the weather was finally nice last weekend as can be seen by this sunbathing beauties at an outside brick-a-brack stall. batman is firmly keeping his clothes on.
the chap prefers to sunbathe alone. with his cowboy boots on.
don't get me wrong, the bible is an amazing book almost beyond description. as a christian i believe it contains actual words from God. which is quite amazing when you think about it.
it's also available online
the flagship range
popular bible
mass market bible (paperback)
pocket gift bible (for those who like to give people pockets)
i like this sign a lot. it's obvious who it's aimed at and what they need (not) to do. and the final sentence in brackets is very ominous: "If necessary we will telephone Mr Smith".
Here's Kate. she's the friend i mentioned at the Interesting conference who appeared on the front of Horse magazine which lead to me having the word 'horse' stuck in my brain which when repeated for long enough starts to lose its meaning at turn back in to sounds.
most words do that if you say them long enough and really think about them. it's a bit like walking. if you really think about what you are doing it all gets a bit tricky.
extensions are very popular at the moment. although, the chiltern way is the chiltern way isn't it ? that like saying the 'stonehenge extension'. it's just not right. not that i'm an expert on national footpaths. just so you know.
photography is mostly about light, which is why websites like this are so brilliant. esther and kezia shouted me to come urgently with my camera yesterday morning as their toys were being lit by a thin slither of light which was coming through the living room curtains and illuminating a piece of string holding a toy balloon. fantastic stuff which of course completely confused my camera.
i had the day off yesterday so jane and i attempted to find lots of geoaches (but we got lost and couldn't find any so we went back to the car then managed to find two we'd previously not been able to find. humph). anyway, we popped in to an art studio which we passed in the car and found it had been temporarily converted in to a make up studio for some TV program. which involves crows and people holding kids it seems
i often wonder if i'd run out of things to take pictures of if i lived properly in the country. here's an example of the type of pictures i could take - it's a brush in a tree
this sign has a brilliant phrase (in brackets) "no food use enquiries".
perhaps they are plagued with people phoning them to ask if Eggs make good hats, or whether you can stand on a potato to reach a lightbulb, or if you can use custard to artex ceilings, or if it's appropriate to threaten a policeman with a runner bean.
this is in a window in a charity shop near Farringdon Station in london. it was presented to david f weinham in reocgnition of achieved sales in austria of 25,000 units of the single des'ree "life". austria 1998.
it was fifty pounds if you're interested.
and i'd like to take this opportunity to say a public thanks to all austria unit shifters. thanks.
i like both of these shots, though the one above with the reflection of house behind me has the edge i think. i like how the lines lead it to her head !
nails spas usually have really horrendous 1980s signs and graphics outside their shops, so it was interesting to see these hard built signs. it does make you wander whether their hands approach applies to their service.
but, i guess if there's one place you do need hands on service, it's a nail spa
yesterday was our church picnic which was a nice relaxing afternoon after the intensive brain-melt of interesting2008.
our church friends really are our family and it's great to just spend
time sitting around chatting (whilst others swam and swung (from trees
and at balls with bats))
some photos from the most excellent Interesting 2008
the crowd as seen from the stage during my nightmare of comedy compering
the man who designed the (back of our) money
the impromptu recorder orchestra
a compere's shadow
a man of faces
a man of zeotropes
this year i went to the bar after and chatted with lots of lovely people. here are damien mulley and annie mole down t'pub after (both legendary bloggers)
i nearly ended up having to sing a song in public yesterday. i did have a song prepared (not this one) but it was slightly too late as when i was being hassled to do it i didn't remember i knew one. anyway, the one above is old, but i've just got round to posting to YouTube. i think i've blogged it before. but you know. it's a good un.
it's from the early 90s when i were a nipper. i was known as spoonchicken (or spoon chicken) back then in the glorious town of Sheffield.
do you ever wonder what those funny little circles of metal are in the pavement you occasionally see when you walk past buildings in towns like london ? for a long time I thought they must be sawn off railings from wartime when they needed such things to make weapons.
but no. they are simply boundary markers, as explained by this helpful legally aware piece of pavement.
as a wise band once (nearly) sang, there is nothing better in life that writing on a banana with a biro. there really isn't and i highly recommend you try it
when i went to work this morning this dummy was on a pillar near the train station awaiting rediscovery. 12 hours later when i got back it was on the floor snout down. i suspect it's is less likely to be retrieved in this orientation
if you ever get yourself a fancy sign made up, then i advise not putting your price on it as when inflation comes along and you have to raise your prices you'll have to stick a sticker on it and it'll look silly. same goes for URLs, except with the sticker, obviously.
this is probably the queen or prime minister or someone. they tend to zoom through london with a police motorcycle party and some big 4x4s. i bet you can't believe i get so close to these people !
esther took this photo of me standing in front of a projection demonstrating how autochromes work at waddesdon manor a few weeks back. i love how the letter 'O' rests on my head like a comedy hat
i was going to just post the picture above, but then i realised i could make another pop pun title by including a few more. or perhaps i should have put none up and then the question would have been more relevant. as it is, it answers itself. oh well.
i sometimes get asked if i ever get in trouble whilst taking photos. well, mostly i avoid confrontation as much as possible, although i did get chased off by the security guards outside the gherkin recently.
this photo had potential to be a bit more exciting. the guy on the floor is a drunk homeless type (street embassador as i like to call them). to his right, just out of frame were too conscious drunks, and it was them i was worried about.
assuming they hadn't been there, i would have laid on the ground and zoomed in on the union jack of his trousers with big ben in the distance. but i thought his friends might jump on me so i got this shot instead.
we went to TGI Friday's yesterday to celebrate the end of jane's marking, the completion of my first assignment, kezia's tooth falling out, and esther just being esther.
jane and i shared a chocolate brownie pudding, marking the first time in over 6 month's i've eaten chocolate. to be honest it mostly tasted of ice-cream, and my 'problem' is with cold chocolate bars rather than warm cakey chocolate so i'm not overly concerned about slipping back in to old habits.
it was quite interesting though and i actually felt quite nervous before eating it ! you'll notice the third spoon which was esther's contribution
urban camouflage at its best. i was going to do a low down close up shot type thing but i spotted a bus was heading straight for me and i stepped off the road just in time
there's always something or other going on in london. last week i walked past this which was some filming of someone dangling off the edge of the Royal Festival Hall. the chap at the bottom was called 'professor' but that's all i can tell you about what it is (due to my ignorance rather than some secret)
i took the girls on a bike ride yesterday to the local village post office where we saw a famous person who lives locally. he laughed at me (in the nicest possible way) for having my bike hat on backwards. oops. we went on a more elaborate way back and had to cross this slippery mud pit, which esther managed to get stuck in.
later on i took esther to watch the indiana jones film. indy wouldn't have got stuck in a muddle puddle i expect.
there's been one day in your life so far when you've seen more spoons than any other day in your life. i wonder when that was for me. it'd be interesting to be able to revise your life so far with exciting statistics like that.
i wonder what date i came in to contact with the most radiation, or had the heaviest pockets, or spoke the most words, or met the most people called Peter, or ate the most insects by accident.
what facts would you be interested in if you could find anything mundane about your life so far ?
the girls, jane's mum and me went up to london yesterday to go to the Psycho Buildings exhibition at the Hayward Gallery
we got there for 10am and had no trouble getting on the boating lake which is set up on the roof
the rest of the exhibition was excellent too and i can highly recommend it. we also got in half price thanks to a 2 for 1 offer . And the kids went free. bargain
afterwards we went to look at the graffiti near Waterloo bridge (i'm saving those photos for another post)