The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

Those who have been kind enough to spare a few moments to notice my strange interests will be well aware that I like a puddle.

The puddle tells a story, one of rain, sun and wind, but it is not alone and lives as part of a bigger family of obstacles. The fallen tree or branch that blocks our path is so often relegated in our thoughts, if it reaches them at all, to a lowly hindrance not worthy of consideration. But, for those who care to look for them, all obstacles contain a story. Storms, failing ground, disease… what caused the tree to fall? The story will continue after we have made our way past the obstacle too. How long will it be there? Who, if it is not us, will move it and why?

Obstacles are prompts to ask questions. They are opportunities for us to let a…

Read More...

There is a really good attempt to give a flavour of the whole subject of natural navigation in an article in the Independent today by Tim Walker. Tim came for a walk in London to sample natural navigation urban-style.

Anyway, flower pot time. Take a look at this photo that I took yesterday just before lunch. Note the wet ground in the shade and how the shadow of the pot has moved ‘up’ leaving a wet area in its wake. The shadow is moving west to east, away from the camera. As it is close to the middle of the day, the sun is close to south and to the right of the picture. The shadow of the young tree is a near perfect north-south line.

There is also a shadow in the pot itself, on the right, southern side. This shade is allowing one side to stay moist…

Read More...

There are those that suspect the Natural Navigator’s life to consist of lying on the teak deck of a yacht musing about celestial bodies. It has happened, I cannot deny, and I do not wish to dampen such fanciful ideas, but it is not the bread and butter of this business.

There is a scene from that great movie, Point Break, where Johnny Utah (Keanu Reeves) is being shown round his new workplace, the armed robbery division of the LA FBI. His new boss is keen to dispel any romantic notions his green recruit may have of playing cops and robbers,

“Do you know how we nail the bad guys, Utah? … By crunching data. Good crime scene work, good lab work, and most importantly, good data-based analysis.”

Johnny Utah goes on to disprove this mundane prognosis in solid Reeves style, but that is not the point. At…

Read More...