All over

Thats christmas over for another year. A friend and her elderly mother made these amazing knitted nativity characters for me, and my sister crafted the stable. Clever girl. Mum was delighted to receive this yesterday.

School prizegiving

The kids have worked hard as always and have picked up a couple of awards. Well done them!

Ian and jacki

Spending a very pleasant evening at ian and jacki's annual pre christmas drinks party.

Simon roberts

Another treat. The 2009 rps touring speaker is simon roberts. Simon has had alot of work published in national newspapers and magazines from the daily mail to the sunday times to maxim to gq. Today we get a preview of the 2009 lecture where he shows some of his reportage work along with his 'motherland' exhibition of images taken during a year long journey across russia.

Colour

Im early for an appointment and stopped along a country lane when i saw this lovely landscape. The photograph has not captured the beauty though simply because the camer's dynamic range - its ability to see what our eyes see isnt good enough in spite of the order of magnitude advance in digital technology over the past few years. It hasnt captured the wonderful colours. So my message to the camera research boffins - keep working boys!

Christmas Market Pictures

This is the main photo I took. Exactly the same place but at 5 minute intervals from which I shall select and mount a sequence of 5 images showing a gradient from daylight and no lit up Cathedral, to complete darkness with the Cathedral brightly lit, and probably this one in the middle. The blur in the foreground is the masses of people moving as I took the photograph but I like the way I have frozen the ghostly looking photographer also taking a picture in the middle. Bit difficult to see properly with this picture being small, so look closely!




Not much to say about this one, other that it feels a bit retro, which I think works quite nicely.

Bowling

Hannahs birthday bowling at lincoln bowl. Very good venue since its makeover.

Christmas review

Some friends are members of a Christian group - Treshold - and we have been lucky enough to be invited to their social events for some time now. Tonight is their annual Christmad Review. Always lovely food, amazingly talented band. I mean absolutely talent, gorgeous dancers, funny comedy and wonderful company. They never force their faith down anyone's throat and were it not for the very discrete flyers detailling their church services over the festive period you just wouldnt know it was a Church group. They are actually like real people. Very, very nice real people.

Lincoln Christmas Market

Back at the spectacular market. Alot busier than opening night on Thursday. Im here early to get the best vantage point. At dusk when the illuminated cathedral will be at its best with a dark blue sky as a backdrop I'll take some pictures.

New phone

My trusty S500i had to go back to the carphone warehouse again. I didnt find the quality of the calls satisfactory after it came back from having a new keypad fitted. To cut a long story short they lost my phone and gave me the original purchase price against a new one. So i got one of sony's brand new top of the range flagship c905.

Royal Photographic Society

Had a couple of days away with the Royal Photographic Society of whom I im now a member. Yesterday in Birmingham and today at the fantastic National Media Museum in Bradford. Im almost certain to start work shortly on the first of (potentially) three internationally recognised distinctions in photography. This weekend has allowed me to look at and discuss with judges examples showing the standard required. Its very high and i hope working towards it will help focus my work. Pun intended!

Panorama

Just found panorama mode on my cameraphone. Not bad. Ive become quite excited about panoramic photography and have ordered an attachment to my tripod which i hope will help me capture some nice images.

Katie Melua

Was lucky enough to go to the first uk date of Katie Melua's european tour recently. Fantastic set and great value for money. Highly recommended.

Newark train station.

Im at newark train station today. North gate. There are two. This one is on the east coast mainline which runs from london to edinburgh. Ive been watching with some interest the bbc 4 documentaries which i think set out to chart the railway's decline from the beechim report in about 1963. One short film showed, side by the view from the train cab the same journey in 1953 and 1983. They were virtually identical. I think rail is the key to getting people off the roads but governments baulk at the cost of extending the network. The film graphically showed the longevity of the investment in rail infrastructure and i do wonder if someone needs to take the political decisions that commit to this, and throughout the country not, just on what used to be called network south east. A return to the 1950s would be a step forward.

Phil

Got a phone call from a very good friend phil inviting me to lunch. Well it would be rude to refuse!

Autumn

The leaves are changing, autumn is just around the corner. Often it is said we havent had much of a summer and winters are not as hard as they used to be. But I think spring and autumn are two seasons that can always be relied on to deliver the goods.

Indoor tennis

Time to move indoors for tennis. Wonderful courts. Nowhere near as good as playing outside in the sunshine though. Having said that i got a thrashing yesterday. I just played terribly. Id have been better off staying at home. Ive got a brilliant coach in Darren Kirk. We have a good laugh but at the same time he is able to get the point across in an effective way. Im pleased he wasnt watching!

Africa

Hannah is thinking about going on a world challenge project in africa to help some people there. Although the trip isnt until 2010 there is obviously a lot of planning and fund raising to do. Ive been sent on a parents information evening to suss it all out!

Dentist day

Dentist time again. Never the most pleasant experience but i have a good one. No longer treats patients on the nhs because of the new contract the government has imposed. The decline of nhs dentisty started with the last tory government and the current labour government have done nothing to stop it. Im no supporter of this government but it shows that a change in administration doesnt necessarily mean a change in policy. They are two sides of the same coin.

Slipping standards

National express, the new incumbent of the east coast mainline has removed the classic cups and saucers and replaced them with mugs like this. Its not the same. Apparently its to make the train more european. I disagree. Its indicative of slipping standards.

Kirschk at night

Installed some lights in my kirschk - a traditional turkish outdoor seating area. Although mine is a bit like a bedouin tent. Wonderful for sitting inside and chilling. Only got it for a few more weeks this year before it has to be packed away for winter.

M62 useless traffic planners

What a joke. Complete gridlock on the m62 and not even near the roadworks. Traffic management none existent. You never get problems like this in other countries what it is about our country that we find stuff like this so difficult. You would have thought the road companies would have got their act together by now. Sadly not. Complete rubbish.

Swing

Hannah and megan playing in nanny and granddads garden

School run

Dropping kids off at school for another day of fun. They dont know how lucky they are!

Thieves

Following the recent theft of one of my cars, Ive even had to bond my gate sign to the gate itself to try and keep it safe. When the bonding solution is set ill bolt it on as well. But whatever you do there will always be thieves around who will steal from you i guess. All you can do is try to make life less easy for them. What a society we live in.