Greenfinch

I managed to capture this little chap whilst at Woodhorn.

Moody sky

I got up early for the sunrise and saw these amazing wispy clouds moving along the slope of the Downs...

Strettington

I popped-in on the Countess of Strettington on Wednesday, for tea and mince pies. Lycia was her usual calm self with kids running about all over the shop! Afterwards I looked-in on Michaels new house just up the road. John, his dad, was up on the roof helping the builder with the batons. I said I thought he`d retired and he just sighed. Luckily Michael arrived as I was going, and after he`d changed his clothes in the street I left them to get on with it.

To Ruths favourite rocket scientist

It is Smoths birthday on Wednesday and so we wish him a very happy birthday from Lower Willingdon. Well done old man :o)

Ferocious

This looks like the end for Christmas reindeer! He nearly lasted a year but Mabel was bored so Ruth gave her this to play with. The hunter killer instinct took over!

Candle lantern

I finished painting it today, amazing what you can do in a shed!

Sunrise from the high bridge over the A27 at Kingston

I took these the other day on the way into work...

Back to Folkington

I worked-out the sun would be in a better place than the time before so I set up my tripod at 13:00hrs. The sun wasn`t quite as strong as I`d like but it was a good result...

I caught this kestrel last week but the sun was in the wrong place. It was the first time I managed to get close to a bird with my 300mm lens.

Dad

I phoned mum this week and dad was much better she said. He`d been walking about upstairs with his frame and was very wobbly but he couldn`t even stand the other day. I even had a conversation with him on the phone even though he didn`t know who he was speaking to!

Don`t forget to pay your rent!

Or this could happen...

Cold

I`ve got a bloody cold, first one for a year. Snuffle.

Gatwick Airport, burning joint

This is a broken conductor rail rail joint and as a train further up the line draws power, so it causes an arc between the broken ends. These are very hard to video.

First blog

These notes are from my first blog that went tits-up...

Flash-back thirty years
I was in the woods at the back of Folkington last Sunday (12/10/2008) when about half a dozen young girls and boys walked past with ruksaks on their backs. It made me think of when myself and my friends at Haywards Heath college started doing this kind of thing back in 1977. There was the one at the front with the map (Ian), one at the back with the camera (me) and the others were just bumbling along hoping for another rest break! I wanted to tell them to keep doing this at least once a year for as long as they can as it gives us such a good time thirty years later on.

From BACKSHALL

Uncle Frank

I was searching the war records site and came across a record for my uncle Frank who was a seaman in WW1. It showed he joined the Victory at Portsmouth in August 1917 and four months later was on HMS Monarch during hostlilities. I remember him telling my dad how they used to lower him down the gun barrels to clean them!

Here`s HMS Monarch in action, imagine how loud those guns were...

From BACKSHALL

Dad

Myself and Ruth drove to Haywards Heath to see my mum & dad. Dad has dementia and is bedridden upstairs and can`t do anything for himself. Mum has to wash, dress, feed and help him with his toilet and this is very hard for her. She is doing a great job but she`s in her 70`s and so I think he`ll be in a home very shortly.
Although he doesn`t know who anyone is and where he is, he still shows flashes of the old dad I know and love. Mabel, our puppy, jumped up on his bed and was snuffling about on her back with her legs in the air. This made dad laugh and he was stroking her and letting her lick his face.
Aunty Val popped in while we were there and it`s always good to see her.

Folkington

I saw that the weather was good in the afternoon so I shot over to Folkington to photograph the stretch of Downs that I adore. The three clumps of trees nestled in dimples in the north facing Downs are a wonderful subject. Unfortunately I was a couple of hours too late and the sun was too low. It still looked nice though...

I then walked on a bit and captured the superb view to Mount Caburn...

Online car racing

It`s Friday so it`s race night tonight! Myself and Sensible Steve will be doing battle over the internet with nine other players from all over the world, playing GT Legends by Simbin.It`s quite an old PC game and the graphics aren`t as good as the console games but the physics is spot on and the cars are very hard to drive flat out. It`s good humoured stuff and we`re supposed to drive fairly and apologise for our mistakes! There are people on it who always win and there are those like myself that are pleased with a third position! Just like in real life, the red mist appears in front of us and we spin, nudge and take-out other cars! I`ll post some screen grabs of it here soon...

Keymer Junction

I was at keymer Jn today and as always, I look at the "train in section" light on the Up Lewes Branch and try to work-out how long it`s been there. I though I`d take some photographs in case it is done away with as it surely will one day.

Wittling

I`ve been wittling in my shed, making things to sell at Ruths Christmas open-house. I`ve made a mushroom!!!

And now I`ve made a candle shelf which will be painted soon...

Firle Beacon at sunset

I thought it might be a nice sunset tonight and so took up position near Drusillas to photograph it. Nice but not the full potential...

Hookswitches

I had to work a Saturday night shift to change four hookswitches at Angmering substation on the West Coast Railway Line. They had previously been changed in 1997 and are big knife switches that bolt onto the conductor rail. I`ve included some photos...

From BACKSHALL

Bloggage!

This blogging lark is very complicated.  I started one the other week and found that the photographs I uploaded did not enlarge when clicked on.  There was a problem with Picasa web album and so I deleted it and started this one.  Let`s see if this one works...

Left click on this image...

From BACKSHALL