Wednesday, November 07, 2007

WoW at Magpie Mine - So Windy - Robin Hoods Stride -

Our WoW destination this morning was the Magpie Mine near the village of Sheldon in Derbyshire. If you open the link you will see that it is a disused lead mine dating back (allegedly) 300 years.

Although the pictures in the linked page show the mine in more detail I think my 'record-shot' Number 1 shows part of it in context in relation to the skyline. The site is so remote and it was so windy I wasn't so much worried about my tripod blowing over as 'me' blowing over. My flask of coffee was more than usually welcome.

En route we went through the via Gelia and passed near Robin Hood's Stride and near to Birchover had to pull quickly off the main road because we noticed the light on the rocks in Picture 2. There were only small intermittent gaps in the cloud for a little sun but the strength of the wind soon blow the clouds together again.

Good fun though. Brian S (Commercial) came with us for the first time since his retirement from the shop, and I think enjoyed himself. As he said he has been looking forward to it for so long. We stopped for our customary chip-cob and got home around 3pm. Brian tried to convince me that Adobe Photoshop 7 is the same programme as Adobe Elements. When I got home I checked on the Adobe website and it isn't. And the latest from the Elements stable is 6 not 7. Not important anyway.

Our last night's National Trust Lecture, about National Trust Gardens was quite excellent. The lecturer Stuart Dixon is extremely well qualified having recently retired from teaching horticulture at university level. And he certainly knew his stuff. He did a lot about the Garden at Snowshill Manor which we visited earlier in the year. He was spot on about the plant collection but as Jill commented ages ago, the house and its contents are weird, weird, weird. The owner was an eccentric collector who eventually had to move out of the house and into a small cottage opposite because there wasn't any room left for him.

Re Comments. About 'Room with a View'. You may be right Jill about the over-acting. But it suited me fine. I am sure Y, or Bungus, or anyone will tell you, subtlety is lost on Radiogandy - it's a sledge-hammer job most times. And I agree with AnonymousRob and Bungus about Timothy Spall (who isn't Denholm Elliott or Ian Holme) he is underrated. I think that he was so good in 'Auf Weidersehn Pet' that everyone now expects him always to be 'Barry'.

I'll leave you with a video of some pretty pictures and Sinatra singing Autumn Leaves. You can't complain of not getting your money's worth on this blog, now can you?

This quotation may amuse our older readers :-

"When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not"



A note for new readers. If it is in orange writing it will be a live link so left-click it. Also, if you left-click a picture you will get an enlargement, sized just right to fit your screen.

Y at Burton Joyce tomorrow. And I've got Camera Club in the evening and the lecturer is - drum roll............AnonymousRob. And he will be good. He always is. Here is our Wow logo


Catch you tomorrow......

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:51 pm

    I like today's photos but it is hard to imagine a wind that would disturb the RG frame (and it doesn't look windy! I suppose because there are no trees.)

    RG will not be surprised that, having now watched ‘Room with a View’ on tape, I am inclined to pretty well agree with Jill.
    (a misunderstanding here: I was talking about Denholm Elliot whose subtlety I considered far superior to the performance of that fine actor Timothy Spall in the part of Mr Emerson Sr.)
    It seemed to me that too many of the characters in the latest offering were played as over-the-top eccentrics (only Simon Callow's Rev Beebe in the Oscar winning version) by actors who tend to specialise in such portrayals.
    My memory of the Oscar-winning film is hazy but I recall a generally more convincing standard of acting with Denholm Elliot, Maggie Smith and Simon Callow being particularly impressive.
    In this latest version, I thought Timothy Spall (although, I repeat, a fine actor) appeared to have escaped from a Dickens’ story and the wild love-making scene near the end seemed to owe more to Lawrence than Forster (and it wasn’t always easy to believe in when emanating from Lawrence!).
    I do not remember how the film ended but cannot see that any useful dramatic purpose was served by changing the ending of the book for this latest TV version.
    But yes, it was very pretty.

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  2. Anonymous3:47 pm

    I really like Picture 1; superb lighting and a good shadow in the foreground to act as a base. You have certainly captured a feeling of remoteness.

    Naturally I would prefer it in black and white but that's just my prejudice coming out. Well, no it's not really. I think a monochrome image would convey more mood.

    I'll give this one 17 out of 20.

    Rob

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