Walking the dog brought me inspiration for a story told in poetry.

Walking down the dark path at night; 
For some it brings a fright; others the darkness will excite.
It all depends if the circumstances are right...



The darkness interrupted by the orange glow of the streetlight.
Shining from great height, the glow isn't very bright.
Enough to obscure the darkness with light, enough to give you insight of what might...

...lay in wait!

Your mind: Scenarios; It starts to create
situations you have to evaluate
even though it's difficult to think straight...

You hear a noise, your chest goes tight...

Adrenaline starts pumping: getting ready to fight?

Why did you go out alone tonight?

Something's not right... It's far from great.

Your want to take flight; your legs turn to dead weight...

Remembering a torch, you feel delight. Turning it on, you illuminate

a very familiar sight... 

It's your garden gate!

- TheLittlerich.

Hitting the '30' milestone: How does it compare to how you planned?

30 seems to be a landmark age nowadays, one in which you compare where you think you should be and where you actually are.
For some, the age 30 holds excitement and joy, for others they reach 30 and realise the achievements they wanted to accomplish were far beyond them.

I recently reached 30, and I decided to measure where my life would be, how I always saw myself by 30 and compare it to what I had accomplished.

My goals were:

• Have settled down in a steady relationship, with two children (a girl and a boy).
• I wanted to be either working in a television or video production based environment, or running my own business.
• I wanted a decent car... Nothing too flashy, something sensible.
• I wanted to have a decent size house, with a large enough garden to allow the kids to run about safely.
• I wanted a dog.

Having recently (well, almost 6 months ago) reached 30, I look back and realise I haven't done too badly!

• I am in a steady relationship with Jan, and we have two children, Dominic and Makayla.
• My career has been working in TV - my last job was working for a national broadcaster in Scotland for several years.
• I currently drive a Renault Scenic - it's not exactly a Porsche but it's big enough to ferry the family about in.
• We have a dog called Buster!

I could look at my achievements and think "I've failed" because not everything on the list has been ticked off - I don't own my own house, and right at this moment I'm unemployed, but I have managed to achieve a career and a family. However, I see my life as a success - I'm sure not many people can look back on their life at 30 and realise they have achieve what they were aiming for.

If you ask me how I have done this, I must answer I don't know. I don't feel that I have really had to try hard to get everything I have wanted, it has just sort of came to me...

You could say that I was lucky in life -

I was lucky to get my break in RedTV, I was lucky to get the experience and the personal life that led me into Glasgow and onto my HND, I was lucky to be picked from everybody on my course to work in STV, and then I was lucky to end up in Darlington with Jan, Dominic and Makayla.

I am now looking forward to the next milestone in my life - 40! I haven't really given that much thought, however I think it will involve getting back into work and restarting my career, watching the kids grow up and hopefully moving into our own house.

Whatever the future holds, I know one thing - I am not going to worry about it!
Whatever is set for our future, we will face together, through good and bad times. What more can a guy ask for in life?

- TheLittlerich.