beach frame
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August 2008 Archives
little people at the gallery
if you don't know about little people then shame on you ! i think it's fantastic. and i just happened to be in london yesterday on the evening of the solo show launch. unfortunately i didn't rsvp and it looked really busy and i had my big camera back pack so didn't go in.
but this on sunday looks fab (although i don't think we're going to be able to make it)
lenny henry
i walked 20km on thursday and at one point nearly crashed in to lenny
henry (his fault, i was walking along minding my own business [as much
as i ever do with camera in hand] and he was talking on the phone and
suddenly turned round in to my path
i realised who it was (from his voice) so turned round by which time he was leaning against a building with the same colour as his jacket so he wouldn't be seen.
i realised who it was (from his voice) so turned round by which time he was leaning against a building with the same colour as his jacket so he wouldn't be seen.
day 7 strumble head and white sands
day 7 was a failure in many respects as we didn't achieve anything we hoped for !
we drove for an hour to strumble head, not least because of its excellent name. but mainly to see if we could see some dolphins. google maps here and read more about it here and here
it turned out (according to these chaps) that some had whizzed by a few hours earlier, but dolphin sitings are very rare round here.
we looked for a while anyway
then we went in search of a nearby geocache on a hill overlooking the lighthouse, but once again failed
jane tried to move a mountain and kezia had a lie down
even the cows had been packed away in to little black and white bags
so, after lunch overlooking a stoney bay, we went to white sands beach near st david's, but that was so windy the tent nearly blew away (with me in it). here's jane's sandcastle completely just before we swiftly evacuated the beach
we drove for an hour to strumble head, not least because of its excellent name. but mainly to see if we could see some dolphins. google maps here and read more about it here and here
it turned out (according to these chaps) that some had whizzed by a few hours earlier, but dolphin sitings are very rare round here.
we looked for a while anyway
then we went in search of a nearby geocache on a hill overlooking the lighthouse, but once again failed
jane tried to move a mountain and kezia had a lie down
even the cows had been packed away in to little black and white bags
so, after lunch overlooking a stoney bay, we went to white sands beach near st david's, but that was so windy the tent nearly blew away (with me in it). here's jane's sandcastle completely just before we swiftly evacuated the beach
day 6 caldey island
caldey island is a monkery just a few miles away from tenby. we got absolutely soaked on the boat ride across, but the weather was (mostly) ok once we were there.
a life in the day of a monk
it's also got a very nice lighthouse with a big orange tank next to it
it also had lots of funny little buildings such as this little church
inside it was covered in pieces of paper with prayer requests. someone had even popped their's behind jesus's back on the cross, no doubt trying to bump it up the holy order (pun intended)
here's the post office
and another chapel
and here's the monkery itself
it's got some lovely beaches
and a couple of comedy shops
i was deliberately steered away from the chocolate factory (although i've had a few chocolate cakes i'm still off chocolate bars)
community strickly enclosure private
ultimately though it was a very peaceful island containing a dozen or so people devoted to serving God through prayer.
read more about it here
once we got back from caldey island we popped over to enjoy some rare evening sun and had luxury (expensive) fish and chips by the quay at saundersfoot
it's weird being on a north facing beach in the early evening as the sun seems to go down in the wrong direction (and it gets cold once it pops down below houses - not that it was particularly warm anyway)
day 5 silent world
it's in a funny little old church and despite its small size contains loads of slightly worn looking exhibits. actually, it was only the tanks which looked aged. the animals looked fine.
kezia took the photo above
they also had some lizards and excellent signage
and in the corner there was an abandoned bin bag full of old snake skins
day 5 tenby beach again
i went photoing whilst the girls played on the beach. i arrived back just in time for a massive rain shower which completely soaked everything. amazing it was. but before we abandoned the beach the girls demanded a photo in their boat
you can see the little tent where i hide when on the beach above to avoid the sand.
happy eighteenth
we went to a lovely 18th b-day party yesterday. here's the birthday girl plus mum and dad inspecting some of the photos
day 4 colby wood garden
after all the excitement of the ropes course we then went for a wander round the lovely colby wood garden
master blaster ?
how desperate are you ? in some cases a toilet won't suffice and you'll be choosing the master blaster option
day 4 heatherton tree tops trail
kezia, esther and jane all hit the ropes on day 4 at the heatherton tree tops trail.
it was my job to catch the action from the safety (and dampness) of the floor. the three shots above are of them whizzing down the death slide thingy at the end
i was very impressed by everyone's progress through what looked (to my untrained eye) quite a challenging course (hence the name i guess)
even the signs said it was difficult, so it must be
esther was brilliant and went whizzing on ahead
kezia was only just tall enough to do the course (although she did need poking with a stick from the ground at one point as she couldn't reach the nextswinging rope !)
and of course jane did very well too !
seeing this photo reminded me it was sunny as they went through the training before the rain storms arrived for the day
i'd like a sign like this for my desk at work, with an arrow i could use to point to the level of trickiness of the task in hand
it was my job to catch the action from the safety (and dampness) of the floor. the three shots above are of them whizzing down the death slide thingy at the end
i was very impressed by everyone's progress through what looked (to my untrained eye) quite a challenging course (hence the name i guess)
even the signs said it was difficult, so it must be
esther was brilliant and went whizzing on ahead
kezia was only just tall enough to do the course (although she did need poking with a stick from the ground at one point as she couldn't reach the nextswinging rope !)
and of course jane did very well too !
seeing this photo reminded me it was sunny as they went through the training before the rain storms arrived for the day
i'd like a sign like this for my desk at work, with an arrow i could use to point to the level of trickiness of the task in hand
seaside commerce
i spotted a lot of use of the word 'famous' by the seaside. i suspect it might be used in place of the word 'only'
these posters in an abandoned hotel were advertising tenby's famous fun fair
and in the nearby town of saundersfoot there was a massive pound shop
this claimed to be saundersfoot's famous one pound shop.
tune in tomorrow for more pictures from the famous funkypancake website
day 3 tenby and saundersfoot
remember to lean in to the wind
it's a shame more places don't go for the crazy wall colours which only seems to happen at the seaside. perhaps inspired by the plastic buckets and spades they see go by every day
this is the quay at tenby
and this is the (old?) lifeboat launch thingybob. we found out on our last day that they do their practising on a tuesday evening so that would have been a good time to have gone to watch something happen. but we didn't.
in the afternoon we went to saundersfoot where the girls sat on the beach when i went in search of art works and found some art (and a beer on a cliff top vantage point)
day 2 barafundle and stackpole quay
pembroke08 day 2 was a windy day. we went to stackpole quay and walked round to the magical barafundle beach.
to get to the beach you have to walk over the coastal path
despite the bright colours (i'll admit i've souped them a bit in lightroom) it was right chilly
when you get there you have to go down a long set of steps to reach the beach, but it's totally worth it.
this was the one day when we didn't have my little hidey beach tent (i don't like sand)
beach shoes at barafundle
whilst jane and i huddled together in our warm hoodies, raincoats and boots, our girls threw off their shoes, and threw on their swimming costumes to shiver in the sea.
only in britain would you find people wearing skimpy sunbathing clothes alongside those more suitably dressed for winter wind and rain
holiday house disappointment
i'll write much more about our disappointing holiday house called Bramble Hall . Needless to say this is not a particularly accurate description: "A lovely, detached house, wonderfully situated on the owner's working agricultural farm, in the fabulous, medieval town of Pembroke." But more about that later !
for now here is a container thing which i guess must be used to sell christmas trees in season
day 1 the journey to wales
right, i'm going to attempt to give you a bit of a diary of our last fortnight in wales over the next few days. we'll see how it goes.
this is the severn bridge marking the gateway to wales. it's a toll - cash only. note the rain
soggy wales
no sooner had we gone across the welsh border and we knew this was going to be a wet holiday. it was also at this point i realised that my photos weren't going to reveal the extent of the rain, so you'll mostly just have to take my word for it.
here is a bin with an abandoned brolly. possibly dumped there by someone leaving the country.
here is a bin with an abandoned brolly. possibly dumped there by someone leaving the country.
various people braved the elements to walk their soggy dogs.
compost taster
this is something supermarkets don't do enough. opened bags of things so you can cop a feel before you buy. what sampler 'touchers' would you like at a supermarket ? i might like to get my hand in some custard
a vacuum party
this was the first thing i saw on wednesday morning when i arrived at work. terrific.
no morring fish bathing
mooring fishing bathing. the classic combo
strange shoes
george sent me this excellent picture of "Two pairs of ladies' courts lined up in the gutter next to a car. No owners in sight."
brilliant stuff
cable
sneaky hidden sign
no morring no fishing private
very green
upstairs bargains more even
this looked much better in real life. sorry.
no phones
blatant commercial opportunism
thames path - part 17 moulsford to goring
just a short stretch yesterday due to problems with a closed path meaning we couldn't access the place we'd hope to park. so instead we walked from moulsford to goring.
still, it meant we had a choice of pubs at the end of our walk. and the path was quite well defined and even concreted at some points.
and we also had a guest walker - my mum !
the next leg looks a little more challenging as we need to go up and down a hill. possibly.
freddie mercury gets a crane in the cranium
what on earth is going on here ? poor old freddie
signage
free is pink
colour and black and white
yellow car
further than i usually walk
i got up early a couple of weeks ago and arrived a few hours early for a meeting so i could walk further east than i usually do. here is the proof.
police informed of obstruction
bit presumptuous. there might not be an obstruction. that's the idea of the sign. unless they think the battle is already lost.
clack street
brilliant street name
brunel museum
i must vsit this museum sometime. i was particularly impressed by the wonky street lamp !
the morning after
the bottle parents come out to see their cup children drunk on the lawn. they are ashamed
there's always a risk of drowning
this chap looks to be sitting on top of a water jet. or wearing some clowns trousers. either approach increases the risk of drowning. compared to walking across a desert.
thames path - all over london
we're (hopefully) doing some more of the thames path today. but not this bit. as we're still out in the sticks somewhere
glaxo building
just as i took this picture a plane flew by (they do that quite a bit round that area)
love in the street
this yellow blob looks a bit like st paul's cathedral (if you close your eyes) with a big heart floating over it.
your the best
these demonstration cakes at the tesco's near where i work are brilliant. the one on the bottom left disappeared for a few months, but i'm glad to say it's back.
i even went to the customer service desk to point out the mistake, but the lady didn't understand there was a problem and i was starting to sound like a nutter, so i didn't pursue it for too long.
that's not the frst time i've complained about the bakery department in tesco's. it's actually the third.
sliding in to the after life
i wonder who's idea it was to build a play park in an old graveyard.
hassock of the week
a military hassock this week
private property
this is what keep out signs should look like
no parking
classic two ended arrow
no dogs
too many bones you see
hot and cold food
no luke warmth here
strange goings on behind the screen
sneaking round the side revealed a degree of undressedness.
tapas bar
perhaps i overdid the saturation ?
up to minus 50% off
is this a sneaky increase ?
yellow rubbish
you can tell i've been doing colours on my course recently ...
interplanetary
south bank space station
just desserts
mmm
danger deep water
actually it's not that deep.
annette
it's a norange one
circles
i'm really pleased with this photo (just so you know).
where the diversion ends
do you ever wonder where diversions end ?
deep trolleys
the wisdom of their thin metal frames must never be underestimated
passport photo service
"i ordered too many signs, where shall i put them ?"
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