Life Observed

A wet Bank Holiday. One feels we will stay indoors and play cards while the rain patters down around us. Let's leave the Wolseley in the garage and ring for tea in the conservatory. Switch on the wireless.  Maybe there's a play on the Home Service this afternoon.

If you are going to write your journal in bed, do it in style: But don't forget to switch the light on. Stourbridge House...

Two sides of life in Cyprus. Here's the modern hotel with solar heating, nice swimming pool, a bar and free WiFi. All the essentials for modern life. Down the road in the local town there is the traditional Cypriot barbers shop.  No WiFi here. In fact I wonder if there is electricity. The locals wander in for their weekly shaves courtesy of lather and cut throat razor.

Drip drip drip.  Time is passing.  One day there will be no time left. What will happen then, eh? Think on , as they say up north.

Down in the Servants Hall, everyone is summoned by bells. This is Kingston Lacy again. When the wire and pendulum arrangement eventually failed there were still bells on the telephone to summon the Butler or the Maid of all work.

Here is a picture I took from my earliest photographic days. This was taken on Kodachrome in 1972, and I probably used a Praktica L camera judging by the date. I scanned it a few years ago with a DSLR and macro lens. I can generally remember the circumstances behind almost all the fifteen thousand pictures I've taken and kept over the years. Some memory is jogged by the image when I see it. In this case I have no idea where this country church would be**. I would guess it was near Abingdon or Oxford, or perhaps Canterbury. I must have been impressed enough by the sunlight on the double sided wooden lectern to devote a valuable slide picture to it. Ah well, to quote the Latin: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.  **Update. This is Little Wittenham church south of Abingdon. Incredibly, the Google image search facility found someone else's image in the sa...

No, not a Roman numeral this time.   It's an actual "C". Placed on a shelf:  Like you do. Well, where do you keep your spare alphabet letters then? An oddity spotted in a tea shop.. Spotting oddities is the only reason I visit tea shops you understand.

We popped in to the Wordsworth house in Cockermouth yesterday. This National Trust property is where the young wordsmith grew up and comes highly recommended. Like many NT properties, they have a better attitude to photos these days, just as long as you don't use flash. There are lots of nice little details to see, and no modern lighting to spoil the illusion. The staff in costume seemed happy to pose for me, which was nice...

A stylish interior courtesy of the mid Wales Georgian bed and breakfast we used at the weekend. This nice symmetrical arrangement was framed by the window at the end of the passage: Very pleasing to behold. This look was obtained by massive deliberate under exposure enhanced by an Orton soft sandwich action and some more work in Photoshop.

Is we walked through the Borough Market in Halifax I heard the sound of singing, not something you normally hear there. Usually there is that quiet but determined buzz of trading. We quickly found the source: Not some canned music event, but real singers (including the Mayor..) apparently serenading the vegetable stand. I regret I didn't have my wide angle lens with me, so this will have to do. Serenading vegetables, now that's the spirit of Christmas PS. Mangos, 99p if you are interested ..

You know Christmas is near when the pub menus have tinsel on them. Is this really what Christmas is about, I ask myself...

While wandering around Southwold recently, we came across the Casino . This is not a Gambling den but a small round lookout style building. Last time we were there it was empty but this time we find it hosting Blyth 105, a local micro radio station. Bill (The Midweek Country Show with Bill) invited us into the studio and we chatted while the records played and were quiet during the spoken links. It's quite a novelty, being in a radio studio live on air. "All the news that is news from Walberswick to Reydon"

Wood. Here are several examples of this noble material  in various forms... Here is a nice example of some seventeenth century wood. A rather fine carved wooden chair. This, and the item in the next image are to be found in Shibden Hall, West Yorkshire. Years of use and careful polishing have made a lovely sheen to the surface. Also at Shibden, there is this lovely carved statuette at the bottom of the stairs. This also shows that fine smooth surface that the years can bring. But wait. What's this. The footpath sign shown here is a great deal younger and yet is has not fared so well. Shame on the good folks of Hampshire for letting your woodwork decay like this. Get the polish out and look after your woodwork! This poor log didn't even make it to the woodworker before it fell foul of the bonfire. Yet it still shows some silken black dignity amongst the ashes. Finally here is some very young wood. This splendid mixture of fresh growth and last ...

There is always a touch of guilt involved when I photograph fruit or vegetables. It seems somehow wrong to eat your subject. Sometimes the object in question is found in the garden: Here is one of our Raspberries: Sometimes I've found the subject is lying in a field. This sweetcorn escaped consumption because it was still attached to the plant. I fear that someone ate it eventually. Usually the best subjects are to be found in the Kitchen however. You can control the lighting and dissect them at your leisure. Take this half cabbage for example, what wonderful patterns... Finally, here is the usual half pepper picture. This one sports a very pleasing array of seeds. So: Should we eat our subjects? Is it so bad?