|
|
Welcome. The following are the last 5 or so pictures to be uploaded. To view more pictures click on Photos to see more.
<<Earlier Photos
Last weekend was a trip into London to have a walk around the Tower and a trip down the Thames which was interesting and any trip to London would not be complete without many trips on the underground which is sort of interesting but mainly a chore though it did include a trip on the DLR which is not very interesting at all really especially when we timed it right to coincide with line works so the DLR turned into a bus on Sunday. Staying just near the ExCeL Centre it was all rather new and clinical but comfortable nonetheless, but you couldn't help thinking that they had flattened a bit of London and walled it off so that straying either side of the area would mean that you would run into parts of what had escaped demolition that was less clean and clinical.
Anyway after walking for miles and miles and having rather tired tootsies it was time to force the family to walk some more to find 30 St Mary Axe or the Gherkin as it's known so after a wiggly walk though the streets (wiggly because we didn't know where we were going really and tiredness was setting in) the Gherkin was found a few snaps were taken and off again back towards the Thames to catch a boat back to Westminster Bridge to walk across the bridge to Waterloo to get on the Underground to catch the DLR to eventually stop walking. Anyway on the way back (not knowing where any of these buildings really are we stumbled upon the Lloyds building which is just yards from the Gherkin. On the underground back I fought the temptation at Canary Wharf station to insist on getting a picture of that too... wise move I think I would have had a rebellion on my hands. There are only so many buildings you can take your Wife and Daughter to before they fight back with clothes shops.
Make a Comment
It's been a sort of busy weekend really. Packed lots of dull stiff into it that really I won't bother you about... oh if you insist... washing clothes, cycling 20 miles, washing more clothes, eating too much, walking round Manchester during the Manchester International Festival... yeah I told you it was boring but you insisted. The festival looked more like a night festival really, or we were in the wrong place so we messed about a bit, bought books and ended up in Salford via Blackfriars. Walking along towards the bridge that links Salford to Bridge Street my Wife spotted a statue looking over the Irwell, interested to see what it was about we walked back into Manchester and onto Bridge Street and there's a small relatively hidden set of steps down to nothing in particular that overlooks the Irwell. When you step down to this place there is nowhere to go but what you might call seats but nothing else apart from this statue. Very weird really almost like it was all some sort of hidden statue never to be discovered. Not sure what Joseph Brotherton would make of it being Salford's first MP. To the right of him looks horribly like a tomb with his name and the usual details you would expect on such a stone because the statue has nothing on it at all. It's also weird because I suspect the statue is actually in Manchester if you assume that Salford's boundary is the Irwell... so perhaps not strange because he's looking out over Salford.
Either way it's a weird place to put a statue more or less hidden out of the way where I'm assuming Manchester's less that healthy night life like to spend their time by the looks of it.
Make a Comment
So what do you do on Father's day? Well you just follow what everyone else wants to do as with every other weekend to be honest. So off we went to Tatton Park despite the Touring Cars being on TV and despite the fact that I just don't like mazes I was the dupe who accompanied my Daughter in the maze because my Wife wanted to have a lie down. I have a horrible feeling that we got this the wrong way round.
To be honest there was nothing to take pictures of in Tatton, the light was bad and even the promising pictures just looked cluttered, but perhaps that's just the feeling I had today after far a late night last night. The Japanese garden looked picturesque but again there were OK pictures but they all looked a little cluttered from the outside because you can't go in, so I too a snap to add to my wood carving collection. Oh and I forgot to say that this is in the middle of the maze, not sure if this makes you more or less inclined to get there.
Make a Comment
This is the best picture from the day today of Tom Sharp in a Ginetta at Oulton Park. Not a great day as it rained on and off making the surface tricky despite yesterday being a perfectly warm and dry day. It also wasn't perfect for Neal and Sheddon, after dominating the second race Neal decided to punt Sheddon off the track costing both of them the race and handing it to Plato.
This is back at Druids an I think they have remodelled it. Last time the trees stopped you viewing down the track to the left but this time there is a clear view which is better. All I need to do now is watch the TV version of events to see what I missed.
Make a Comment
After tense negotiations with my daughter over how many pieces of bread she wanted for a sandwich broken down I hit the roof and the UN were called. Since the UN didn't think this was an issue of national importance they declined (how wrong they were) and I went back to slamming a ham sandwich together, yes slamming. Just a note for casual readers, there is no point in slamming a ham sandwich together, the most sound a slammed sandwich can make is a pathetic slapping sound which is no good for a tortured soul.
So with the conflict downgraded to guerilla war I plodded through to the lounge where I found that because of the sandwich crisis I had missed the start of one of if not the best spectacle in Formula 1... the Monaco Grand Prix. The only other contenders are Spa Francorchamps and Brazil, all for different reasons. Needless to say that this capped the day off to a tee.
So with the options of throttling members of my family (in a Homer vs Bart way) or going to Lyme Park I decided to choose the path that involves least criminal sentences.
So to the pic. This is one where at last the Orange San Francisco finally kicks out a cracking shot. It really does seem weird that smartphone cameras are pretty rubbish in general but get up close and get the light right and the pictures are pretty fantastic... well I think so, another example is a really close up picture of a baby frog which again was so close I was an inch or two off the frog, similarly here I was so close that I was in danger of darkening the picture with the shadow of the phone itself, luckily the day was so overcast that there was no danger of a shadow so I was probably able to get closer than on a sunny day... but then again on a sunny day there would be less chance of rain really. So bonus points for the San Francisco.
Make a Comment
|
|
