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September 2008 Archives
dog waste only
why is there a cat on this dog picture ?
unstable bank
that'll be the credit crunch then
loading 5097
wonder if the problem is anything to do with the unpleasant substance dropping from the front ?
military poncho
i haven't mentioned my military poncho for a while, but it's still an essential part of my wet weather wardrobe.
for example, here's a picture (taken by jane's mum) of jane and i eating our picnic in the rain on an island in wales
and here we are slightly before a horrendous rain storm turned up on a boat. everyone laughed at me in my poncho, but i had my camera bag on my knee hence the strange look.
when the rain storm came everyone got absolutely soaked, but i stayed dry (except my backside which got a soaking from the seat). i got asked a number of times during the day where i'd got my poncho from as the once scoffers had become converts.
so there you are folks. a military poncho update. shown here is my lightweight model, ideal for summer showers. the real heavy duty one is reserved for guaranteed rainy days.
thames path - part 18 goring to mapledurham lock
it was back to the thames path yesterday for the latest thrilling instalment of our Thames Path walk. we did quite a long stretch which involved some steepish hill climbs for once.
there were some amazing riverside buildings, many with strange features like this airborne conservatory
there were also a lot more trains in the background as one of the UK's main train lines goes whizzing parallel with the thames for a bit
at one point we climbed up a steep hill to find a geocache and had our picnic looking at this amazing view
BR and Mike joined the regulars of our family and jane's parents
the weather was quite amazing, and with the trees still in leaf we kept getting these fantastic windows through to the river
i think this was the view from whitchurch toll bridge
and here's most of the team (except esther and me)
there was plenty of passing boat traffic for amusement too
and although we didn't end at a pub this time, we did have an icecream at the lock shop
so, can there really only be 78.5 miles to go to the end ?
the next bit of the path leaves the river for a bit and does a fair stretch on the road i think which is a bit of a shame.
off for a walk
the weather was terrific last sunday so we went on a geocaching adventure
dear diana
her memory lives on in these dreadfully designed plates with their strange colouring.
(nice touch to have borat to the right)
i've just realised i'm the same age as she was when she died. we've lived very different lives (so far) though.
in the same shop they had this sign saying 'up to half price sale'. i wasn't sure if that was 0-50% off the price or of the price.
number one perfume
i assume they thoughts twice about making a number two perfume ?
some flowers
bit of a quick and easy (and boring) blog post today. apologies !
the shadow mannequin
slightly spooky mannequin
welsh spooky eyed dolls
these things are brilliant and it was great to see a giant basket full of them, all sleeping soundly
headless bird
it's been a while, but good to see i'm still having trouble taking pictures of birds with heads
empty bowl for thirsty dogs
have a look at what they could have had
crazy caldey island wiring
the monks obviously have a lot of faith to trust this kind of wiring
d'oh
what a great expression
monkey pile
monkeys on the move
bollard
more colour stuff for my course
BT Tower
i got to go up BT tower again this week. a fantastic place.
i've uploaded these photos a different way, but i suspect if you click on them you might get very big versions. possibly.
actually, you have to click on 'all sizes' above the picture when you get there to see it bigger
and here's its shadow. you can probably tell what time and day of the year i was there if you know your geography
yellow glove
is it an omelette ? no, it's an orange glove
various not things
no dogs, but also don't let them cook in the car. they should be in the kitchen with all the other chefs.
lunch break
you might need to click on this to appreciate a bit bigger. which tribe would you be in ? hear no evil, smell no evil, see no evil moody dark clothes or brown sandled pastel colour clothes corner ? i think i'd go sulky to the left.
don't remove cycle removing signs
it's one rule for them and another for us
someone should make signs for bikes saying don't remove this sign
dummy
a dummy (with bin in the background) outside my office. tidy
dessert
custard and grumble. luberly
voyeur
these stickers have started popping up round london which is jolly good
for those from outta town, the london underground contactless payment card is called an 'oyster card' with a similar logo (but different messaging!)
guess the tourist destination (second clue)
here's another clue for yesterday's tourist shot. sharon guessed it right yesterday, but some may still not have seen her answer ...
morris
he's got that far away look in his eyes which you can only get by wearing flowers on your hat whilst playing an accordian
just like in your actual olden days
no idea what this was about. i thought the church of the flourescent octopus was good in the background too
immuculate contraption
you couldn't wish for a better typo (or post title!)
they have a for-sale section in the tescos near by office and i like to have a look. it's like a slow ebay with every item set to 'buy now'.
sometimes you get a classic like this. it's an 'immuculate' vacuum cleaner.
they have a for-sale section in the tescos near by office and i like to have a look. it's like a slow ebay with every item set to 'buy now'.
sometimes you get a classic like this. it's an 'immuculate' vacuum cleaner.
cow
i want to like the one above best, but i think the one below is more appealing. wadyafink ?
horses
commentators:
andrew marr
andrew marr was doing some program on darwin at the henley show. no idea why. but there we go. he was playing it very cool, but we stopped and watched
henley horticultural show
we went to henley horticultural show yesterday. very expensive, but most excellent
great selection of great big vegetables !
and random machinery folk
"it wasn't as small as this when i left this morning"
the hub cap colour police moved in
and this guy's trailor wasn't so mobile
climbing
there goes esther up the climbing wall
this man was concerned. so would i be with a fantastic beard like this
the church band
kezia took this picture after i asked her to take some general pictures around church. i was very impressed with her framing (i'm sitting down in the background)
british beaches
my father-in-law avoiding the paps at the beach
fewer - go grammatical
you have to love this kind of graffiti
at home in the park
it's a funky street embassador
museum of berkshire aviation
britain is full of quirkly little museums, many of which are shown on the excellent nothing to see here coordinated/produced by the lovely anne from i like
one such place is the museum of berkshire aviation. i'm not sure i'd recommend it though as it's quite reader-intensive in the old school museum style of 'look but don't touch'. making it quite exhausting/boring depending on your age and attention span !
it promised some excitement for children but didn't actually provide it (i wasn't sure whether the sign above was something vintage or an actual modern bit of fun)
when i bothered to read all the words surrounding the cases it revealed a fascinating history of the woodley aerodrome as it rose to international renoun for its aircraft manufacturer, and airfield tomfoolery (dougal bader famously lost his legs after betting a friend he could do some low level acrobatics - the friend won the bet)
the highlight was getting to go in to a proper plane (the one shown at the above), although you aren't allowed to sit on the seats.
worth a trip, even though you think they could do a lot more with the place to make it more accessible. it feels like a time-warp treasure trove. i may pop back on my own sometime and spend a few hours reading the signage and trying to work out the chronological order of the exhibits !
pemrokeshire 2008
and so, that's the end of the chronological trip through our pembrokeshire holiday. hope it wasn't too boring. i still need to tell you about our holiday house, but that can save for another day.
meanwhile i've got plenty of more funkypancakesque photos in my blog pending file which i'll pop in over the darker months as normal blogging is resumed.
day 15 aberdulais falls
day 15 was the final day of our holiday and we stopped at Aberdulais Falls which is just a few minutes off the M4.
it's a fascinating place where a natural feature (waterfall) changed the landscape due to it's effect on industry - in this case the working of tin
it's also got one of the nicest views out a toilet window !
the waterfall is the main attraction of course so i took the opportunity to brace myself for some long exposure shots of flowing water
(just so you know, here's what the waterfalls look like with a normal shutter speed)
vs this with a longer shutter speed
well worth a trip if you are whizzing down that bit of the M4
crazy caldey cows
escaped bulls rampage at the resort exclaims the BBC
funkypancake is once again ahead of the news. this is a photo of my father in law looking for the bulls of caldey island.
but then, look at this (via the BBC website) which happened exactly where esther and i were looking for geocaches a fortnight ago in Tenby (but luckily not on the same day)
Funkypancake - bringing you the news before it happens (without realising)
funkypancake is once again ahead of the news. this is a photo of my father in law looking for the bulls of caldey island.
but then, look at this (via the BBC website) which happened exactly where esther and i were looking for geocaches a fortnight ago in Tenby (but luckily not on the same day)
Funkypancake - bringing you the news before it happens (without realising)
two pounds ninety nine pence
jane and esther were waiting patiently in an award winning fish and chip shop which obviously didn't win any awards for speed of service. kezia and i were restless so we walked across the street to look at this gift shop.
nothing much passes kezia's attention and she spotted that lots of the prices were two pounds ninety nine pence (apologies for not using the pound sign, it seems not to work properly on the blog)
2.99 was not a special price at all !
when things were a different price, they were often reduced from 2.99 (note the rare rogue 3.99 and 4.99 behind)
i thought it was brilliant. and hopefully you do too !
day 14 skrinkle and manorbier castle
our last day in pembrokeshire was also a rare sunny evening so we did a few geocaches before heading back to our holiday house for the last time
the comedy rock is called church door i think
it's got its very own space station / youth hostel
then we went to manorbier which was a lovely little village. we ended up doing a walk round the perimeter of the castle, finding a couple of geocaches on the way
and then it was back to the holiday house (via a chip shop with the longest wait ever) for the great last night tidying up
the comedy rock is called church door i think
it's got its very own space station / youth hostel
then we went to manorbier which was a lovely little village. we ended up doing a walk round the perimeter of the castle, finding a couple of geocaches on the way
and then it was back to the holiday house (via a chip shop with the longest wait ever) for the great last night tidying up
day 14 back to tenby
we decided to go back to tenby for our last day in pembrokeshire.
esther and i spent an hour doing a multi-cache geocache which involved finding clues round the town which when combined would reveal the final location
and then we went back to the beach for a while before i went on a photo walk of the twon which looked very nice in the sun
do they sell special seaside building paint somewhere or agree to use different colours ?
"i was going to have fluorescent purple this year, but marjorie has that"
here was a rare outing for my polariser (hence the dark sky)
meanwhile, back at the beach things were getting busy
jane buried esther
and a bit later she went to look a the sea (i think the girls must have been playing in the sea by then)
jane's parents popped by too (it's a bit where-wally today isn't it)
this is a canon. there's a lot of that at the seaside to calm the seagulls
and this is what it looked like first thing in the morning when we arrived.
esther and i spent an hour doing a multi-cache geocache which involved finding clues round the town which when combined would reveal the final location
and then we went back to the beach for a while before i went on a photo walk of the twon which looked very nice in the sun
do they sell special seaside building paint somewhere or agree to use different colours ?
"i was going to have fluorescent purple this year, but marjorie has that"
here was a rare outing for my polariser (hence the dark sky)
meanwhile, back at the beach things were getting busy
jane buried esther
and a bit later she went to look a the sea (i think the girls must have been playing in the sea by then)
jane's parents popped by too (it's a bit where-wally today isn't it)
this is a canon. there's a lot of that at the seaside to calm the seagulls
and this is what it looked like first thing in the morning when we arrived.
dummy (and passers by)
of all the photos i take, i find people stare at me most when taking pictures of dummies
but that's probably because they are so rare i spend longer than i usually do taking pictures to make sure the dummy is in focus
and to get a nice background (like this yellow t-shirt or the wall of legs on the top picture)
day 13 back to barafundle
the weather was definitely getting better so we went back to barafundle bay after crazy golfing
it's amazing what difference a bit of sun makes. and the coast round here is amazing
i might have boosted some of the colours on our holiday photos, but the sand really did look like this !
this was the view of the beach from the other side where a geocache was conveniently hidden
and whilst we were up there a boat parked up in the bay
there are plenty of worse places to park your boat i imagine
day 13 crazy golf
every holiday needs a trip to the crazy golf course and we went to this excellent one at Heatherton. it had a pirate theme and was your more sensible sort of crazy gold with pretend bunkers and sloping greens rather than comedy obstacles
we were the first on the course in the morning so we could lead the pace. we scored using the funkypancake family amendment to the rules (no one can score more than 8 on any hole, so people don't forfeit the game by having one bad hole)
it ended up being down to the final shot by my father-in-law. if he pocketed the ball on a shot from a tricky bunker up against a wall, he would win against jane.
he hit it, and it went straight in to the hole but it bounced back out ! his next shot went in so it was a draw with jane. well done to them both
day 12 folly farm
day 12's weather was the worst for consistency of soaking misery. i really don't like theme parks at the best of times but this promised some zooage so i thought it might be ok. but it was too wet to pop out to see the animals.
there were a few inside though, but it was hot and noisey
the farm itself was obviously expecting the worst
ghost train out of action ? spooky
it's a comedy electric shock chair. probably for parents who've had as much as they can take (and put themselves or their little ones in it, depending on their state of mind)
mice are very successful creatures. at what ? what does this mean ?
this was a small spot of loveliness.
and this comedian chap below was actually the highlight for me. he was really good at his job and seemed to be really enjoying himself. worth the admission price alone i'd say.
lumberjack racing
this man knows a quick and dirty way to untie his shoe laces
day 11 pembrokeshire county show part 3
of course there were animals at the show too
and i loved how they covered a bull's head with rosettes.
because you don't want to upset a bull by sticking things all over its face do you ? note the slobber
no one likes being called heavy.
ducks with a nice long necks. i think they could do with some arms stuck on the sides of their bodies
this was a bit unfortunate. it was a cage with something hidden under some sawdust. no one likes a loser
there were some more serious birds outside
this little barn owl brought his barn owl caravan
and he was keeping an eye on me
here is a sign i can agree with.
and i loved how they covered a bull's head with rosettes.
because you don't want to upset a bull by sticking things all over its face do you ? note the slobber
there was a bird section
no one likes being called heavy.
ducks with a nice long necks. i think they could do with some arms stuck on the sides of their bodies
this was a bit unfortunate. it was a cage with something hidden under some sawdust. no one likes a loser
there were some more serious birds outside
this little barn owl brought his barn owl caravan
and he was keeping an eye on me
here is a sign i can agree with.
and some of the animals seemed slightly larger than life
labcoat chic
she dreams of another place ...
this lad knows how to impress the girls
day 11 pembrokeshire county show part 2
county shows often have a brilliant craft competition and the pembrokeshire county show was no exception.
here are a load of hand made walking sticks
some runner beans (one's broken)
an expert telling his friend about something
a clever pansy display modules
an eery home made doll
signs of specialist wordage
i also took tons of flowers but i'll save you the pain of seeing them all now !
day 11 pembrokeshire county show part 1
day 11 looked like being the better than day 12 so we went to the pembroke county show. this was the first person we saw and we knew the day was going to be great !
this man was poking cows with a stick
and this man was leaning on a tractor
there was also the obligatory shopping experience where you could buy hot tubs. i took this photo so you could see the price
you could also buy bulls, or heavey gates which you need to heave shut.
there was some good signage too
this feast cost 20 pounds.
I took so many pictures i'll have to spread them out over a few days!)
Big Pete's Monster Truck Show
these trucks were amazing. click on the blob below to watch a slide show (click once then watch the show or click here)
(does this flickr show thing work ok ? let me know what you prefer !)
mostly armless
i felt sorry for this mannequin in pembroke dock. she had no arms or body
but that was more fortunate than the other mannequins who had no arms or head s
day 10 shopping in haverfordwest and narberth
day 10 was a town visiting day. we were in search of the gorky's barafundle album which we eventually found in a second hand record trail. we went to two of the most fantastic second hard record shops ever in fact, and i highly recommend them both if you find yourself in that part of town. one of the gorky's himself pops in occasionally, so that would have been very bizarre.
anyway, bonkers is a great name for traditional ladies clothing
it probably would have been a better name for this charity shop which had a mannequin dressed mostly in plastic bags
of course the welsh need to keep an eye on their flags
and you can never have enough apostrophe's
anyway, bonkers is a great name for traditional ladies clothing
it probably would have been a better name for this charity shop which had a mannequin dressed mostly in plastic bags
of course the welsh need to keep an eye on their flags
and you can never have enough apostrophe's
wales open stone skimming championships
on sunday afternoon we popped down to the watch the wales open stone skimming championships which is held in the mill pond under pembroke castle.
occassionally there would be a pitch invasion by a passing swan
my father in law signed up for a go and selected his stones
as his time approached he went down to stand by the commentator
he did very well and all his shots were in. not the longest of the day, but he displayed a previously hidden (to us) talent
esther then had a go
as did kezia
this chap won in the end. the website is worth checking out for the official rules
it was all for charidee and was an excellent of raising hundreds of quids in a short afternoon as well as being thoroughly entertaining for both competitors and spectators
day 9 stackpole lakes and broad haven
day 9 started off promising weatherwise so we whizzed off to the stackpole lakes car park where you can walk to the golden broad haven beach just round the corner from barafundle. finally the girls were properly dressed for the beach in wellies and waterproofs !
the walk to the beach is by these lovely sheltered lakes (or you can park next to the beach and walk down some steps)
we found this dr who alien on the beach.
then we walked back to the car and popped round to the other side of the lake for a quick geocache find
there was much singing and dancing after this was successfully completed
jane and me
i'm often accused (by people i know) of not posting enough dreadful pictures of myself despite me often looking like a complete loon who would easily qualify for inclusion. so here's a picture taken by my lovely wife jane (below). jane isn't a loon.
day 8 picton castle and 'dog messes'
day 8 was particularly wet so we went to picton castle with it's gardens and er castle. we had a great guided tour of the downstairs of the castle and even got to see some rooms off the usual tourist route due to the lack of visitors !
we spent a good number of hours there wandering round the garden, tearoom etc and the girls did a quiz round the garden.
but the best thing was the sign above which was in their loos. is this not the best toilet sign ever ? brilliant use of 'dog messes'
typical picnic with my inlaws
most picnics we have with my parents in law end up with us all hiding under our ponchos/coats. this one on caldy island was no exception due to passing rain showers and wasps.
still, it made a change from our usual picnics in the car
chevron refinery
i liked the contrast between the beautiful natural landscape and the harsh industrial plant producing petrol diesal, kerosene, jet fuel etc
i've recoloured the photo above slightly in an attempt to give it a more eery look. don't think it worked, but these things are always worth a try !
emergency toilet
silent world didn't have a public toilet. probably to keep the noise down.
pembrokeshire motor museum
we didn't go to this museum but i was very tempted from the brochure
looking closer it appears the same two visitors pop up a number of times
i hope they had a really good time
they certainly took full advantage of the facilities whilst it wasn't busy
three lights
apologies for lack of updates today. i stuffed up on my preplanning and yesterday got two helpings. normalish service resumed tomorrow hopefully. oooosp.
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[funkypancake] has a lust and zeal for life and all its quirks that those with far fewer worries in the world could be quite jealous of. From the mundane to the mad, the interesting to the absurd, [he] captures moments and objects that few of us ever notice ... and perhaps don't need to.
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