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a lovely chap walked round the pond at tintinhull gardens so the girls could draw him (and i could take some photos!). Every photographer should carry an umbrella like this with him (or take someone along to hold it on their behalf)
and here they are admiring the garden
on tuesday night i got to the hotel late and i ate my room service dinner at midnight whilst reading the 'how to stay healthy whilst staying in hotels' guide. strangely enough eating burger and chips, followed by brownie and ice-cream wasn't one of their recommendations.
neither was drinking beer and eating peanuts (whilst looking out over athens) from the hotel roof bar last night.
.
A usual trick of car parks is to charge you for more than you need - ie they offer you three charging options: 2 hour or 4 hours or all day. They've gone the opposite way in Dorset where "10p buys you 8 minutes (approx)
i was a bit worried about the size of my hand baggage when arrived at heathrow for my flight to athens. i therefore decided to take evasive action and wrapped my normally very smart (ish) backpack up tightly in gaffer tape so it would definately fit the required dimensions. And it did.
Unfortunately i also wore my DM boots and spent an age in security undoing them and redoing them for their security scan !
on the first day of our holiday, which was in dorset, a few hours drive from our home, we bumped in to work colleague Mark and his family.
and the next day we were in a traffic queue on a thin road and looked at the car next to us, only to discover my cousing chris and his family were in it. they too were on holiday so we met up with them a few days later.
and then the next day, at slime regis beach, we made our pitch (blanket down, buckets out etc) and esther spotted sue and steve and their children sitting next to us !
so that was three totally unrelated friends/family on three consecutive days, all a long way from home !
Reader Hels sent me this great dog sign photo.
she says "It was in a park in Copenhagen, Denmark. No idea what the English translation is, though! Also, the question mark wasn't part of the picture, it had been added by someone with a black marker "
i used to know Jarvis Cocker in a vague saying hello to each other if we passed in the street kind of way. he even complemented a swirly brown polyester shirt i used to wear with (missplaced) pride.
anyway, here's an endorsement on a restaurant window in Brick Lane.
Vin sent me this photo as a teaser to see if you could guess what it was from (he also sent me a picture of the actual thing which i'll post when someone guesses it!)
and the answer is ...
a patio heater thing (well done matt!)
andy sent me this sign from a dinosaur park in Norfolk. He was particularly impressed by the scary eyes. and so am i !
i had a picture published in the Reading Festival programme which has won me some festival goodies apparently (the mind boggles what they may be!). here is a corner of the page - mine is the action man
well, this year i didn't win the trophy for the best photo in show, but i did get a few first, two seconds, a third and two 'highly commendeds', with only my portraits failing to get anything. still, after 3 years it's good someone else wins isn't it ;-)
we spotted this strange vegetable (and its friend) at a National Trust place on holiday. Any idea what it is ?
answer here (though i was none the wiser): View image
here's a new photo category - charity collection vessels. some of these are classics (and very old).
this is a starter - it's a dog and two cats, all looking very sad. the dog is grey and there's one white can and one black cat which is interesting. perhaps he's their dad ?
yesterday we had a very successful walk along the Thames Path from kelmscott to tadpole bridge. it was probable around 7 or 8 miles i think and kezia managed to walk nearly all of it (and esther did it all). progress indeed.
Parts of the Radcot Bridge date back to the 12th century bridge making it the oldest bridge on the thames
Rushey Weir is a 'rare example of an old Thames paddle-and-rymer weir
basically you ram these paddles down in to the weir to stop the water (and vice-versa)
tadpole bridge
our destination for the walk was an idilic looking pub at tadpole bridge, but it was shut when we got there. which left a bad taste in our mouths. or at least a dry taste.
instructions for a lock
did you spot the bit about being aware of bollards ?
(on the same day as this was reported)
this is a weird plane we saw flying over our heads by the thames path. any idea what it is ?
update: thanks to phil, it turns out this was a U2 spy plane ! i love you guys. whether it's insects or military aircraft you sort me out each time !
the first time i went to bethnal green was 8th june 2005. here's a photo of the tube station
i often forget london has a really nice canal running through it. occasionally i stumble upon it when out on manoeuvres, such as this occasion when i'd just been to an art gallery preview
a pub for the traditional family - 2.4 children, married parents etc.
we've been on holiday for a fortnight so we're back to manual updates now (rather than the random selection you've been having for the last ages). i've got tons of holiday photos, but for now, here are some from yesterday when jane and i went to Reading festival for the day.
by the end of our holiday i had quite bushy sideburns and hair, so jane cut me a comedy old person's festival haircut involving a long strip of hair down the centre of my head and my sideburns.
franz ferdinand
kaiser chiefs
yeah yeah yeahs
belle and sebastian
The Mystery Jets
Peaches
Gogol Bordello
Guillemots
these photos are more to prove that i was there than offer any insight in to what the various bands actually looked like. this year i decided not to take too many photos. so i only took my small camera.
we've had hedgehogs, and mice and dried out frogs, but what's this latest specimen we found last night inside ?
i put a one pence piece down on the ground before i let it out so you could see how big it was. deliberately (or otherwise) it walked over and sat on top of it to hide it !
click for big
i realised i never explained why we went to norfolk last month year. it was because it was my parents-in-law 40th wedding anniversary.
here is their cake:
and here they are reading some newspapers:
and here's some other family members:
(how behind am i - this was a year and a quarter ago, and i've only just found the unpublished photos festering in my draft folder)
having taken photos of most of the numbered signs in paddington station it turns out all the signs in the entrance hall of tottenham court road tube station are numbered too !
here is number 11, 12 and 13
an absolute classic.
coffees chatting on a bench
on the entrances to Windsor Great Park are various little huts where the park wardens sit. this one was empty so i took a photo of the contents.
it consisted on a first aid kit, a harrods china mug and an old copy of the sunday sport.
from another time
when we were in minehead back in easter i went for a walk up a hill which looks back over the town. the image above is taken with my widest angle using my Sigma 18-200mm lens . the one below was at the biggy zoomy zoom end.
i love that lens. and you should too !
and a close up of the sign:
an emu ?
i like how the arrow points away from the focal point of the picture (the coffee). i also like how it looks like the car in the background has crashed in to the crumpled bollard.
a close up:
i took this photo backin june. it looked like a local snow shower after some rain
but it was actually a collection of paper holes
tony last year
(thanks to georgina and alvin for sending this)
this little ball came in a christmas cracker. it looked like it could open up but never would. until one day we threw it hard on the floor and it just popped open. inside where the instructions on how to take it apart !
sometimes the streets are just SO busy.
(thanks to bil (bother in law) kev
i mentioned inglesham church a while back. here are a few more pictures
it looked as nice as it did on the postcards
jane in the jacobean pulpit
fancy wall inscriptions
you can find out more here
(not to be confused with the classic yoko ono album)
a great new dog sign, but also a great background (which was a giant cardboard display cutout)
this is a sign to savour. good use of variable amounts of exclamation marks. and random words. please.
(click these for huge versions)
sometimes london is so civilised. last week, when there was all the kuffle about planes, there was this nice little jazz festival in the park next to Paddington station.
if your flight had been cancelled you could have drowned your sorrows with a jug of Pimms (£7.95), some trad jazz and perhaps a little dance down the front
normal
negative (i love the colour of the sky in this one)
hold it.
(from brother i l kev)
here is a book that esther read at school about a year ago (i'm very slow on posting some of these pictures). it tells of a child being terrorised by a computer monster. a nice introduction to IT.
i like the 'do not use inflatables' flag best
i have no idea what this is
(worth clicking to admire my motion photography)
i'm changing my job (sort of) and with it my work location. as a result i (have attempted) to cash in my season ticket.
i've been travelling the same route for over 9 years i think and must have spent over £20,000 with the train company which is a nice way to pay for delays and crushes and misery. cheap at half the price.
anyway, i went to my local station and they said i needed to take my ticket back to Paddington. So i did and they took my ticket away and i said, "thanks, can i have the cash back (i'm expecting £594)"
and he said "nope, we have to send it off, goodbye" and i said "oh, when can i expect the money"
and he said "up to 20 working days" and i said "oh, cuz the money would be good as i want to buy a car for my commute"
and he said "we have to send it off, goodbye" and i said "well, can you tell me how much it will be when it comes through" and he said "nope, sorry, that's their job" and that was the end of that.
so i walked away and then thought "oh no" and ran back to my man and said "i hope you don't mind me asking, but how am i meant to get home this evening, you've just taken my season ticket away"
and he said "oh, do you want me to reissue it to you" and i said "nope, i want a refund"
and he said "well you'll have to buy a ticket" and i said "but that one is still valid today, it's just you've got it and i haven't". He was obviously an unempowered train droid so i had to buy a £10.50 ticket to get home.
I shall be writting a letter (except there isn't an address on anything they've given me so i don't know where to send it!)
how outrageous. i'll keep you informed how i get on. i suspect i'm not going to be happy. still, at least i've set my expectations low !
bloomin' first great western
i spotted this postcard in the street so i naturally picked it up. i was surprised to see it hadn't been posted yet, although i don't think it had - there was no post mark and it was addressed to somewhere in cheshire.
so i carried it to the nearest postbox and posted it. it was address to a 'grandma and grandpa' and listed the sights that the grandson has seen that day in london. hopefully it will now be back on its way to the waiting grandparents.
this is very odd. why would someone abandon a suitcase full of old books (including the third edition of Rock Record)
new regular reader stephanie sent me this fantastic dog sign informing us of a Fouling Incident. She found this sign on the Isle of Man in October 2004. I wonder if the incident was ever resolved ?
i was really pleased with this portrait. click for big (as you can do for all funkypancake pictures!)
this message seems to be talking to someone other than theives. which is a shame as it would seem more relevant to address the thief directly.
this chap had realy gone to town on his camouflage. although, how much attention to this kind of thing do fish pay ? especially when there's brightly coloured walkers like me walking by behind them.
we had a lovely afternoon with darren, miranda and rowena yesterday. top food and top company.
here's darren and rowena in some tall maize
it was back to the thames path yesterday. as we also did last time, we started the walk in a church and ended in a pub (how like life ...)
we started by St John's Baptist church inglesham
this section of the walk was all by the thames (unlike last time when we hardly saw the thames at all). here was our first sight of the river which was now big enough for pleasure boats
and there was the obligatory pooh sticks
we passed old father thames at St John's lock
we ended up in a very nice pub (the plough) at kelmscott. you can plot our course on this map here:
(austrialian photo from australian travelling hannah)
if you are feeling board you can watch batteries being fitted here. well, it beats hitting yourself on the head with a bent coathanger.
brookwood is the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the United Kingdom. more info here
these places are very humbling, and certainly put the rest of my day (which was spent at a shooting range) in context.
50% off nothing is nothing (but only half as not anything)
this sign struck me as a bit odd. it's advertising to thieves that they can pick up 'free' sat navs (whereas they aren't actually free, they are just stolen).
meanwhile they recommend owner (singular) does one of two things or lose it.
this is a sign egging on both sides of the battle for a more interesting fight.
my first two ever shots hit the clay and it went rapidly down hill from there. some of my colleagues were really caught by the shooting bug, but in the flea or flight stakes, i'm definately an insect.
here is Richard Faulds, Olympic Gold medal winner.
Richard did a demonstration shoot which resulted in bits of clay pigeon dropping on our heads. which was nice
well done to Rascle for guessing the thing. it was in fact some modern stage lights as used at the holiday club last week. that particular light poked me in the ear. which was nice.
vin sent me this excellent picture of a chap having a sleep outside a church (in Acton)
(that's my umbrella)
laundrettes never fail to be photogenic, although this isn't a great example !
there's been a few good answers on the guess the thing, but no one has got it completely right yet. here's a second picture. any guesses ?
it's my birthday today, but since i'm home alone at the moment, we had a birthday cake yesterday. here's a self portrait i took whilst nearly dropping the camera in my cake.
here is our friend elton. officially 'funnier than even you and me daddy' according to kezia.
he's developed a very fancy way of turning old unwanted photos in to new pieces of art.
here he's kept the bracken but added a fantastic fire-ball effect
here are his magic materials
and here are two examples of his creations:
before
and after
if you'd like elton to turn one of your old photos in to art, you can send them to Elton, at Betty Tigers, 78 Infirmary Road, Sheffield, England, S6 3DD
Elton asks that you make a donation to your favourite charity and in return he'll 'convert' your photo and send it back to you (if you include a self addressed envelope).
this is funkypancake exclusive so send them to him !
guiness and lemonade don't mix. here is the proof. the lemonade (poured first) sat at the bottom and the guiness just floated around on top of it very nicely.
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