Thursday, August 31, 2006

David's Hols - Mansfield Lunch

The last caravan site that David and family stayed at (five star and highly recommended) was about two hundred yards away from a runway at Plymouth Airport. This picture, from the holiday photos David has sent me, shows the proximity.

But they still had a great time. Very little fazes David and Helen and they are very good at seeing the good side of things. And they are brilliant with the children - there is always something to be done and stories to be read, games to be played. And I guess watching and listening to the planes landing was pretty exciting.

Picture 2 is a more conventional beach scene and features the new boat the 'Topper'. Whether or not it has been given a name yet, I don't know. The picture was chosen because, in my opinion, it is very well-constructed with the action on the 'golden section' and the skyline nicely under halfway up.

David has now downloaded Picasa but doesn't know much about how to use it yet. He soon will and it is such a wonderful programme (particularly for a freebie). He'll find it great fun.

News Item just in from Reuters - The Wretched Skip has gone. Hurrah !

Before meeting Bob in Mansfield for lunch I called in to PcWorld and got an estimate for repairing my done-for USB port (due to lappy being knocked onto the floor with the mouse connection still in place) and fitting me an additional chunk of memory. I've only got 256 at the moment and I make heavy demands of it. I've still got the link for Crucial which Ray sent me, to work out exactly what I need. Unfortunately although the Clock has gone and I was hoping that the italicised text would go with it - it hasn't. If I've not fixed it by then I'll let PCWorld do it. My eyes strayed to the new HDready tellies. There was a super 26" flat screen LCD job !! I must persuade senior-management to come with me to look, when she returns from London.


The last picture is the Court House, Mansfield, where I met Bob for lunch. It doesn't look much like a Wetherspoon's but it is and is very 'pubby' inside. Personally I think I prefer the Widow Frost (wherever do the get these ridiculous pub-names from?) on Leeming Street, because it's more filled with light from windows, but Bob prefers the one pictured.

Not a good photography day lightwise but more than acceptable for a record-shot or two. The photograph was taken from a pleasant bench that we had a good long sit on, after lunch. Bob likes 'figures' in his pictures to give them scale. but in my opinion they are usually in the wrong place, or doing something annoying, or are just plain ugly. So I thought that the two people standing discreetly by the door, is a sort of compromise.

Bob brought me a pound of his homegrown tomatoes. We needed tomatoes, and they will be delicious.

Wouldn't it be good of the italics had gone into 'self-destruct' ......................

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I concur absolutely with Radiog’s comments on the beach photo. Smashing composition and, of course, it does have the considerable benefit of figures.

PcWorld, hey? Not everyone’s choice but perhaps you have an extended warranty or service agreement?

May I point out that The Court House is the pub on the left. The more attractive one, to the right, is The Dial. But yes, I do prefer the pubby feel of The Court House to the somewhat Service Station ambience of Widow Frosts. And yes, I agree about the outlandish names (The Court House is an exception. Before it became a Wetherspoon’s gastro-pub it was known as 'The Court House').
Oh, yes, re your figures, 'discreetly' is extreme litotes. More 'Hiding' (or perhaps 'loitering', I'd say. I had to enlarge the image considerably before I could see them – hardly worth the effort, I’d say! But perhaps you will gradually come to accept the worth of even the ugly?

I seem to recall that RadioG does not like grilled or fried tomatoes. But, in my view, that is the best use for the Roma ‘plum’ variety as they are nearly all solid flesh with very few seeds. But I do not think they have anything like the flavour and sweetness of the others (Red Alert and Gardeners’ Delight).

Apropos of nothing, did anyone else watch 'Murphy's Law', last weekend’s 3-parter on BBC1 (Sun, Mon, Tue)? .
I thought it a well conceived, directed and performed violent thriller about an undercover policeman infiltrating drug dealing gangsters, with Muslim goodies and baddies and good and wicked nominal Christians (one of whom had converted to Islam). But the reason I mention it is two one-liners which I have not heard before:
1) “I’m wearing a tee-shirt that says ‘Beware of the God’”.
2) “The older I get, the better I was.”
The second one reminded me of a genuine spontaneous comment by a pub customer when we were discussing a darts player:
Me: “Yes, he’s good, but not as good as he used to be.”
Dave: “I’ve never been as good as I used to be.”

Back to your blog.
What a pity the italics weren’t in the skip!