The lives of philosophers would be dull reading if they were as tidy as their thoughts often tend to be. Alastair Hannay describes how he 'slid' into philosophy but found it a useful means of transport for a life framed here in metaphors of the sea, an unruly element that has played some part in a not always tidy life.Although the philosophy option attracts some because it suits their talents, the less talented may look to it for guidance in making sense of their lives. Hannay's own 'episodic' interest led him by chance to a life-time of active engagement with philosophers of all kinds. An encounter with the works of Søren Kierkegaard opened the way to a personal take on a profession that easily ends in abstractions but which, when its questions are brought down to earth, sees market-place and academic philosophy from a perspective that allows the one to enrich the other.