Photo extract from Hebridean Diary of a Serial Sailor"

Mallaig lifeboat to my rescue

Mission finished

Henry Alston Hewitt to the recue

The lee shore behind was a lot closer than it looks

These images taken from Mikoko

Much of what I have learned has been gained from my experiences being self employed in the art business as well as sailing the seas of the Western Isles of Scotland.
Being self employed for the last forty years has made me self resilient and conscious of where my next meal was coming from, and one of the best ways to earn is to learn to do jobs yourself; that way you save in wages but also learn new skills and gain the self confidence to survive in a competitive world.Thrift has taught me how to tread lightly, and being aware of how we are wasting earth`s finite resources has lead me in later life to watch  consumption and reduce my small footprint on an ever increasingly fragile world; okay I have become a stingy bastard!
Sailing is a wonderful hobby and when running free with the wind, nothing can equal this experience. Thirty three years and 25,00 miles in the same boat is an incredible journey, I have been very lucky, and when I nearly had a fatal sailing accident last year, something within me clicked and I decided to put much of my sailing experience down probably as a delayed reaction to the near drowning. The result was "Hebridean Diary of a Serial Sailor" which I published this June as an electronic book on Amazon. It has sold modestly more than I expected, so to promote this further, anyone can download this for free from Tuesday 19th to Thursday 21st November, 2012.
The UK download link is 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_8/277-0645474-1667250?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=cully%20pettigrew&sprefix=CULLY+PE%2Caps%2C704

There are over 100 colour images, some art business, mostly sailing 

Check these out at my Flickr page;   http://www.flickr.com/photos/98207267@N03/ 

 Would appreciate if you download to write an honest Amazon Review

A new beginning, an alternative view

Under construction....
This blog is the beginning of the end...the end of our dependence on over consumption,  of thoughtless materialism , of  loss of personal identity. An alternative view is the quest. Not for me to dictate my  own views but simply to guide, to nudge forward, to suggest another way. A revolution of  free thinking for oneself, a rejection of dogma, cant and hypocritical self belief. 

The original title was the "anti-consumerist society" suggested by the late John Finch Craig who spent much of his life as a city hermit in Park Circus Lane, Glasgow, living in  derelict stables much as the ancient anchorites from times past.The use of the word "anti" is negative and I have coined a new phrase  "treading lightly", which  more accurately describes my own mission statement. I am not against materialism and consumerism per se, but would suggest we must ration our resources carefully,and in the words of Mahatma Gandi, "There is sufficiency in the world for man`s need but not for man`s greed".
To be continued...