Wednesday 23 December 2015

Making choices



23 December

John Rebus is back again. Ian Rankin’s new novel is Another Rebus story, this time shortly after his retirement for the police. I bought the hardback copy of it seeing as its Crimble and I had a bit of extra dosh to spend. In the past I have felt that the dust cover gets in the way as I read, so now I remove it, not only does it not get in the way, it also doesn’t get damaged either.

Anyway, I noticed that the cover price for the book was £19.99, yet I only paid £13 for it from Waterstones. A quick look on Amazon and it’s down to just £9.99. This got me thinking about how much Royalty the writer gets when the price keeps falling like that. It seems like a lot of hard work for so little gain, and that makes me wonder just whether it’s worthwhile writing in the first place.

I am a bit surprised that AP arrived here this morning. I hadn’t been expecting it seeing as the Christmas issue was here last week – not that I’m complaining of course, I’m most certainly not. I’ve managed to read about half of it so far and it’s a pretty good issue. Two articles stand out for me right now. The first is by mag editor Nigel Atherton who decided that a New Year’s resolution for him for 2015, was to shoot more film. To that end he bought himself a second hand Nikon FM2, and off he went.

After ten years of shooting with what he calls, ‘… a computer with lens on the front …’ he soon found that he was struggling with his FM2. Years before his eyesight was a lot better than it is now, and he found it not so easy to use get pin sharpe focus. He also realized that he was going to have to wait for his shots before he could see how well he had done, so he ended up taking the same shot with his iPhone too. Now Nigel says he won’t be going back to film on a regular basis, simply because of the wait for results. He likes the instant feedback that digital gives.

I made the same decision when we lived in Bed’th. I had bought a Minolta XD7 off Ebay and it was great fun shooting on B&W film, until that is, it came to the point where I was running out of film, photo-chemical and inkjet printer ink. As we couldn’t afford all of it, I had to a choice of what way to go. At the same time I was still studying with the OU and had an assignment due to be sent in, and that meant I needed the printer inks. So I made the decision that I had to go digital on the photography as well. I sold all the film kit I had and made a slight profit on it, so that was OK, and my Konica Minolta Z5 was doing a great job on me photos.

If you were to look at a lot of landscape photos, nine time out of ten, you will see a lump of rock(s) stuck at the front. The sea or a river of mountain/wooded stretching out behind. The rock is ‘foreground interest’, and is supposed to be there to balance as well as lead the eye into the image. I’ve never really liked that idea and the odd landscape I have tried doesn’t follow it. Another article in today’s mag covers that same issue. Craig Roberts is a pro-snapper who thinks that foreground interest is compulsory and argues that sometimes using the rule of thirds it can be ignored. Craig isn’t saying that it can got rid of altogether, oh no; what he says is that it all depends on the view and conditions at the time. He includes a number of his shots to illustrate what he means. Yet again, well worth going out to buy the mag for.

While Jan was out last night, I sat and watched the rest of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Jan can’t stand it, far too slow for her. Anyway, I have always loved the film and watch it as often as it appears on telly, even if I do have to watch it in two parts. I suppose it is rather slow and even the few action scenes are not the usual fast paced punch ‘em up we see in so many other films, but for me it’s the whole visual affect that I like so much. Star Trek and Star Wars don’t compare to the shear vision behind 2001. Kubrick is supposed to have said that he wanted to create the greatest sci-fi ever made. He did, it still is for my money!

So, now time for a photo … 

A yellow flower, one of a large bunch I bought for Jan one time.

And today’s funny …

Josey wasn't the best pupil at Sunday school. She often fell asleep and one day while she was sleeping, the teacher asked her a question. "Who is the creator of the universe?" Joe was sitting next to Josey and decided to poke her with a pin to wake her up. Josey jumped and yelled, "God almighty!" The teacher congratulated her. A little later the teacher asked her another question, "Tell me who is our lord and savior?" Joe poked Josey again and she yelled out, "Jesus Christ!" The teacher congratulated her again. Later on the teacher asked, "What did Eve say to Adam after their 26th child?" Joe poked Josey again and she shouted, "If you stick that thing in me again, I'll snap it in half and stick it up your ass!"                    

Tuesday 22 December 2015

Oh heck, that was HOT!!!



22 December

We went shopping later on last night and now we have finished with it all for the coming weekend. While we were out I got a wee bit hungry so I bought one of those pre-packed salads so many places sell these day. Yes, I know, very lazy way do a salad. But the offer was two for £5, so I did get two and had one of them last night at home, the one with the shorter use by date on it. It was fine really, but very hot! The one I had was a sweet chilli salad, and it really was a lot hotter than I thought it would be. I shall have the second one tonight around 7pm.

I’ve been banging on about waste for some time now, and right now I’m more than a bit miffed by the supermarkets. You see, I do like kale, and I like watercress, but I don’t buy them simply because Jan isn’t keen on either and in the large bags the supermarkets have on sale, there’s far too much for just one person. It’s the same with all their pre-packed veg though. A bag of carrots and parsnips is far too big for one person and they can go off if they are not eaten quickly enough. It’s time for them to start doing smaller packs, but until then, I suppose I shall just have to buy them loose, thereby using more placci bags.

Bridgnorth in Shropshire is a nice little town on two levels on the banks of the River Severn. The town is linked to Kidderminster by the Severn Valley Railway. However, like so many other towns all over the country there is an increasing number of empty shops in the town centre. There are so many different reasons as to why our town centres are quietly dying like this, internet shopping is just one of them. The out of town shopping centres are also partly to blame.

Local authorities are not doing much to help either. Dorktown council is increasing the parking charges yet again; I’m sure others are doing the same too. Why pay even more to park in town when you can park for free in Asda or Sainsburys carparks, especially if you are going in to town just for around 30 or 40 minutes? And then of course there are business rates that they all have to pay. The amount of rates is always one of the biggest groans from shop keepers.  

But I wonder if some smaller shop keepers are doing as much as they could to keep customers returning day after day, week after. The only fishmonger in Dorktown now is in Asda. Coleman’s gave up the fight a few years ago, and yet whenever I went past there or called in for something, they never had what I wanted. At one time, when they were on Queens Road, they also sold fruit and veg and a good selection of game birds/animals. By the time they gave up, they sold on fish and a few chickens too, and even then you had to go in ask for the stuff, the window display was really poor.

There is no one answer to this situation I fear. However, a guy on the news last night said that he didn’t think that a fair number of the empty shops will ever reopen again as shops. He claimed that everyone involved needed to re-think their town centres and what they would used for. Perhaps some towns need to look at specialising in one area. Hay-On-Wye for example is full of successful book shops. I love the place. Perhaps other towns can follow their lead and turn to a single trade. Of course, that means the towns folk will have to travel elsewhere for their needs; or perhaps turn to the internet – which is pretty close to where we came in.

Today’s photo … 

Queens Road, Dorktown. TJ Hughes was closed down after less than a year; Specsavers is now closed after they moved further down to a smaller building. At least four more of those are now closed.

Today’s funny …

 Q: What do a Christmas tree and a priest have in common?
A:  Their balls are just for decoration.     

Monday 21 December 2015

Me plug has been pushed in now



21 December

My plug wasn’t fully home again this morning, so I appealed on Facebook for someone to push it in properly for me, and I’m feeling a lot better now. It’s not as if I had a bad night either, cos I didn’t. Ah well … To add to it all, we have both got the days muxed ip again, with us both thinking it is Tuesday, not Monday. Jan even Skyped her sister in Bangkok today instead of tomorrow. So many senior moments right now.  

Jan has been doing reviews for various products for a few months now. The items arrive, she tries them and write and posts the reviews. In payment she keeps the items. Most of what she has reviewed have been useful in one way or another and we are still using them, but others, like the silly selfie stick really are a waste of resources to my mind. Among the latest batch is a blood pressure metre and she has been testing. So yesterday she did hers and it showed a high level; a wee while later she did it again and it was still high. So I tried it and it showed mine to be in the normal region for my levels, twice too with this morning test. Now Jan has an appointment with the GP to have it sorted down there too. She could well be on yet another medication if it is still so high. We wait and see … … …

Brum has taken in 41 refugies from Syria and questions are being raised already about the extra cost to the city, in cash, housing, health and schools. Towns and cities are being told by central government that they have to take a share of these folk but they are not being given any resources to cover the added costs. Should we take them in at all? Maybe we should, and seeing the relief on the faces of the kids in a local school, knowing that they are safe now and not going to be bombed or shot makes it worthwhile. But Daft Dave is right in rejecting any ideas or pressure to take any of the thousands of those who have made their way to Europe illegally. We have enough people in need here already, our own people who should be helped first!

On Midlands Today just now a 15 year old lad stabbed and killing in Brum over the weekend has been named. So sad folks, another young life wasted for what seems no reason at all. But I wonder – the incident happened at 2am yesterday morning; what I am thinking is why was a 15 year old out on the streets at the time of night in the first place? Our son Tom wasn’t allowed out at that time until he was 16, when he could do more or less what he wanted to do with asking us about it. I ask that same question every time I hear of such young lives being waste in the same, or similar way. Perhaps if parents had more interest in what their kids are up to at night, the number of such incidents might actually fall. Can’t see it happening though, can you?

Weather is looking pretty miserable to the week or so; but there again, it all depends on what you would like it to be on Friday I suppose. A white Christmas? Not my idea of fun at all. I’m 67 now and I don’t actually remember one. The nearest I can remember was when it started snowing on Boxing day afternoon and continued on for days on end. That was when the snow and ice hung around until nearly April, 1963/4 I think. Anyway, now I like the snow for as long as I can get a few nice shots of it and then it can just go away as far as I am concerned.

We don’t usually get very severe weather hear abouts anyway and the last serious snow we had here in Dorktown was in Febuary 2012, so for today’s photo … 

Shot through the front bedroom window in Bracebridge Street.

Today’s funny …

There was a preacher who fell in the ocean and he couldn't swim. When a boat came by, the captain yelled, "Do you need help, sir?" The preacher calmly said "No, God will save me." A little later, another boat came by and a fisherman asked, "Hey, do you need help?" The preacher replied again, "No God will save me." Eventually the preacher drowned & went to heaven. The preacher asked God, "Why didn't you save me?" God replied, "Fool, I sent you two boats!"