No-one is immune from death. It is the great leveler. Every day, millions pass into the realm of unknowing, "the undiscovered country/from whose bourn/no traveler returns" The passing of any creature then, even though ubiquitous, is saddening. That life is worthy of some kind of remembrance.

But some lives are remembered more than others, for the famous and the powerful spread their influence more widely. No time has better suited this phenomenon than today, for even though the internet and other media can propel a nobody into 15 minutes of stardom, a tiny minority still dominate.

I don't mean to perpetuate this cycle, but I cannot let another blog pass without paying short homage to David Bowie. Mr Bowie was a constant presence through my teenage years and then well into my twenties. I have many of his records on vinyl and they are scratched up somewhat from the constant playing. He was a different category of pop star to anyone I knew and his ability to absorb the trends and create his own sound was testament to a major talent.

The other day NASA named a small asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter after him in a beautiful and apt gesture to the man who sang both Major Tom and Starman and other space-themed songs to boot.

Though I'm past 100,000 miles I'm feeling very still




Here in Kyoto, he upstages a Umeda-bound Hankyu train, in classic Bowie style.