Day XIX

Like the extra late collection just outside the Post Office and the melancholy music traditionally played at the end of a silence of rememberance, this is The Last Post.

Today's photograph takes my door (stripped of as much evidence of my alerations as possible) back home, back to its' humble industrial estate beginnings. A steel fence now stands blocking access where once my door would have stood to grant it.

Though a very simple photograph, this took far longer than expected to shoot. I had to wait, and wait (ad infinitum) until a car pulled up at the corner shop just aback the street and thoughtfully left the engine and lights running, this boosted my shutter speed to a stunning 1/6th at ISO3200 ... enough! I could have used Flash but, I'm stubbornly dedicated to using prevailing light ... natural or artificial, as long as it's there to be used with a modicum of bodging. That and I know that if I had given in, gone the easy route and used Flash, I would have been absolutely crucified as a hypocrite and never allowed to forget the day I, Owain John Anthony Cecil Dimas McDougal Shaw, used Flash and how I hate using Flash ... unless it's for cleaning the variety of surfaces found in the kitchen and bathroom!

Anyway, I thought it fitting to take the door back there for this final post; back to where it came from, as tomorrow I will be returning home to where I come from ...

Day XVIII

Today we fringe upon something vaguely related to one of the issues in Kelly's blog:


Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a sheet of falling MDF? No, it's the above photograph in Gert Lush High Resolution!

Recently, in my ever-increasing hours of evening boredom alone in my room, I have been prone to some comfort eating which was probably at its' worst yesterday evening and I initially thought when I woke up in the night feeling really sick, that this was to blame. Later I realised that the same thing had happened the last time I cooked the meal I ate yesterday so, that was probably it, but, I still don't think the comfort eating is a good thing! Now feel much less sick and have gone down the Domesticated Birds Scale of Sickness from "Parrott" to a level more like "Budgie" ...

Another little vice is bottles of Ale, I like the taste of Ale (in the absence of readily available Scrumpy) and there's probably a little bit of comfort drinking here but, at least how I justify it to myself (perhaps sub-consciously) is that it's to help me get off to sleep so I can be bright-eyed and awake in the mornings to greet Hugh!

Dragging some relevance to the world outside my room in, using a high-powered winch and a Land Rover: With societies many wrongs, ills and injustices sometimes comes the phrase "How do they sleep at night?" ... this was also a Horlicks advert. In relation to this and moreover my own matters of moment, the text for today reads: "Whatever helps you rest ..."

Day XVII

If you want to see this bigger, go here. If you don't, don't.

Spent a weekend doing very little more than watching Green Wing and a four-hour text exchange with Annie. Today's photograph of the corridor in my flat when everyone else has gone out is all to do with the fact that most of my time is now spent "Behind closed doors ..." ... how thrilling, in every possible way.

Day XVI

Owing to current shortage in the Tripod department, today's photograph took almost as long as one of my outdoor missions to complete, as it was a long struggle to get something on the upper end of the sharpness scale ... with my decision to shoot in near darkness and a prevailing shutter speed of close to one second, expecting something comparable to a Scalpel or a Chef's Kitchen Knife was out of the question but, I was determined to obtain something, at least, above the level of Primary School Scissors or a Plastic Knife from a disposable cutlery set. Something you wouldn't necessarily need a metal ruler and cutting mat for, but might need to have parental supervision to use when trying to replicate at home from the steps Neil Buchanan (Pat Sharpe would have been better for punning but, I have now fulfilled the urge to use his name in all this ...) shows you ... Anyway, the end result should look something like this:

Being mirrored and pretty much visible at the resolution in the image above, I haven't made this one available at Gert Lush High Resolution for closer textual inspection ... Sorry!

Today I'm feeling quite content, had an enjoyable night last night and despite not doing anything more than go to the shop (something which is often the answer to our problems, if the problem is a lack of food; or perhaps sugar, because you can buy a Creme Egg ...) today, I am still Feeling Strangely Fine.

I spent a lot of today struggling to think of something to write on the door actually; and one of the (more sensible*) possibilities was something I remembered having said to a friend: "Appreciate the good times, but don't take the worst for granted ..." and that leads to what toda''s text actually is: "Something I said ..." being relevant to me today and it's mirrored to show this reflection (... and thinking about things I've said to help other people and how I can think about them for myself ...) visually ... through a reflection.
__________________________________________

* Amongst other less sensible options put forward by my brain was: "Ancient Chinese Proverb say: Man with milk, not always man with cow ..." which does mean something ... in the context of a milk delivery at a supermarket ...

I'll leave it at that, before this becomes a non-sensical Tour De Force ... as opposed to a non-sensical Tour de France, run on Unicycles, perhaps with the opening stage held in London, England ... or something crazy like that ... !