ajdesq

2006 I think

Mablethorpe, July 2009

A creative image

Taken at the Nene Valley Railway, October 2009:

Time for a rethink again.

I've decided to open up this blog and make it public again... as a photo blog.

To start the ball rolling, a couple of may faves I took in Amsterdam at the weekend:

Recently I have had the pleasure with meeting some new people who it has transpired read my blog! Turns out that many of those who don't know me personally are interested in the angle of spending a lot of time in my Airstream.

Of course, these viewers aren't really interested in the day-to-day boring personal stuff, so I've created an exciting, shiny new blog to follow my Airstreaming Adventures.

So, if it's Airstreaming, caravanning, or touring you are after, then please look here:

http://airstream-andrew.blogspot.com/



From hereon in all public entries on this blog will cease, at least for the time being.

I look forward to seeing you over on blogger!

Following the sudden passing of Fred, it was urgent to get Barney a mate asap. It kind of scuppered my plans that weekend, but hey.

It just so happened that one of Barney's brothers at the rescue centre was getting bullied beyond belief by his other brothers. In fact, they had taken such a lump out of him that he had had to be removed for his own good from the cage, leaving the poor mite all alone, just like my Barney.

But this rat was a bit special...

( Read more and pix )

Panic over, I'm sure it's just a cold. A rotten one, but just a cold.

For a couple of days I've had a sore throat. It's not going away. I ache all over and can hardly stay awake for more than a couple of hours at a time.

I really DO NOT have the time for this.

£50 on comfort food in Tescoids later, I think I have enough fruit and smoothies in my fridge to give me vitamin C poisoning if I'm not careful!

You know how after Daisy died I said 'NO MORE RATS!'?

Well, um... you see, it was like this...

( Read more )

The wind Gods delivered the goods and I had an OK 12m session at Normans Bay. Well, it was quite good. But I had to stop as I had a bad launch and a line got out of place, and I needed to come back to get my bootees on because of the pebbles. Which then had me feeling like I was trying to kitesurf in lead stilettos.

The sea was a bit of a mess and a strong current going towards Hastings. I suddenly realised... I love Normans Bay because the campsite is right on the beach. But I don't think I've ever had a really good session here. Plenty of mediochre ones and a few kitemares, but nothing leaving me 'stoked'. Not a criticism, just an observation. And you know what they day about bad days on the water being better than good days at the office...

After a week in London Hell, I was due to head North and stay inland. But after such a weekend, and with good SW winds forecast, there was nothing else for it but to hitch up the Airstream and head to Norman's Bay.

And.......... ****relax!******

Deep breath and..... ****aaaahhhhhh!******


It is wonderful. It's busy, but the sound of playing kids and campers having fun is a pleasure to hear. The sky is big, the air is clean, the grass is green, and life is good.

I'm very happy.

Just to explain to those without an LJ account that any entries that give away where I am (and my Airstream) are 'locked' (viewable by LJ friends only) until I have moved on, then they are unlocked and viewable by all. It's a security thing. That's why some 'new' entries may be a week or more old...

Yesterday a friend came over on his bike, and after a lovely day he asked if I'd do some snaps of him with his camera. It's a Canon Eos 400... the main competitor to the Nikon D80 that I bought.

I tried it and hated it. OK, I know I'm used to Nikon now, but I really didn't like it. Mind you, D was happy with his snaps.

But I have never been satisfied with my 11-18mm Tamron wide angled lens. And I'm always considering upgrading my camera to full-frame. To upgrade to a full-frame Nikon D700 at 12mp would be only a couple of hundred pounds less than going to a 24mp Canon Eos 5dMkII, then of course by the time you add lenses and second batteries you're looking at in excess of £4000...!!!

But today a semi-professional snapper that I interviewed for the mag kindly loaned me his wide angled lens (Tokina) to compare. He LOVED his Tokina, and being a landscape snapper that would be his No.1 lens.

I set up some comparison shots with the two lenses. The result?

My lens is the better one. At least for what I

HURRAH!

In other words, no upgrade necessary in the foreseeable future. Hurrah and hurrah again! I'm very relieved.

I'm on Facebook. Like Supermatt41 says, it's not going anywhere. Could even be useful as a business tool in some respects.

As it happens, 90% of my FB friends are from work, so Journaling will continue with LJ as I like the filters and stuff. And LJ is more meaty, FB is fun and frothy.

Despite the fact I have had a caravan test to write up for 2 weeks now and I was ready for bed at 10pm last night, I stayed up on Facebook till 1am and now I'm knackered.

Job done then!

Yes or no?

I already waste too much time on 't interweb.

Do you like the new avatar? Northiam Gary came over today and we played cameras. I liked this pic of me so much there was no need to artify it.

We went to Greatstone and he took some lovely pix...

( Pix under cut )

...and already I think I'm ready to kill someone...

This morning I found Daisy McPaisley dead in her cage with her head in the water bowl. At first I thought she had drowned by accident, but as Steve pointed out she had more than enough power in her front legs to get herself out of difficulty.

Cleaning out the cage I discovered a lot of blood from her wound. Either she passed away as she went to drink, or she decided to call it a day herself.

I buried her this afternoon on Cockle Beach on the island of Barra. Her grave is marked with her name in shells and a daisy.

Vodafone has NO coverage at all, but thankfully o2 does. So I can post this with my iPhone but pix will have to wait.

I didn't expect Daisy to be coming on this trip with me but she's been wonderful company.

No more rats. At least not for the time being.

After all that. By the time I got Daisy McPaisley to the get she was quite chipper. We discussed the options, and it turns out that on Barra there is no vet. I said we should go ahead anyway to which the vet replied 'Are you really sure?'. Of course, then I blubbed and he told me to go away and consider it. So Daisy is back in the Airstream and currently tucking in to a piece of pasta. My nerves are in tatters and she's doing great.

Attention-seeking cowbag! ;-)