Friday, February 15, 2008

Further day in bed - 2 Guest Pictures

I am indebted to AnonymousReg for Picture 1, of St John's Chambers, from the WoW trip to Nottingham on Wednesday. A great photo in my opinion, with a construction that works. The symmetrical perspective leads you to the girl walking across and almost silhouetted against the steps. Talk about clicking the shutter at 'the decisive moment'. This has it in spades. I also applaud the subtle colour-balance.

My legs and ankles are (trying to avoid superlatives) awful. And I have taken Sister Y's advice and stopped in bed. She made me a cafetierre of high roast coffee, pots of tea, and keeps me liberally supplied with cold drinks if that is my fancy. And at lunchtime prepared scrambled egg on french 'rustica' toast and topped with smoked salmon.

Life's not that bad - now is it?

I did one of my regular stupid things. After moving lots of last year's photos from my computer to my external hard disc, I deleted them from My Pictures. Only to find, of course, that 'starred' stuff and material being saved for a lecture at EPS had vanished from Picasa. (It is essential to remember that Picasa only handles files and doesn't actually store them) Easy enough to rectify though because all I needed to do was to 'restore' them from the Recycle Bin. Next time I shan't remember either!

Picture 2 is another great picture. By AnonymousRob on his Nikon compact last night. He and AnonymousElaine had decided against the Camera-club and in favour of a romantic Valentine's Day evening meal at The Dolce on Broad Street.

Anyway, this is supposed to be about the picture and I like it a lot. The lights of the individual 'gondolas' demonstrate The Wheel's height and ambience better than the daytime shots do.

Again, I thoroughly approve of the pictorial structure of the photo and the exciting colour balance.

Thanks to both of you for giving our readers the chance to see photos other than my own, and contributions are always welcome.

Comments......Bungus....Thanks again for the 'comments' workaround. Everybody seems to have it sussed but .....have we heard from Jill since it changed? I'm sure she will surface.

Sorry about your exaggerated taste-buds. "Super-tasters" are officially recognised. That link is to the bbc info while "Supertasters" is the link to Wikipedia who seems very well-informed on the matter. Plenty to take AnonymousRob's mind off tedious work.

AnonymousRob....... You make a good point about people quoting John Lennon after his death and being anthologized! I know Bungus isn't 100% persuaded but I feel that the original quote was sound. I found the peevish/slang dictionary fine now. You had originally omitted 'slang' from the URL but it was only idleness stopped me finding it yesterday. As a small research project I checked out 'street slang' for my
morphine Fentanyl patches. As the link will show you, street-names abound. Personally I prefer 'Apache' or 'China Girl' to 'Drop Dead' or 'Fat Albert'. As Steven often says, I ought to get a proper day job.

We are enjoying the exploits of Paul the Plasterer. Won't DFS keep your furniture until it's convenient for you to receive it ?- especially as they originally said 12 weeks.

AnonymousReg. I remember the Nissen huts. But I'm sorry you missed the Queen/Queen Mother. Rob woukld be heart-broken. Although Morrisons is quite recent, how long has Kings Mill Hospital been there? I remember the Hospital up the hill from Chesterfield Road, and I've no idea what is on that site now?

Meant to take a snap today of an Orchid we have acquired. It seems to like it where it lives and Y has taken advice from Joan who knows anout these things. Perhaps tomorrow - unless deluged with offers of more guest pictures. Helen C e-mailed me last night to tell me that last night I came second in one of the monthly categories. The 'print' of a pub title.
WoW -I'm not sure I can deal with the fame.

Quotation of the day......Feeling the need to remind folks of a Banksy quote I might have used before :-

"The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it"

...Don't ask me to explain the connection fully but Bungus's mention of the tree banana sparked it. There's a great piece of Banksy graffiti based on Pulp Fiction killers firing bananas. Going to lie down again now. And I hope to catch you tomorrow. Sleep tight.....

n.b ...a reminder for new readers. If you left-click a picture you get a full page enlargement in a new window. To return, left-click the green return button.

If words are in orange and underlined they are a live link to whatever we are talking about at the time.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>!!<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I did like these two photos - what or where is the first one of? What it is used for, please?

So sorry your feet are still giving you problems, hope to read better news tomorrow.

I've had computer trouble for 24 hours - and it is not raining and son up the road has had exactly the same and he isn't on AOL, Anyway it seems OK now.

We have finally agreed with some firm to have drive and area around the house all paved - it is a big job involving digging up sveral applications of asphalt and putting in foundations. This is reflected in the vast cost....further complicated by the fact that there is a sort of drain-pipe thing buried in the asphalt somewhere that contains all the cables for the house, telephone, elec, etc.etc. The chap in charge is Irish, and I don't like him and wouldn't trust him. However R says he is OK - watch this space for horror stories, they start next Wednesday, we have to park cars out on the street for about 10 days. Whether we will be able to get out on foot I don't know. Said drive is 120 ft. long, only access.

Oh well, I can always sit back looking smug and very carefully NOT saying 'I told you so'.

This is really a warning in case I suddenly disappear from view, owing to damage to said cable.....

Anonymous said...

I like both pictures, especially the splashes of light on 1. But I could not get a full page enlargement (I got a panel top left of screen which only showed perhaps 1% of the picture at a time).

Pleased to hear that you are being coddled (a pity, on this occasion that Vvonne is not called Molly).

I really don’t understand this My Pictures business. I know if I system restore I lose recent pictures from Picasa. They are probably still in My Pictures but I don’t know how to find them (except to start at the top and look in each file). I fear that explanation would be a waste of time; if anyone starts to explain how hydraulic brakes work, I automatically switch off and I suspect this would be the same..

Tea tasting is also an honourable and easily disturbed occupation. Like wine tasters they spit it out though.
Thanks for the links. As 'capsaicin burn' is more intense in supertasters I must have become one! Perhaps I could get a job assessing the strengths of different chillies? No, on second thoughts, it would be too painful. I certainly enjoy wine, and especially beer, less than I did. Perhaps I should demand an excision of my fungiform papillae? But as it may be cardio-protective, perhaps not.

I would not wish to upset you but 'Fat Albert' appeals.
Can’t agree with Steven. So far as I am concerned, “work is for those who have nothing better to do”. (I think that might qualify as a quotation in the future).

I don’t recall a hospital on Chesterfield Road. I presume you mean it was past QUEGS, possibly in Pleasley?
Or are you coming the other way and referring to Mansfield General, which has been closed for a decade or so and is the subject of intense debate. Local residents are constantly up in arms at the failure to demolish and redevelop.
Kings Mill Hospital took over the site from the Tech School as I recall. Mid 50s?

The 'print' of a pub title. Success at last! Don’t forget the model.

I like the Banksy quote which I do not recall having seen before.

Sorry to hear that Jill is adding to the flooding problem too (unless it is a direct swop – paving for asphalt – which should make no difference. How interesting these building stories are. And potentially as horrendous as our high hedge saga. But I hope Jill’s character assessment is incorrect on this occasion.

AnonRob:
I seem to recall John Lennon being quoted when he said the Beatles were more popular then god (or similar). Graham and myself frequently quote each other and we are, arguably, still alive (just!)

I would certainly always prefer an Italian Sauce (probably made in Holland!) to a Canadian one. Grossman is an aptly descriptive name; Dickensian, I would say. I always liked the solid fuel suppliers King Cole (I understand that it was/is the names of the 2 partners).

I don’t like the sound of the damp. Hope it can be cured. It is getting more and more Honeywood File, although that was new build. (17 new and used from £3.68 + p&p; Amazon).

AnonReg:
I remember the Tech School well. My favourite dentist went there but had to retire in his 50s with heart problems. It was the former US Army hospital and now King’s Mill Hospital too (when first founded it used some of the existing US hospital buildings). I think I would opt for going home rather than cycling all that way for a look at the queen.

Anonymous said...

Ingenue Lidlite Sandra highly recommends their part-baked individual ciabattas. Too hard for me at the moment, much as I like it. And, for the same reason , I have elected short crust pastry for today's Corned Beef Hash, rather than the usual suet crust.
Lidl also do some fierce chocolate over 70%, esp the 84% with chilli. 6 grams at a time is plenty.

Anonymous said...

Reg's picture is fantastic - it's just superb. So has no chance of winning anything in amateur photography circles. Well done, Reg, I'd be happy with a print of that on my walls at home, hint hint.

WoW, indeed, RG. Second place! You are obviously starting to produce pictures to the required formula. Shame on you!! Please publish the almost-winning entry.

I remember seeing the Queen when she visited Nottingham as part of her silver jubilee. She was in a car being driven along Mansfield Road towards the city centre. It was a Friday soon after work and I thought she looked like a china doll. Bring back Willie Hamilton!

Paul the Plasterer came yesterday and removed lots of plaster in the dining room from waist height down to the floor. He's coming tomorrow with a mate to remove the rubble. We now have a good amount of brickwork exposed, some of it may be the original c120 years old. I have some photos that I must e-mail to RG.

Unfortunately, no DFS will not keep the settees until we are ready. The sales person said they would, the warehouse say they won't. They are scheduled to arrive Monday. The delivery people will be in for a surprise when they find a plasterer and damp-proof person here. Alas, Neil the damp-proofer cannot do the work until Monday. But he seems to think all will be OK. We have Andrew the Plumber coming on Wednesday to give us a price for second-fitting a couple of radiators - he's 'willing to consider' recruiting an offender.

Bungus - I am more than extremely happy that both you and Graham are still alive and able to engage me in thought provoking topics. As RG has stated elsewhere, the job is tedious but it pays the bills and enables us to go on holiday.

Having just re-read the blog, I noticed that RG referred to his Fentanyl patches as having a street-name of China Girl and I referred to the Queen as looking like a china doll. Is there a connection? I think we should be told.

I haven't read the supertasters links yet and don't use Picasa. As a result I have no idea what Bungus is on about half the time - but I will catch up.

Glad to see normal service has been restored at Old Trafford; and many, many congratulations to Barnsley, he he he.

Rob

Anonymous said...

The enlargement of photos has cured itself as these things so often do.

I think the reason you never understood my working methods with My Pictures is that I don’t have one. I do not use My Pictures. Your offer is kind but I do not expect to understand it. It will undoubtedly lead to panic.

Yes, Mansfield General is on West Hill Drive off Clumber Street (now part of the ring road).

Lidl’s 81% (I exaggerated) Ecudorian Arriba Superieur is very intense, esp with chilli! I also bought some 77% Peruvian San Martin with cocoa nibs which I have not tried yet and a much cheaper 74% Fin Carre Edel Bitter Schokolade.

I’ll settle fo King Ivory. It conveys some of your majesty and stature.

I am reminded (by AnonRob’s situation) of the Flanders and Swan song “T’was on a Monday morning the gasman came to call…” and I enjoy being a bit obtuse at times. Keeps ‘em on their toes.
Is there such a word as 'unclarity'? There is now!

I bow to your greater knowledge, Reg. I still have this (possibly false) recollection of the original King’s Mill Hospital using brick buildings which were already in situ. Presumably part of the POW camp, which I too think was Italian and therefore not regarded as threatening.
You obviously gained skills and and the ability to make things. My Grammar School education taught me nothing practical (other than how to make half a wooden box in one term of Woodwork)and I have learnt nothing since, apart from how to tap a barrel.

Personally I would rather do without holidays than have to work, Rob. I was made redundant at 58 and decided to regard it as retirement (without holidays, apart from occasional weekends which I think are as good as a fortnight).
I have mostly thoroughly enjoyed it (certainly more than work) firstly by joining the Sixth Form of the Local Comp for A Level English (Aa) (I had left school after School Cert to become an architect) and then by editing and producing (on Amstrad) a newsletter for U3A. Plenty of time for watching telly and doing a bit of Indian cooking (from basic spices).
If I regret anything it is not doing a degree in English.

I hope the supertasters link will clarify the reference. I believe it must be the chemicals in my body that have rendered my taste so much more acute.
I am seldom deliberately obscure and when I am I try to leave clues.

I enjoyed the humiliation of Arsenal but would rather it had been at the hands of City.
Looks like a Chelsea/ManU final unless they are drawn together before that.

Anonymous said...

On Monday 17/12, they have but you play by their rules. [url=http://www.bvfdpaydayloans.co.uk/]payday loans in the uk[/url] this site The man's admissions came later he was entered into distressed customers which issue in a turn down in gross revenue. http://ukpaydayloans.blog.co.uk/