Before finally leaving Bestwood Pumping Station this much 'photoshopped' picture of the fire-escape might be of interest. It has a new sky, brighter bits and a very tight crop.If I was doing it for someone else, I would be much more careful and get rid of the fringing round the uppper-foliage etc., but to me, it is a fun image and should not be taken too seriously. The joys of experimentation!
Bungus's list of the party topics covered was so accurate I wondered if, last time he came, he had planted a bug ? The only ones he missed were Iraq and Afghanistan.
And while we are on the subject of David's list, the prospect of even one cigarette a day appals me now. As the saying goes "there's none so prudish as a reformed prostitute". Although it is 14years since I stopped, I attribute my persistent catarhh to the nearly 50 years prior to that when I smoked so much. When I did my National-Service in Germany in the early 1950s we were given a free allocation of 200 cigarettes a week! I no longer smoke in dreams - a condition which persisted until a few years ago.
Talking of dreams - I share with my father, and my boys, the blessing/curse of being 'lucid dreamers'. Briefly, it means that one has a vivid recall of dreams, coupled with the ability to recount them. Last night I had a weird dream that Police Inspectors were responsible for policing a sort of 'national seed bank' and we all had to queue in front of this panel of 3 colleague Police Inspectors in uniform who allocated, and then recorded in big old fashioned ledgers, which seeds we were each responsible for. Then we had to apportion allotment plots. It all became complicated when people started bringing in living-plants in plant-pots which no-one knew what to do with. I guess it was some sort of worry-dream but there was nothing in it to upset me. I've also discovered over the years that, if I surface during a dream, going back to sleep on the same side continues the dream. But if I turn over, it changes the plot-line. Worth knowing if things are not going too well !
Picture 2 is a Planet Earth lift and the author is attributed at the bottom.I would be disappointed to discover that the solitary tree in the canopy, almost centre-frame had been 'photoshopped'. But, now I know how easy it is to do I am becoming suspicious and cynical.
Before I leave today's news uncommented on - am I alone at not finding the story of the poisoning of the Russian Spy who defected, either surprising or alarming ? No security-service anywhere in the world, takes kindly to brethren who treasonably abandon ship. One wouldn't be happy to offer much life-insurance to a Mossad operative who decamped with secrets for instance. But in their case they would be unlikely to do such a botched job and we would never know.
Catch you tomorrow................
Regarding Pic 1: first impressions are very good; very dramatic angle. But I thought you would NEVER introduce an alien sky. Despite your disclaimers/excuses, I cannot accept the ‘old sky’ grey around the trees and between the frets of the balustrade. I suspect you are not comfortable with it.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is not just my printer – the ‘on-screen' red of the bricks is too much for my delicate sensitivities although I have no quarrel with others who find it quite acceptable.
My view of cigarettes is quite different. Although I never think about them, having given them up 24 years 10 months and 10 days ago, I still always prefer the ‘smoking areas’ of pubs and restaurants. I also tend to make my very occasional train journeys in the smoking compartment where there are always spare seats. And, faced with a firing squad, a fag would certainly be my last request.
The persecution of a substantial minority offends me. I am resisting a feeling of moral obligation to rejoin them.
I cannot offer an opinion on the pale green jungle tree. All I know is that since ‘Drop the Dead Donkey’ I find it difficult to take at face value any report from a war zone or famine area. What a sad state of affairs; and another reason to deplore new skies.
Regarding the Russian Spy.: isn’t it a bit spiteful, after the event? Or is it just ‘pour discourager les autres’? Should we have eliminated Burgess, McLean, et al.?