Manx for the memories

This series of photos were taken in the Isle of Man on a recent visit. I have been going there on holiday to visit family and friends for most of my life. As a place and a landscape it is part of my soul. It's been a Viking raiding post, an internment camp in both world wars and a popular twentieth century tourist destination. The boarding houses made way for the financial institutions and parts of the island are now showing the effects of the recession years. As a child I met Manx friends of my aunts who understood and shared their sense of their own past and folklore, inspiring me to explore those subjects in my own life. I have taken my children on holiday to the island . My godmother still lives there. I've been to the TT and the Manx Grand Prix. I have seen the fairies at Fairy Bridge. I've heard the story of the Black Dog of Peel Castle, the Moddy Dhoo. I've climbed the battlements of Castle Rushen and sung 'Ellan Vannin' in the Glue Pot in Castletown.I've watched the seals in Peel Harbour,collected delicately coloured snail shells from Niarbyl Bay and been amazed by the Manx crosses in Maughold churchyard.I've been to Tynwald and seen the oldest parliament at work.As a child I met Gerald Gardner, king of the witches,at Witches Mill. I have favourite rocks and and views. These photos hold the ghosts of past visits, holiday memories, loved ones. The island' fortunes ebb and flow. The three legs of man land on their feet, whichever way you throw them.