365 to 42

Just spent the day shopping at an outlet village, less a village, more a small town and now I’m back and drained of energy. Having being in a lot of the shops the one thing that surprised me was how friendly the staff were, if it was me working on a Saturday and have to answer lots of stupid questions I’m sure I would get quite off hand. Picture today is of a tree, it does not look it but the tree was massive, but when taken in its surroundings it looks so small. ---------------- Now playing: Spandau Ballet - To cut A long story short via FoxyTunes

I think there has been a slight misunderstanding, I've not yet reach my birthday only hit 351 post, which struck me as a good number, but still short of the 365. The big day will be the 14th of February, but thanks for the birthday wishes i will enjoy them when i'm a bit older. I've added lesson 2 to the photo course , hope you like it. Just read a story of a Blogger from Alaska who has gone missing , this prompted me to have a look at her blog and I found this. “daily reminders” “1. there are at least two people in this world who you would die for 2. at least 15 people in this world love you in some way 3. the only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you 4. a smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don’t like you 5. every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep 6. you mean the world to someone 7. you are special and unique 8. someone that you don’t even know exists loves you 9. when you make the bi...

The 351st post and it seems like only yesterday that I started this thing. The weather here is again very poor so today it looks like I will have to do some house work, still it gets it out of the way for the weekend. Did manage to get some more work done on the photo course yesterday, I sat down to mess with a couple of ideas and ended up writing over 800 words, not bad for someone who less than a year ago would have been daunted by a 2 line email. In fact even writing this would have taken me hours to do. Today we have one of the images rescued yesterday; I loved the texture and repeated shapes, but when scanning through the shots the first time it just did not hold the same appeal. Having return to it, I re-framed the shot and took out most of the colour which highlights the texture and brings back the shapes I liked. ---------------- Now playing: The Prodigy - Breathe via FoxyTunes

Its dark, cold, wet and yak! So I’m taking the opportunity to do house work, only joking, I’m spending my time going over some of the shots taken earlier in the month to see if I missed any really good ones. That’s one of the problems with digital photos you just take so many shots that you have no time to really look at them. Take this month, during a normal January if I was shooting on slide film I would shoot maybe 2 or 3 films, around a 100 shots. This would cost me around £30. This month, given that it’s been quite poor weather, I’ve shot over 600 images; this would have cost me around £160. But the down side is I have lots of images that I have hardly looked at and as I shoot the images unprocessed by the camera, any I do look at need tweaking before they can be used. So today I’ve rescued 3 images that would in all probability have slipped through my fingers, if it had not been such a bad day out side. Today the picture comes from just down the hill from here on the local canal....

In my job I act as a liaison between the customer and some of our back room departments, customer ask me questions or give me instructions which I then translate into directives for the back room staff. After watching the news last night I’ve come up with a great idea, when the customer asked me to get something done I will offer a faster service, using my influence to grease the wheels, for a small sum paid directly to me. What do you think? I bet most of you think this is wrong and that I should be sacked even for thinking it and I would agree, but if you are a member of the House of Lords it seems as if it is quite alright to charge upward of £100k to do just the same thing. The 3 that have been caught out so far seem to think that standing up and apologising makes it alright, wrong, I would lose my job and find my chances of working in a similar position extremely difficult. Being a member of the House of Lords is an honour not a way to make money, the least that should happen to t...

The first lesson of my photography course should be posted tomorrow, if all goes well today. The news here was full of the story about the BBC not screening an appeal for help for the people of Gaza. I started my weekend watching the return of Jonathan Ross, a TV presenter that had just finished a 3 month ban after a radio program he had recorded was aired and was found very offensive by some listeners. This show was broadcast by the same BBC that is now refusing to screen an appeal for aid for families caught up in the war between Hamas and Israel. So it seems that it is ok to broadcast offensive material but not pleas for help, have the moral standards at the BBC dropt so low. To put this into some kind of perspective the other 3 main channels are all screening the appeal. Another picture from the Chatsworth estate, showing a pair of old barns. ---------------- Now playing: Jona Lewie - You'll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties via FoxyTunes

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~Robin Williams The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring. ~Bern Williams ---------------- Now playing: Catatonia - Mulder And Scully via FoxyTunes