A very frosty morning. Google said -2C but I am beginning to doubt the programme's veracity. It felt and looked more like -4C. Not to worry - but it was a leather-coat day. Y doesn't like it because she says it gives me a gestapo look but, as she wasn't coming to the RPS do with me I decided to wear it.Had a quick conversation with David and they all seem OK. They had taken the girls to see Peter Pan on Ice, which enthralled them. And half term is approaching.
Ravenshead Village Hall was easy enough to find and I thought that arriving at 10.20am for a 10.30am start I would be nearly first there. But not so. Unfortunately the chairs, as you can see were those village hall 'cripplers' out of which some designer must have made a fortune at the expense of countless million man/woman hours of discomfort. If I sat bolt upright I got back-ache, if I leaned back I got neck-ache. Next time I intend to take some sort of support cushion, at least. An excellent day though which was intellectually stimulating as well as simply enjoyable. There were people I knew but many more who I didn't know. A satisfactory turnout of around 50 I would say. I sought everyone's permission before taking the photograph which was granted without demur.
The 3 expert commentators all were FRPS's and adjudicators on the respective distinction- panels. Although I hadn't taken work, because I don't intend to submit for a higher distinction, it was a relief to see that, in my opinion, I would still qualify for my LRPS. Some things have changed, mount colours etc., but basically photography (apart from the advent of colour) hasn't improved much in the last 100 years. In fact, in some respects it's gone backwards.
The buffet-lunch was fine. Thank god you don't still get pineapple bits and cheese cubes on cherry-sticks and vol-au-vents !! There were some warm deep-fried savoury things, and super sandwiches and much, much more.I sat next to a very pleasant chap from Loughborough who owns a Garage specialising in Audi and Volkswagen and who has decided at 53, to cut his working week from 5 days to 4 days to make time for his photography course at Loughborough College. It was the first time he had been to an RPS thrash, and really enjoyed it.
I had decided to make my finger-food my main meal; Y had a jacket-potato and salad (a favourite) so for tea she had ham on toast, and I had soup and bread.
When it got sufficiently 'dusky' I nipped into the garden to capture this witch-hazel which is about on schedule I think.
Then we watched Andrew Graham Dixon's programme on BBC4 'Art and Eternity' which again was quite excellent. One doesn't, in my opinion, have to believe in God or be a Christian, to find Christianity and its Art a fascinating subject.
After that just enough time for a 'quick blog' (that sounds faintly disgusting doesn't it?) and then it will be time for me to get ready for bed. It takes me well over an hour, then I sit and read, then I listen to the radio............yawn..........
All outstanding e-mails will be answered tomorrow. Or probably around 3.30am if I don't sleep too well.
... see y'all termorrer............
2 comments:
Very few women in the audience - is this usual at these sort of meetings? Perhaos they just do the food......
I enjoyed the Arts programme too, and the one that followed it, about the way holidays were presented. Could never stand that Magenta de Vine......
Sunday morning was certainly very frosty in Ollerton up to about 8.00 am or beyond. Birds’ water frozen solid and the swans and ducks and gulls skating on the lake.
And do leather-coats have anything like the warmth of fleece (eg, the red one’s in your photo)? I appreciate that they keep out the wind but so do waxed jackets. I once bought one of those but found it far too heavy, so off it went to the charity shop.
The universal backbreaker chairs are still everywhere. The harm they must have done in schools is difficult to assess.
Most people now seem to be able to put on a decent buffet (not that I have anything against cheese and pineapple on sticks or GOOD vol-au-vents which may well be healthier eating than samosas and spring rolls). Around Mansfield these sort of dos are frequently catered by a non-profit-making organisation called Rumbles, employing adults with learning difficulties, based at Vicar Water (Vicker’s Pond as we used to call it), now a Country Park, between Clipstone and Crown Farm. As a youngster, I was warned never to go there; I think a child or two had drowned there and it is still a moderately popular place for attempting suicide.
Pretty witch-hazel. Derivation of the name, anyone?
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