Travel insurance, poor 3rd world health systema and my bloody hip hurts!

7 October

Something to watch out for folks; Spain has a conformed case of ebola in Madrid with a further 25 suspected cases. It’s getting closer to our borders all the time. Having said that, and not wishing to be seen as racist in any way, Europeans are perhaps more able to deal with it. The main reason for that is simply down to resources. Europe has large and modern hospitals where West Africa doesn’t. The result is that people who are perhaps infected are being sent away and the infection spreads much more widely. That doesn’t happen in Europe.

This is the sort of problem that world health agencies have been worried about. Over the years there have been worries when various forms of flu have raised their heads. And again, these seem to start in poorer areas of the world where health care is lacking. I suppose we just have to wait and see how things go.

We are sat waiting for our insurance papers to arrive. Because of our various medical conditions, we need to let any insurance company know about all of them. That is why we use Saga for our travel insurance. It’s cost us £184 as it was and now we have to get back in touch and tell them about the problems Jan has had with her dentistry. I hope that isn’t going to add a lot to the cost. It also mean I have to spend some time and get my printer working again seeing as it stop a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t bothered getting it sorted.

Yesterday I went into town to the Coventry to collect our currency ready for next week. It took a few minutes cos it was in safe and she couldn’t get to it for a while. Eventually she did, signed and then left the bank. Once in the car I unlocked the glove box to put it away – but I didn’t have it in my hand! Opps, I searched the car, not there; I retraced my steps to the bank, I was actually parked outside there so it didn’t take long. Eventually I started looking inside the car again and found it straight away. It was in a small plastic envelope and had slipped out of the receipt and down between the two front seats. Oh the fun we have here in Dorktown … … …

I’m feeling the effects of the change in weather with my arthritis starting to kick in. My right hip in particular is really hurting today. Just taken some more painkillers and that should help.

Well, photo time … 

A serious crime against a car.

Today’s funny …

Early mornin, surpises and lots of books

6 October

We were up at Stupid o’clock this morning so that Jan can could get over to Bed’th to see a different dentist at 8 o’clock. That was the only appointment he could offer so she took it. Hopefully the saga of the teeth will be over by the time she gets home.

It’s surprising what you can learn, even in a nation magazine about your own area isn’t it. Take the new issue of AP for example. It was the mags 130^th birthday last Saturday, so they centred the issue on the figure 130. Included is Britain’s best 130 photo locations, and one of them is here in Warwickshire, and I didn’t know anything about it. The Rollright Stones, (http://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/index.php/information/detail/how-to-find-the-rollright-stones/), seem to be on the county border with Oxfordshire though. I shall be looking for a chance to get down there and have look when I can.

These stone is yet another stone circle, but not on the scale of Stonehenge. Now I’m wondering if all these sites are linked in some way. You see, yesterday I sat and watched a documentary on Stonehenge on Netflix that proposed a new theory, well, new to me anyway. I did know about the bones that had been found there but the folks studying them have done a lot of tests on them and other’s found a few miles away.

The tests found that some of the bones are came as far away as the Orkneys. Now that is a long way to travel even today in a car, but 5,000 years ago it’s seems an even longer distance when travelling on foot. So are all these stone circles that dot the country all linked in such a way that they provide a place of worship, or a place to rest up for a few days while travelling? Just a thought like … … …

Last night just before I settled I looked at the growing pile of books on the bedside draw set and got to thinking, Why is it that we writers are so loath to get rid of the books once we have we read them? After all, we will never, or at least rarely read them twice will we? In our walk in cupboard some kind person installed a lot of shelving and there are even more read books in there. As for the Kindle on me table … well, I’m sure you can guess. So why can’t we pass them on when we are done with them?

Here’s another orchid for you to gaze at …

And the Sage has spoken again …

The husband leans over and asks his wife, 'Do you remember the first time we had sex together over fifty years ago? We went behind the village tavern where you leaned against the back fence and I made love to you.' 'Yes', she says, 'I remember it well.' 'OK,' he says, 'How about taking a stroll around there again and we can do it for old time's sake?' 'Oh Jim, you old devil, that sounds like a crazy, but good idea!' A police officer sitting in the next booth heard their conversation and, having a chuckle to himself, he thinks to himself, I've got to see these two old-timers having sex against a fence. I'll just keep an eye on them so there's no trouble. So he follows them. The elderly couple walks haltingly along, leaning on each other for support aided by walking sticks. Finally, they get to the back of the tavern and make their way to the fence. The old lady lifts her skirt and the old man drops his trousers. As she leans against the fence, the old man moves in.. Then suddenly they erupt into the most furious sex that the policeman has ever seen. This goes on for about ten minutes while both are making loud noises and moaning and screaming. Finally, they both collapse, panting on the ground. The policeman is amazed. He thinks he has learned something about life and old age that he didn't know. After about half an hour of lying on the ground recovering, the old couple struggle to their feet and put their clothes back on. The policeman, is still watching and thinks to himself, this is truly amazing, I've got to ask them what their secret is. So, as the couple passes, he says to them, 'Excuse me, but that was something else. You must've had a fantastic sex life together. Is there some sort of secret to this?' Shaking, the old man is barely able to reply, 'Fifty years ago that wasn't an electric fence.          

Photo clubs, photo fashions and bloody judges!

5 October

Within the photography world there has been debate as to the usefulness of camera clubs. As with all interest areas there are various levels of competence and skill from the beginner to the full-on expert. Most people join a club to gain more experience and to learn more about the hobby they are pursuing. However, there are good bad an indifferent standards within these clubs.

I have joined three such clubs since the around 2000/1. The first one was a small club, only around 10 members. There we held competitions for slide and prints. I entered a number of them but didn’t get anywhere. The last meeting I attended was appalling!

As we entered we laid out our print selections on a table at the rear of the room and handed in our slides to the guy doing the projector thing. Here is my entry for that completion …

In walks another member with a large portfolio case under his arm. The first thing he did was have a look at the entries already laid out and then chose which print he would enter from his portfolio.

Another member came in and laid out his prints and told the ‘supervisor’ how many prints he had. I was watching what was going on so when I saw him lay out his prints I went and had a look. Two were very grainy mono shots of the Coventry Canal that he had printed himself and had the horizontal marks that show the printer was running low on inks or the heads needed cleaning.

His third shot was a full colour shot of a Scandinavian harbour scene and was a lovely shot. I recognised the shot but couldn’t think where I seen it. Later I saw it in a holiday brochure. A couple of days after that I met the guy in town and asked how he had got in Norway. He said he’d never been there. I didn’t go back and I have never seen any of the members since then.

The next club was here in Dorktown; membership of around 20 and the competitions were organised much better. I left that club when we moved to Atherton, in Manchester. The photo club there was huge with a membership well of around 80. They even have their own club house. Each week were give a talk by visiting speaker or by a member. We held competitions and even had some teaching nights. Sadly I left there when we had to move back here to Dorktown in 2009.

There is another issue about clubs that I should perhaps mention. Let’s start with a slide I entered here in the club Dorktown …

This one I got when we lived in Bed’th and I was struck by the blue, green and white colours on a diagonal line. Now to my point here – judges! The guy that time said, ‘A nice enough image but it’s the sort of image we all were doing ten years ago.’ But if I had been a new comer, how would I know that everyone was doing those shots ten years ago? In the same completion one member had entered three prints, one of which won first place, another one didn’t get anywhere but the third one was even better than the first place shot in my view.

What did the judge say? ‘I’ve already chosen a train image so I shouldn’t really go for another one. What? To my mind if a shot is good enough to be placed then whether it’s a similar shot as another entry then so be it, it get’s placed. Again, how would a new photographer feel to have his shot written off like that?

Photo clubs then, are a mixed bag, not helped by judges who have closed minds. Join one if you want, but don’t expect perfection!

Even though I have posted two already, here’s today’s photo … 

One of five orchid shots I got the day.

And today’s funny …

Harry was sick and tired of being constantly badgered by his wife Barbara for spending so much time at the bar. Hoping it would help matters, Harry invited Barbara along with him. “So what would you like?” Harry cordially asked, as she took her seat next to him. “Oh I don’t know” Barbara replied, “I guess I’ll take the same thing as you.” “OK” said Harry to the bartender, “we’ll take two Johnny Walker’s on the rocks!” Barbara barely took a sip of the drink before she started gagging “Oh my gosh! Get me a cup of water! This stuff is horrible! How do you drink this garbage?” “See?” said Harry “and you think I come here just to have a good time?!“