People are soon forgotten

When I travel around, I am fascinated by what used to be somewhere. Whether it is railway lines, pubs, chapels or petrol stations, I am addicted to trying to work out what used to be in a particular place.

By researching former mine workings I have today learnt a lot about mining in the Isle of Man - one thing leads to another.

This fascination extends to rock singers, footballers and athletes.

Often when I am watching a track & field meeting on TV I will suddenly think; "Whatever happened to so and so".

Here is a good example of how quickly people are forgotten.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/14667422.stm

Athletics, just as other sport, recreation and the arts can bring a great quality to people's lives. But these activities can leave people with shattered lives too.

There have been an abundance of motivational speakers in recent years. And how many people have been motivated by Mo Farah's performance in the world championships? But we have to add some realism to our dreams. What happens when we wake up?

I don't subscribe to the theory that finishing second is failure. I think it is wonderful when athletes, like Mo Farah, can admit that they were beaten by a better man on the day.

By all means try and win but for most people the remainder of our lives will be spent realising that we have not achieved all we set out to achieve. And I hope that not too many people will end up in Andrew Steele's position. Not everyone has my fascination for researching the past and even if we did it is unlikely to help him.