June 26th 08 - Raining again :(

Well it's a year since the awful floods of June 2007 and rather poignantly it's raining hard today. I feel very sorry for those affected by the floods, and many of them are still in caravans or alternative accommodation even now...they must feel a shiver go down their spine every time it rains.

I hope summer comes along soon, as it's very hard to find new things to take photos of when you're stuck inside watching the rain drops on the kitchen window :)

June 25th 08 - A rose from the garden

As I lived with my parents while recovering from the broken ankle my front garden has taken on the look of a jungle whilst I've been away. It's in a very sorry state and full of weeds. It's even gone beyond the stage when you can pretend it's a wildlife garden and supposed to look a bit scruffy :(

I just don't have the energy right now to do much about it, I'll get round to it and give it a good tidy up in the next few weeks and hopefully that will do for now. I've never been much of a green fingered man, although I do enjoy it once I put my mind to it.

The only items that are seeming to flourish amongst all the weeds are the roses and some newly emerging poppies. The poppies look great first thing in the morning when I'm off to work as the sun gets on them but by the time I get home they have been battered by the wind and are about to close up. It's a shame as they'd make a great photo. Hopefully sometime over the weekend I'll get a chance to get out with the camera and catch them at their best. Goodness knows where they came from as I didn't plant them!

June 24th 08 - A book clear out

I have too many books. Simple. I need to get rid of some as I live in an old terrace house from 1850 with very little storage. I hate throwing books away though so I've been very careful in deciding which ones are going and which are staying.

This lot are off to a charity shop in town, or maybe to be sold to a second hand store, I'll see what I'm able to do with them.

In fact after I put this photo up on Flickr a few of my friends have asked for one or two so they're about to be posted off to a better home...I hope they enjoy reading them too.

Now I have a little more space I can go buy some more :))

June 23rd 08 - Blue sky thinking

First day back at work today after nearly three months off. I was really nervous and excited at the same time. It was great to see everyone again and to catch up with what has been going on, but it was a shock to the system being back at my desk dealing with normal life again.

I enjoyed it though, it gave me something else to think about other than my ankle! I've missed the people I work with so it was great to see them again. I'm lucky that I work in a really friendly and supportive team and have some close friends there so in that respect I have a nice environment to go to each day.

In the morning I caught up on post and the hundreds of emails that had come in while I've been off. Thankfully much of the work had been undertaken by colleagues or managed in such a way that it could easily be done once I got back so there was nothing too urgent to attend to which was nice. In the afternoon I got out and did some site visits, more to ease myself into the working week than anything else, but it was great to be out in the sun again.

I wasn't even supposed to be in today. My manager and I had had a mix up when we were deciding when I was coming back. Today was supposed to be one of my compressed (I work longer hours each day and get every other Monday off in return) days...oh well, not to worry, I'll carry it over to next week instead :)

June 22nd 08 - A dry Beverley Westwood

I'd been thinking about doing this photo for a while. About a year ago to the day this region, along with many others in the UK, suffered the worst floods for decades. Hull was particularly badly hit and parts of Beverley were deluged too.

This row of houses backs onto the Beverley Westwood, a large area of public parkland on the edge of town, and they are some of the most sought after properties in the town with a great sense of character and an ideal location. When the floods hit they suffered really badly. I remember going down one evening after a meeting at work and being shocked by how far the water had come and feeling really bad for those people who were watching their homes being damaged.

I took a few photos at the time, the one below is one of them, and you can see to what extent the flooding impacted the homes. It made, photographically speaking, for a great photo, the light was perfect and the reflections really stood out. But I remember feeling very intrusive and uncomfortable taking the photos. I think it helped that the water had been there for a day or so, so no-one was in the middle of trying to save possessions otherwise I would like to think I would have put down the camera and gone to help.

Thankfully it's a beautiful day in Beverley today, bright summer sunshine, warm and breezy. I hope it stays this way, and remains a lot drier than it was last year.

June 21st 08 - An interesting invite!

I received a letter from a TV production company today asking if I would be interested in being a contestant on the Channel 4 show, "Come Dine With Me", I bet they sent it out to loads of people but it was an interesting proposition nonetheless.

However much I like meeting people and cooking I don't fancy the idea of making a wally out of myself on national telly, and having seen the programme a number of times I don't like the idea of other people rummaging through my house while I'm cooking in the kitchen either.

So thanks, but no thanks :)

June 20th 08 - A trip up the coast

I love the north Yorkshire coastline, Scarborough, Robin Hoods Bay, Whitby and all the way up to Saltburn. Full of interesting little place, great views and beautiful beaches. It was a lovely day here so I decided to take a run up to Whitby in the hope of seeing a nice sunset and getting some photos of the town. It was a lot quieter than I thought it would be, I suppose the summer holidays have not quite started yet...it's a shame the town has become so much like a cheap holiday resort in season as I think it spoils the character of the place. The old town still has much to offer though and if you head there out of season it really is a beautiful place.

I had a walk round the outskirts of the Abbey, then down the 1999 steps to the main town before walking out towards the lighthouses for a view back into the town. I'd been there a while before I noticed that the sunset was looking a bit promising so decided to hedge my bets and head further up the coast to Saltburn as it offers some of the best sunsets in the UK in my opinion. All looked on track when I got there, and the local snappers were certainly out in force with about 8 different tripods vying for position on the beach. But as is often the case the sunset disappeared behind a low lying, thick layer of cloud at the horizon and fizzled out to nothing. I enjoyed the ride up there though and it was nice and peaceful standing on the beach listening to the water.

I took the time to get a few light trail photos on a quiet stretch of the main Whitby to Scarborough road on the way back. I set the camera up on a tripod about a metre or so from the road looking down a long sweeping stretch of road and fired off shots with the infra-red remote. I was quite pleased with the results (see below). I didn't stay too long as people driving along the road were beginning to suspect I was a policeman with a speed camera and I worried a real policeman would come along and give me an earful!