Yorkshire

A couple of days in York, a set on Flickr.


I was up there recently for a few days of rest and gentle, camera based relaxation. Enjoyed it a lot, York is a great place if you like picturesque old stuff and beer. Oh and rivers, they've got some of those too. Yes, i liked it a lot. but still not enough to be looking forward to going up there again tonight because 'the trunk driver didn't turn up and you were the only cover we could get'.

I doubt very much if i'll meet John Allison either, not unless he's unlucky enough to be driving up the A1 at midnight. He does write some bloody good comics though.

Wandering around Walton on the Naze in the dark

Wandering around Walton on the Naze in the dark, a set on Flickr.

Once upon a time, long , long ago, i took a picture here in the low, fading evening light. I took it with a cheap plastic instamatic type camera, using film that was a year out of date. It's dark, grainy and heavily vignetted and quite quite wonderful, it looks like some kind of primordial landscape, like from when life first emerged from the seas. It is, i think, the best picture i have ever taken. One day, with all my fancy digital kit, one day, i'll catch that picture again...
Just not today.

Not actually the end of the world as such..

Anyone unfortunate enough to have spent time in my company will know i'm a cheery, optimistic soul, indeed one of my favourite phrases is "we're doomed", closely followed by "it's the end of the world". Quite how these apply to my current situation, sitting, cosy and stuffed full of rather nice curry in a warehouse canteen, gazing out of the window as I wait for the lorry to get loaded, may not at first be apparent. Allow me to elaborate: in the car park outside is a bush, nothing special, it has little green leaves and little yellow flowers. Yesterday when I was here there were what appeared to be bees buzzing around them. I haven't seen any today, but then the weather was better yesterday, quite nice and sunny, today it's all grey and miserable, quite wintry  in fact. But then that's not surprising, we're only a couple of weeks away from the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. It is, in fact, more or less the middle of the bleeding winter. And yesterday it was all nice and sunny and there were bees buzzing round the flowers...
So, there you go then, probably not the end just yet, and probably not the whole world, but soon I'd say, and certainly for this particular bunch of over clever monkeys and much of the stuff around them. Best get a window seat while you can, I suspect this will be a once in a lifetime experience.

Saturday morning Regent Street blues

Saturday morning Regent Street blues, a photo by roadscum on Flickr.

Saturday morning Regent Street blues

The struggle to survive

The struggle to survive, a photo by roadscum on Flickr.

The struggle to survive

Struggling to adapt to their new environment

Struggling to adapt to their new environment, a photo by roadscum on Flickr.

Struggling to adapt to their new environment

The Heart of Darkness

The Heart of Darkness, a photo by roadscum on Flickr.

The Heart of Darkness

And looking the other way

And looking the other way, a photo by roadscum on Flickr.

And looking the other way

Freakangels territory 1

Freakangels territory 1, a photo by roadscum on Flickr.

Freakangels territory 1

Musings on the aerodynamic properties of mobile phones.

I was having a little trouble setting up the Blogger Android app, seem to have it sorted now though.
The HTC Wildfire flies really well, easily reaching the other side of the room, it's surprisingly sturdy too... (i think the case helped there)

Waiting to see the vet

Waiting to see the vet, a photo by roadscum has not bin stopped! on Flickr.

Waiting to see the vet

Hard at work

Hard at work, a photo by roadscum has not bin stopped! on Flickr.

Hard at work

To infinity and beyond!

To infinity and beyond!, a photo by roadscum stops for nothing (goes for anything) on Flickr.

To infinity and beyond!

Looking over the edge at sunset

Looking over the edge at sunset, a photo by roadscum stops for nothing (goes for anything) on Flickr.

Looking over the edge at sunset

Down the tubes again!

Down the tubes again!, a photo by roadscum stops for nothing (goes for anything) on Flickr.

Down the tubes again!

Hoss!

Hoss!, a photo by roadscum stops for nothing (goes for anything) on Flickr.

Hoss!

Liberty's

Liberty's, a photo by roadscum stops for nothing (goes for anything) on Flickr.

Liberty's

This vileness needs to be seen and passed around.

Some people really do enjoy their jobs a bit too much. Anyone fancy writing to whoever is meant to be in charge out there and explaining that? If you get an address - i dunno who, the mayor or the senator or whatever they have out there - post it up here so we can all have a go eh? Ta.

Spin spin the little wheel!

Workies has gone a bit quiet, giving me a very welcome chance to rest, relax and catch up on all the little jobs that need doing round the flat. Wait, what am i talking about here? Housework? Oh sod that for a game of marbles, where's me computer..?

I've got more 14 and 42ish stuff to be doing, (go on, you thought i'd forgotten about that, didn't you?) both finishing the tale of my trip to the Colchester end and sorting out some new stuff about the other end of the line at Barking.

That's all going to take me a while, so to keep you entertained as i faff about and procrastinate, here's a little something about somewhere i've spent many a happy hour travelling round, South East England's glorious road to nowhere.

14 and 42 - A time-warped garage and some spooky steps

Ah, this is all taking much longer than i'd hoped, oh well...

Anyway, back to where i left off last time; at pretty much the exact end of the line give or take a hundred yards or so, which in forty two miles isn't much, i found something a bit strange - a garage, little more than a few petrol pumps and a workshop barely big enough to fit two cars inside. Nothing particularly unusual you might be thinking, and you'd be right - if you were talking about somewhere around about 1973.


If you look closely you can see what looks like a Vauxhall Viva and an MGB inside. Even stranger, the petrol pumps appeared to serve modern fuel, the middle one at least being marked up for Anglo unleaded. The place was very firmly closed when i visited on the Saturday, i may have to make a return trip in the week sometime and see if it is indeed still open. All very life on Mars if you ask me.

I was a bit annoyed with myself for spending too much time faffing around earlier, the light had been good in the morning but the clouds had now closed in and the skies were now overcast and grey, the nice crisp shadows were gone, as was much of my enthusiasm. Still, i was where i was, i might as well soldier on and try to do something with it. I messed about trying to get some decent pictures of the large Victorian houses lining the road and ended up frustrated with a bunch of sub streetview pictures. There was one particular place on the corner that caught my eye, a sprawling, vaguely Gothic looking pile with the front garden a metre or so above street level. There was a slight but definite spooky feel to it which i did my best to capture.

I still ended up somewhat disappointed with the results, though at least i got something. I am very tempted to go back sometime when the weather is a bit brighter and have another go, though thinking about it, it might be worth a try in the rain as well.

Right, that's enough for the time being, i'm off to bed.

(Oh and my apologies for the somewhat random arrangement of words and pictures, it all went a bit funny and i couldn't work out how to sort it out.)

Crushed by the wheels of industry

I was going to tell you all about the odd time-warped garage up in Colchester, wasn't i? Well it's going to have to wait for a while. I really like the idea of the 14 42 project but i need a clear head and time to think about what i'm writing and just at the moment i'm a wee bit knackered, it's been a busy week.
Did you know that for up to three days in a week the minimum daily rest for a lorry driver is nine hours? That can be just a bit wearing at times, specially as i'm not quite as young or fit as i used to be. Still, i had a nice sunroof,



i got to see some unusual cars,



got all artistic with a skip (there had to be a skip),



and got really high at work,



so the week wasn't a total loss.

Tomorrow i hope to get out and enjoy a bit of a wander in the unseasonably fine weather, which will no doubt result in yet more pictures piling up in my ever growing 'to be posted' backlog.

Still, i can't help but feel...