those few moments and breathe. Look around you at other people caught up in the same morning rush maelstrom and wonder who they are, what do they do after all this chaos subdues for a few hours?

Apart from the odd parent still dressed in pajamas or the tussle haired father who somehow has one shoe and one slipper on, does anyone care if they stand out from the crowd? Does anyone choose to be different; to express their own identity? Are we all too busy living our lives to actually live OUR lives?

Diverse Before The Hearse Arrives?

Most people do take time to dress in a way that represents them, listen to one or many genres of music from punk to trance - one that represents them, follow a particular sport that represents them - be it anything from football to scuba diving or support a certain political party that represents them. Whatever orientation, age, size, colour, or creed you are - we all have an identity and have a need to represent or be represented.

If your life is too busy to express your diversity, the years will fly by and before you know it, the last form of expression you will have is whether to be sent off in a pine or an oak casket. Perhaps you will get to have a say on the inscription on your headstone....

"Here I Lie, Too Late To Be Diverse Before The Hearse Arrived"

Be diverse! Pause to live a little... or a lot! Take the time to notice other people and their diversity - better still - celebrate it!

This topic got me thinking and inspired my latest graphic t-shirt design.
It is called "diversity" and plays on the idea of one diver expressing himself.

For Divers & Non-Divers Alike!


You can see the tees here:
Mens/Unisex & Lady-Fit

comMUTE

Using Public Transport in Silence

The daily commute! Sitting on public transport, everyone silent...
Sometimes you feel like a tiny piece of a bigger puzzle or just another part of the machine.

Let me start off by stating that I am no longer a commuter! I work from my home office now as opposed to commuting almost one and a half hours each way to work in a design studio for fifteen years or more. Needless to say, over the years, spending more than a quarter of my working day commuting to and from the studio I have had some interesting experiences and met some strange, funny and crazy people along the way.

To say public transport in Dublin, Ireland, is unreliable is very much an understatement. Granted, with the Dart light rail and the relatively recent introduction of the Luas tram systems (all of only two lines!) that unreliability is not a regular experience for commuters who live near a stop. 

However, I have on occasion had to wait forty minutes for a bus when one was scheduled to arrive every fifteen. When the bus eventually arrived I asked what the delay was; only to be rebuked by a shrug of the shoulders and the comment "Sure it's a lovely day and anyway it's nice to be out in the fresh air". My better half is from Germany and if the tram is a minute late, which is very rare, people stare at their watches and shake their heads in disbelief.

Passengers in a drug-like trance caused by the monotony of public transport.

Original photo by Kevin Utting (not endorsed). Adapted by Fishtank Tees.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ 

Once on the bus and having phoned the office to say I would be late, I settled down in the only window seat available to stare out monotonously just like everyone else. Okay, it's not all bad I hear you say;
it is warm and a comfortable way to spend an hour reading a book, listening to music or surfing the web. Not unless the middle of Winter is upon us and your face is almost stuck to the icy wet window trying to avoid the over exuberant knees of the passenger beside you. 

Catching some shut-eye after a long day.

Original photo by Annie Mole (not endorsed). Adapted by Fishtank Tees.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

I have heard people say they have met their future partners while on public transport. Not in my case. While I am very lucky to have a wife and children, I never found love on the 25A to Merrion Square.
In the days when I was a single commuter there was an episode of being an unwilling shoulder to lean on. A young woman who seemed like she had a late night decided to fall asleep. We've all experienced having to gently nudge the person beside us who was drifting off to sleep and onto our shoulder. This was a little more uncomfortable in that she decided to snuggle into me and smack her lips as if she was settling down for the night. 

After several failed attempts of gentle nudging I woke her and asked if she would like to swap seats so she could lean against the window. She declined and on falling back asleep resumed to plump up the arm of my coat to cradle her cheek. I nudged once more and asked her to stop using me as a pillow; thankfully, she went downstairs to find a seat.

Living in a bubble.

Original photo by Pascal Maramis (not endorsed). Adapted by Fishtank Tees.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/


We all like our own personal space and when on public transport we tend to enclose ourselves in our own little bubble. This is achieved by popping on some headphones and turning the volume up to eleven, resorting to the thousand yard stare out the window while we day dream about being somewhere else or by simply reading a book or the newspaper. 

Trying to preserve some personal space.

Original photo by Pedro Figueiredo (not endorsed). Adapted by Fishtank Tees.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ 


There are alternatives to using public transport. Many people don't mind being stuck in traffic jams while others take the opportunity to be kind to the planet and themselves by walking or cycling.
If you do take to the roads on your bike, take care; here's a short video on cycling safety http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKFg5XptHvY

Get some exercise while you commute!

Original photo by Bernd (not endorsed). Adapted by Fishtank Tees. 
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Sometimes you will see an interesting poster or advertising while commuting but for the most part if you are a writer or an artist there is more inspiration to be gleaned from the different people who commute with you; from your immediate environment, whether it be a tube station or a bicycle lane. 

Okay, here is the shameless plug - If you want to stand out in the crowd while commuting, you could wear a "commute" graphic t-shirt from http://www.fishtanktees.com . To see the tees, here is a direct link http://buff.ly/1hEraqe available in White, Go-Green, Get-Ready-Yellow and Stop-Red.

Whatever mode of transport you use in your daily commute, stay safe!