Okay, so it's my turn to get a bit soppy and sentimental now. Whilst searching for and booking my holiday on the internet, a very fond tune came into my mind. The tune was from a film I watched at my late Grandparents house when I was a very young lad (just about knee high to a grasshopper).

Each time I hear this song, no matter what I am doing, I have to stop...

...closing my eyes I can smell the Sunday dinner cooking, I can hear my grandparents voices as if I was there again, sat on the floor next to my Grandad's armchair with both of us singing along to the film. Such a warm and reassuring feeling, remembering the happy times the whole family had together. It reminds me how fortunate I have been to be born into such a close and caring family. My Grandad died of cancer many years ago, and my Grandmother sadly died in a tragic accident earlier this year. I miss them both dearly.

Little did I know then, that this tune would have such a profound affect on my life and my desire to wander. It is the one tune that came to me as I canoed down the Amazon River, sat on the sand dunes in Egypt, rode the camels in Morroco and the Canary Islands, strolled through the streets of Gas Town in Vancouver, stood in the centre of Time Square NY, tried to ski down the snowy slopes of the French Alps, walked through the Harz Mountains of Germany, admired the ruins of the original Olympic buildings in Olympia Greece, stood inside the Colosseum in Rome, sailed on Loch Ness in Scotland and many many more precious moments around the world...

...every where I travel this tune always goes with me, watching over me. A feeling inside of me that words could never truly describe.

So, you may be wondering what this tune is. It's from the film "Paint Your Wagon", and the singer was Lee Marvin. The song is both mesmorising and melancholy and is called:
"I was born under a wondering star".

Has there been a song, a film or another moment that has remained with you since your chidhood, staying with you through life
(and perhaps had a profound influence on some of the choices you have made)?