Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Missed out on WoWing - At home day

Sorry about a last week's picture (Milldale Bridge) but I had to offer my apologies at WoW today. Awful night; cat napped for 20 minutes at a time before the pain woke me up. I gave up around 3am and comfy-chair plus hot pad and plenty pain killers eventually eased it off.

But I couldn't face the journey to Buxton. It is hilly and the Museum hosting the Exhibition isn't in the easiest of places. However, I am keen to hear about it. Perhaps Anonymous Reg could append a few words for the record. From his comment, Rob also would like to hear about it. Y, sweet girl that she is. offered to do me a chip cob for lunch!

So the Bandstand at the Winter Gardens, and that fabulous Georgian Crescent will just have to wait to be photographed at some more propitious time.

Last week Brian told me that siskins have a sort of crested look; so what these are seems uncertain. Also we have had some new visitors. Smaller than sparrows, around blue tit length but slimmer, and browny grey with very pale creamy chests. They feed at the goldfinch feeder shown and are very easily scared away. I wonder if they could be linnets?

Talking about bad legs at Margaret's yesterday and she said that her friend was awaiting her third hip replacement. I knew what she meant but I had this image flash of Rolf Harris's 'Jake the Peg, with his wooden leg'.

Comments..... I don't think Bungus, that unkindness is being shown to £3.50 carveries, and I accept that The Snooty Fox is an honourable exception. Brinsley Lodge down the road offers steak-dinners 2 for £5 but I don't think I would risk it. It isn't snobbishness but we eat good quality products at home and going out to eat sub-standard meals however cheap, holds no attraction. And again, I am not saying that 'more expensive means better' . We shop at Lidl, not because it is cheap (which it is) but because the produce, especially continental and deli stuff, and fish, and tinned fruit et al is exceptionally good.

My favourite film I'm almost ashamed to say is Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. There are some excellent modren films though. Some are awful but whenever we go the cinema we are more often pleased than not.

Madeline...thanks I now have the correct version of WordWeb from your link. It must have just been a 'grrr..'

Quick quote then I'm off........... I must have used this before:-

"What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure"

Samuel Johnson

Burton Joyce day tomorrow and my Camera Club in the evening. I aim to conserve my energies so I can magage it. Our own Paul Alexander is the lecturer, and we are all looking forward. Google tells me that Paul has limited edition prints available, but McAfee Siteadvisor gives the website an unequivocal [X] so I haven't dared open it! I must ask him why tomorrow evening.

....Enjoy these two. Sleep tight. Catch you tomorrow, but it might be late.

........................................................

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Birds - Linnets don't have a yellow bar on their wings. There are immature birds still around, like greenfinches? Or is it the one on the left? Linnets have a lovely twittery song, are often pinky/red on their tummies, but I think that is just in spring and may be males only?

I do hope you have a better night's sleep, it is really miserable when pain keeps you awake. I am often woken up by aeroplanes going on to land at Heathrow (six miles away)around 5.00 a.m., find it hard to get back to sleep when they stop - about 6.00 - it's OK at the moment, I get up and watch the Australian Open (tennis)live on tv....

We have not had a frosty night for ages, just lots of rain and grey skies and wind, what my mother used to call 'cut-your-throat' weather!

Thanks for two e-mails.

I love that Oscar Wilde quote about Little Nell, one of my favourites. Good old Oscar, he can usually be depended on.

Cheapest carvery round here is £8.00 and not very good....

Anonymous said...

Did you accept the chip cob?
Yesterday, for Sandra’s only meal, I did a healthy (and in my view tastier) version, viz: a roast root veg cob. And today, for a change, a roast red pepper cob.

My bird book suggests that your birds are siskins (and nothing else) although they should perhaps have yellowish beaks.

No need for shame. ‘Butch and Sundance' is a great film (especially the knife fight very early) as are ‘The Magnificent Seven’ and ‘Hombre’. But my favourite is ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’. ( I think we’ve done this before).

Tonight I watched a BBC 2 programme called Wonderland. As a result I have decided not to live on Bodmin Moor. This is because they are all obviously crackers. That is something which has a certain immediate appeal but it was all a bit too Wicker Man for me!
Sandra appears to share my view. She watched it independently (from her sickbed) and has informed me that if she ever leaves me I would be wasting my time looking for her on Bodmin Moor.

Unlike RG and Jill, with whom I sympathise, I have little trouble sleeping. My problem is staying awake. I keep dropping off at all hours through the day and still sleep from midnight until 10.00am most mornings!
As for frosty nights, I wish the telly would stop telling me how mild it is. I have spent most of today (indoors) wearing a fleece (although I did discover the heating wasn’t on!) and when I went outside (to the garage to skin and joint the brace of pheasant) the wind cut straight through me. What some around here call ‘an idle wind’ (too lazy to go round you).

I like the Laurel & Hardy (from 'Way Out West' I think?)

Unknown said...

I'm sorry to hear you didn't get your outing to Buxton and I hope you'll feel better soon.
Those birds are definitely siskins, we get them here quite often.
I'm pleased to hear that you got WordWeb successfully. I suppose I should get the latest version too!
Would I be correct in thinking that Paul Alexander's site is www.collectorsprints.co.uk? If so, I had a look at McAfee SiteAdvisor's site report and this is what it said:
'When we tested this site we found links to acrobatreader-8.com, which our analysis found to be suspicious.'
I've checked acrobatreader-8com and acrobat-reader-8.com and neither is red-flagged by SA - 1 is green and the other is unclassified (grey).
I have to say that some of the SA classifications are very out of date. A few months ago, I registered on the forums of a well-respected program and the site was red-flagged. In fact, it didn't link to the 'red' sites that SA claimed although it may have done so a couple of years earlier. Some of us registered as SA reviewers and the owner commented too and the result of our efforts is that the site is now green-flagged. I suggest that you have a word with Mr Alexander, he may not know about SA, and advise him to go on the site report page and add his indignant comments! Then the rest of you could register as reviewers and support his site!
I don't know why you 'didn't dare' to open the site RG. I've told you before that just going onto a red-flagged site will NOT download a proliferation of malware to your PC! Just use common sense on such a site and be careful what you click on.
Yes, be cautious, but don't scaremonger by implying that a red-flagged site is automatically to be avoided like the plague!
I've just thought, if Mr Alexander doesn't have SA he may have trouble finding the site report page for his site, so here's the URL:
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/collectorsprints.co.uk?ref=safe&client_ver=FF_26.6_0&locale=en-GB&premium=false&client_type=FF&aff_id=0

Anonymous said...

The Paul Alexander who has limited edition prints available is not 'our Paul' but someone in the Portsmouth area. 'Our Paul' has a website at www.alternative-images.com and his nudes are also on pixiport.com and photokonkurs.com

I hope you are pain-free enough to make it to EPS tonight, RG. Paul is a very talented and imaginative photographer - and modest. He was telling me recently he doesn't rate his own work.

I was slightly confused for a few moments by your dancing duo. I thought they must have been you and Bungus until I read the comments page.

Rob

Anonymous said...

No need to feel ashamed about Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid being your favourite film as I think it's an excellent choice. I'm sure a lot of people would turn their noses up at my favourite which is The Commitments but heh each to their own. Hope you have a better night on the pain front.....Take care

Pete