Monday, January 24, 2011

Why Splashdown?

The time has come again to speak of my obsession with water as the physical harbinger of inspiration. I may have written something similar in years gone by, but still I am drawn to tell you how it pulls me in.

There's raw power in the splash of cold water. Whether a mountain stream, a backyard pool, or the open sea - all have the potential to realign the pathways of my brain and provoke concepts yet unimagined, but the sea most of all.

I do my best thinking after a good soaking. Perhaps it is the otherness of it, its unbreathability, its infinite vistas from the earthbound perspective, and the ocean has something akin to space. And since I cannot go to space - at least not yet - I content myself with the sea. I use its strange movements and gravity fluctuations to imagine life in space, its dangers to enter into the exhilarations and risks and fears of the void.

It is the nature of the splashdown that by it, you enter another world - whether a new planet, or merely underwater. Perhaps this is the reason for water's effect on me - but only if I dive straight in. There can be no fearful lingering at beachside or slow acclimatising to the cooler temperature if the maximum imagination effect is to be attained.

It is the same in my business. I have set up Splashdown in such a manner that we are able to move fast and decisively when the opportunity arises and appears appropriate. Many have been surprised at the speed in which we act - the reason: it's all about the splashdown.