Look! I'm on the tele!

Ipswich vs Newcastle United, yesterday afternoon ... Players are coming out onto the pitch and the BBC cameras pan across the South Stand. Brother-in-law Matt, mutual mate Russ and I are in the top right of the shot. 30 seconds later we get a phone-call from the mother-in-law to say she saw us on the tele!

That was the highlight of the day ... Ipswich promptly lost 0-4.

A picture says a 1000 words ...

Found this during the week and to be honest, plan on framing it. I love how Bethany jumps from subject to subject, and how Mia's dad is a viking and the description of Jackson. Oh, and how her sister is sick in the car ...

New additions ...

Bethany and Charlotte have goldfish ... And after long consideration their names are 'Rosetta' (Bethany's one) and 'B.F.G - Big friendly goldfish' (Charlotte's). This was after Sparkle, Sunshine, JLC(?) and numerous other girlie names were discarded.

Bethany took the whole getting a goldfish thing very seriously, getting a book on them out of the school library and writing down what to look for when she went to choose them at the pet shop.
She assisted in setting up the tank making sure the gravel was just right, and even released the fish into their new home. Apparently they were dancing along to 'Strictly Come Dancing' last night, but she was anything but impressed when she spotted the fish going to the toilet ...

And, thanks to my friend Sally (Haven't spoken to her in probably 20 years, but Facebook strikes again!) I've learnt a new Photoshop method and am now desaturating all my photos before putting a splash of colour back in ...

I'm fit and I know it ... *ahem*

Believe it or not, this is one half of my 'tidy' garages ... Mia and I went on a clear-up and mouse-killing crusade a couple of weeks back, which meant I could see my gym equipment, and as I can see it I'm using it.

So at the front left, you have the rowing machine, then the treadmill (With the 'Bryan and the BeachBums' inflatable beachbum in front of it), next to that is the multi-gym, and then the exercise bike. Out of shot is the Nordic skier and the thing for doing sit-ups with which I can never get to work properly.

So after 5 days of gym (Well 4 as Tuesday was a rest day, but I did have to run for the train after the football and gave myself a calf strain due to not warming up) how do I feel? Surprisingly not bad. But then I still can't do more than 5 minutes on the treadmill without black spots appearing in front of my eyes, and the sit-ups are painful - but eventually it'll be worth it.

Providing I don't fill the garage up with junk again ...

We're going on a walk, and you WILL enjoy it ...

Back in the day Bethany and Charlotte used to love going for a long walk on a Sunday afternoon ... Back in the day Jackson the dog used to love going for a long walk on a Sunday afternoon ... That day has passed. The girls have discovered the joys of PS3, Nintendo DS, iPod, laptop, and Disney channel, so I have to drag them out ... Jackson has discovered the joy of sleeping, but is easier to drag out as he's on a lead ...


Today we went somewhere different for our walk. Over the White Bridge that separates Essex from Suffolk, along the side of the Stour, under the rail bridge, and round to the left where last week I found a 'Hide' ...


After much playing with the various flaps around the hide and seeing what was out of each one, we decided to walk further along the mudflats and look at the wrecked boats we had spotted out on the left.
I've been wanting to get round to these boats for awhile, as I see them each time I get the train to Ipswich for the football. So, after carefully negotiating the rabbit holes and things with big thorns in (Got me on the way, and the way back) we got up and close to the blue wreck. I'm guessing it caught on fire at some point ...

We did however spot the River Stour Monster ...

Then back for the walk back home, stopping to look at the boats on the river now that the sluice gates were opening up and letting the water back in.

A 90 minute walk, 2 tired girls, 1 exhausted dog. and a Dad happy to have spent time with his daughters.

Another in the series of 'This is older than your country ...'

(Aimed at my US buddies ...)

I met a 'Mudlarker' yesterday. He didn't have his teeth in, so was quite difficult to understand, but seemed a nice enough bloke. I was walking along the shore of the Thames under the Millenium Bridge, looking for nice photo opportunites (I'm getting into this now, which explains why I was walking round St Mary's Church at 8:30pm last night, as I was trying to get a nice sunset photo) when I met the Mudlarker and his metal detector.

I've often seen people walking the banks or digging into the sand or mud, so asked him what he'd found ... This:
Apparently it's a 'Piece of Eight'. And here's the other side if you're interested:

He said that from the markings on the coin, he can date it as from 1520 ... Yep, a coin my American friends that is older than your country ... To go with the vandals I blogged about here! (Pretty sure I blogged about something else that is older, but can't be bothered to look for it)

The shore had numerous bones scattered across it, dating from Roman and Saxon times the od guy told me, moslty animal but occasional human - so if I ever need to dispose of a body I now know where to do it:


But I got my photo, so came away happy.

Somebody took a wrong turn somewhere ...

I spotted this lady yesterday by London Bridge, avoiding the numerous pleasure boats, river launches and dredgers that frequent the Thames ...:

She also had a panicked look in her eye as she desperately tried to figure out how to get past this ...:

Drunken Disco Dancing Dude

Went to the tate Modern at lunchtime, as I fancied see the Gerhard Richter room - only my favourite piece wasn't there so I came away disappointed .. But ...

Down in the Turbine Hall there was a feller making good use of all the space.

The Turbine Hall is huge (It used to house the turbines, hence the name, for when the tate was a power station), and the DDDD merrily danced his way from the entrance to the middle and back again, three or four times. I was on the next level up, following him and snapping away with my camera and wishing I had a better camera.

I like the Turbine Hall, always seems to be something going on ... I wrote this back in February 2008 : The Weird Japanese Guy

How did Warhol do it ...?

I've been playing with Paintshop trying to do 'Pop Art' type pictures (Think Warhol's Marilyn Monroe painting ..) and not quite getting there ...:


Just need a photo of camera-shy Maria. I have found loads of tutorials for Photoshop, so I'm currently 'acquiring' that to see if I can do it properly.

Off out today to get some final things for Charlie and school, but plan to buy a load of cheap frames as the football shirts in the study are coming down to be replaced by photos taken by me.

Went out taking ISO photos last night, and was lucky enough to get a fire engine speeding past:
I want a better camera with more ISO settings ...

More camera related fun ...

Charlotte started high school on Friday, so I took the day off so I could take her to school for her first day - Well I say take her, it ended up kicking her and her friends out in the car park as we couldn't pull over to park! Still she enjoyed herself, and got a citizenship award on her 1st day which she (and we) was really pleased about.

After kicking Charlie out, I nipped across to the train station as there was a steam train due through at 09:31 and I thought it might be a good photo opportunity ... I got there and there and found myself in the middle of approx 100 trainspotters! The static electricity in the air from all the nylon being worn was quite something.

Anyway, the train was on time, which was somewhat surprising and I'm probably on someones video swearing loudly due to my camera taking forever to save photos ...

I took Jackson for a walk yesterday evening, with camera in hand, and played around with the ISO settings on my camera. Jack didn't enjoy his walk (He's getting lazy so is quite happy to do his 'business' and then go home) and I literally had to drag him along at times, but after all that I did get a shot I quite liked:


The white streaks at the bottom are a car driving past, cool huh?!