Blue Moon Night

Imac mentioned on his site that he was hoping to see a blue moon tonight. Well I was out tonight and managed to capture one in between the clouds.

I was quite surprised actually, as I thought it was just fiction; a subject for love songs and the like. Similar to the idea that it was made of cheese. Well it is in Wallace & Gromit's world anyway.

Can I wish all 539 followers of this site a happy and healthy 2010. This of course goes to all those who visit too, but for some reason don't want to make the pledge. Wouldn't it be wonderful if I got 539 replies back. It would make my year!

Bleak Photo For A Bleak Day

Not very interesting in town today. Wet too. I was fairly uninspired with anything worth taking a photo of. I sometimes do some random shooting. Just clicking away as I'm walking down the street. Most of the time is just a blurry mess, but sometimes an odd photo might appear that I can do something with.

Take today's effort, a good tweaking in Picnik, and here's something of interest.

Bargain Health

It seems that practically every shop in the city centre is in full sale mode at the moment. I was surprised to see this tanning & beauty shop reducing its prices. With 50% off, I just hope people don't come out only half brown!

Noir

There's been a few film noir films shown on the TV over the festive period. The one I like the most is The Third Man, with Orson Welles as a very shady character. Set in war torn Vienna, it's full of slightly odd camera angles, shadows and the bleak setting adds to the drama.
Fortunately most of Nottingham isn't war torn, so here's my homage to the genre of the cinema that doesn't get made very often now.

It's Cheap At Half The Price

Christmas is over, but the stores are full again with shoppers. This time they are in search of a bargain. It can be a bit annoying when you spend £x on a present, and then a day or two later see it in the same shop with 50% off. I remember one year, Gail bought me a book for a present. We then saw the same book on sale at a drastically reduced price. So Gail returned the book, got a full refund, then bought the book again at the cheaper price & used the change to buy me another present!

Eye Spy

Alas my darling wife let the cat out of the bag (not Marmalade) about the answer to my old school photo. So it's a change of plan. Also we haven't been out since Thursday evening so I haven't taken any new photos either, except for some of Marmalade perched on the window ledge and peering through at Gail and I watching TV.

Seasonal Greetings From Nottingham

Going Snowhere

Well, we've had another flurry of snow tonight. It was raining when I left work, but had turned to snow an hour later.
I just hope it doesn't turn to ice tonight, otherwise I'll be better off on skis, rather than in my car when I go to work tomorrow.

The Class of 1971

We've just taken delivery of a new handheld photo scanner. We've tried one before, but it wasn't very good. This one looks a bit better, was cheaper and does 7"x5"'s too. Here's the first photo that I scanned with it. The classic school line-up photo. This one dates from 1971, and was taken at my junior school (St Mary Abbots) in Kensington, London. I had dug it out, not for this blog particularly, but for facebook, as I have come across one of my old chums on there.

A prize goes to the first person who guesses which is me. Just to make it a bit easier for you, I'm in either the front row or the back row. And no, I'm not Mr Hammer the teacher!
You have until Christmas Day.

A Nightingale Sang In Wellington Circus

We went to see Kate Ruseby last night at the Playhouse. As usual, she was excellent, and sung a mixture of Christmas songs and the more traditional folk tunes. Those that she is so well known for. There was a line up change of her backing musicians. But it was no detriment to the music. Once again she was supported by a small brass band, made up of former Coldstream guards. Kate helped raise our spirits for a short time from the sad news we had learned earlier.

It's Snow Time

Well, we've had some 'proper' snow at last. Not much, but some. I took this photo from the relative warmth of our porch this afternoon.

I'd like to dedicate this post to my next door neighbour John, who unexpectedly and sadly died today. He worked as a journalist on the Nottingham Evening Post, specialising in entertainment and local history. He had been ill for some time, and although still not 100%, John had recently gone back to work. He was planning to write a cookbook of some description. I had been scouring the charity shops and jumble sales for old cookbooks, which he was using for research. I know he will be sadly missed by all those who knew him, as he was very jovial and had lots of tales to tell.

Four Wheels On My Waggon

Well, it's finally arrived! After waiting nearly four months, my new Fiat 500 is at the garage waiting to be prepared, ready for me to collect on Tuesday. I have actually been in two minds recently, deciding whether to still go ahead and buy it or not. Feeling guilty about spending money on something new, instead of doing my old car up and keeping with it. But seeing it again, albeit still covered in protective film, wet and without a number plate, I have decided to go ahead with it. It is also a special edition, so it should hold, if not exceed its value.

Snowhere To Go

I was expecting to wake up to a white blanket of snow everywhere, like the little boy does in the Snowman. But alas the weathermen were wrong again and all we had was a dusting of frost. It was very cold though and took me ages to cycle into work. So no fancy snow shot today, just one from the archive. One that I took in February, when we had some proper snow.

Ooops!

Today I've been rather stupid and forgetful. I have done the digital version of not putting any film in my camera. Yes, I forgot to return my SD card to my camera's slot!
I felt naked walking around the city centre at lunchtime without my trusty G1 in my right hand. Fortunately there wasn't a lot going on, although a small snowstorm took place while I was out. So I have nothing new to show you, except another photo of our beloved Marmalade. This time in Tarzan mode.
Hopefully normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

You're A Mog

Here's a really visual piece of street art. It has been sprayed on the side of a shop that sells DJ equipment. Hence the idea of these two Unimogs being stacked high with speakers, with the DJ 'spinning his tunes' on the top.

Reading Room

I looked in on our Flickr exhibition, to see what it looked like and to read any comments left. I was off work last week, so yesterday was the first time that I have had a chance to view it. All the photographs look very professional in their mounts and on the wall. Some people have left some very nice comments.
I don't know if these two gentlemen had looked at our prints yet, but they were enjoying reading their newspapers.

Rich Pickings

All of a sudden you can't move for posters, TV commercials and fliers asking for your old, broken and unwanted gold. It seems that everyone want's it, no matter what condition it's in. It's like the old Klondyke goldrush of the 1890s. The thing is that there have been warnings about how much you are offered, and how much the jewellery is actually worth. It seems that there is often a big difference and that customers are being cheated out of maybe as much as half of the value. I hope this potential customer in the Broad Marsh isn't being ripped off.

MINI Mania

Last night Gail and I went to our first meeting with the Notts Mini Club. As some of you may remember, a few months ago Gail traded in her old car for a newer diesel MINI. So she has now joined one of the best MINI clubs in the country, so we can go on trips, visit shows and get into the very popular MINI scene. We attended a Christmas dinner at a hotel near Edwinstowe. The food and service wasn't up to much, but the company was good. When we were leaving, I took a few photos of some of the members' cars.

Femme Fatale

Here's another shot of Lily Allen looking a little bit raunchy for the finale of her show at the Trent FM Arena.

A Little Oh La La

At the moment, my friend Jilly in Monte Carlo is showing a series of photos featuring Citroen cars from the past 90 years. As it happens, a neighbour of mine also owns a Citroen. As you can see it is a 2CV AK400. A van version of the 'Tin Snail' from 1967. He is presently saving up to have it resprayed yellow. So he'll be able to call it his 'Tin Canary'.

Guilding The Lily

Gail and I have just got back from seeing Lily Allen's concert at the Arena. On the whole I think we were both a bit disappointed with the show. The support act were terrible. Neither of us like rap music anyway, and this group weren't even very good at that. The sound level throughout the night was just too loud. This made Lily sound like Minnie Mouse. Either that, or she'd been inhaling helium!
Lily's show was ok. Nothing special though. I kept taking photos before being told off by security. Even though, loads of people were filming it on their mobile phones etc. Just because I was holding a 'proper' camera.

Living The Life Of Riley

Here's another shot of Marmalade, our sweet little adopted cat. I thought you might like to see how well she has taken to living with us, and how at home she has become.
Talking of homes, my friend Imac and his gang are having another header war this week. Pop over and vote on who has the best theme of 'our house'.

Bokah Christmas

Gail was asking me yesterday what 'bokah' in photography meant. I said it was taking an out of focus or slightly out of focus photograph. It's not something I purposely do, but sometimes it happens; especially if I'm taking some quick action shots. Most of them I delete, but this one of Beeston's Christmas tree and lights looks quite pleasing.

Making An Exhibition Of Oneself

Today marks the start of a month long exhibition of photos at Nottingham's library. What's exciting for me is the fact that I have three photos on display, and it's the first time that anyone's seen them in the flesh as it were.
A number of us from one of Nottingham's Flickr groups are showing off some of our work to a hopefully receptive and appreciative general public.
This poster has been designed by Stewart, a fellow Flickrite and all round good guy. I know my blog is followed globally, so unfortunately a lot of you won't be able to visit, but you can get to see the photographs through this link. For those that can, please make the effort, as I'm sure you'll find it interesting.

The Other Side Of The Fence

Here is a shot of the opposing group, who were rallying close by. The police managed to keep them apart, otherwise things might have turned nasty. The whole scene was being covered by the BBC and other press agencies from the relative safety of the castle. A small flare up of violence happened on Castle Boulevard. To get an idea of this, here's some film that someone took from the Evening Post building. I heard a tip off about it and went down to see, but the police had stopped it by the time I got there.

Demonstration Time

I was in two minds whether to go to the demonstration this afternoon, as sometimes these things can get a bit out of hand. But I'm glad I did, and there were plenty of police around to keep the peace.
I always try to keep politics out of my blogs and just show what I've seen, and I'm being no different today. To keep the balance, tomorrow I'll show a photo of the other group that were demonstrating at the same time, but kept apart by a very thick blue line.

Where's The Door?

While I was cycling to work this morning I saw some workmen erecting this shed like structure around the Robin Hood statue, close to the Castle. Some of you maybe thinking it's a publicity stunt, or some student prank or new art installation. Well you're all wrong. It is in fact protecting the stature from possible damage by demonstrators tomorrow. There are going to be several demonstrations by various political factions all happening at the same time. Then there is going to be a parade of soldiers returning from Afghanistan and a big football match. Hundreds of police are being drafted in and roads have been closed. I'm planning to go along and capture the events. I'm hoping in a way that there is going to be a riot, so I can capture some dynamic moments.

Night Skywatch

Today the weekly blogging event that is Skywatch hits town. Today also marks my 1200th posting. I've been trying to find a suitable picture for my landmark, but without success. So you have this treat of seeing the moon slowly disappearing behind some clouds above the Council House.

For other worldwide skies that may be blue, grey, or any shade inbetween, click on this link

Eye, Eye

Although I don't officially contribute to the header competition that my friend Imac is involved with each week, I try to do a tribute to it. This week's subject is 'looking through'. Trawling through my archive, I came across this shot that I took when the Gamecity event hit the town a couple of months ago in the Market Square. She is looking through a spyhole at a live war game that is taking place.

If you're intrigued with the competition, then pop over to Imac's page and see for yourself.

Grimebusters

Street sweeping in Nottingham appears to have suddenly gone high tec with the introduction of this giant vacuum cleaner. Gone are the days when men went out with brushes and swept the streets clean. Now all they have to do is walk the streets and suck up the litter. Ideally of course, people should drop their rubbish in the bin, rather than on the ground. But no matter how many signs are put up, education, and discipline, people are either just too lazy or too stupid to keep their city clean.

Oi, I'm Thirsty!

Of course I tuned the cold water tap on. Very gently though, I didn't want to scare our sweet little pet. I had seen her drink the water from our pond many times and from some buckets in the garden. But for some strange reason, she won't drink fresh water from a clean bowl. Gail & I wandered if the various chemicals they put in water was putting her off. But as you can see from my snap, she was quite happy to sup the water from the tap. Practically lapping it up you might say!

Marmalade The Explorer

Marmalade did something different for the first time today. She decided to jump into the bath! Fortunately there wasn't any water in it, as cats don't really like water. She then looked up at the tap, as if to say "turn it on, I'm thirsty".
Come back tomorrow and see if I did!

Lighting Up For Christmas

The lights in Beeston were officially switched on tonight. It was left to the Mayor to do it, as unfortunately our council haven't the funds to splash out on any big names to press the button. We do have two Christmas trees though, one at each end of the High Road. I've just used a bit of creative blur to make the one in Broadgate Park a bit more interesting.

Dancing In The Dark

It's been a great couple of days weatherwise. Cold, but very sunny. The sun has also been quite low in the sky. This enabled me to take this shadowy view of the water feature in the Old Market Square.

Pret-a-Porter

Last night I had my first go at being a fashion photographer. Several of the designer clothes shops under the Council House put on a fashion show in the arcade to basically drum up some Christmas trade. They used a number of students from Trent University, who were really quite good. Walking up and down on a rather long red carpet. I took loads of photos. Some successful, some not so. Here's one of the better ones. Although sadly I don't think it would make the front page of Vogue. You will find a lot more on my Flickr page.

Citizen Lindsay

Today I met the well known and adored actor Robert Lindsay. A local lad, as he was born in Ilkeston, a small town about 10 miles from Nottingham. He was signing copies of his autobiography at Waterstones. He has done lots of TV and film since the early 1970's. His most well known part was that of Citizen 'Wolfie' Smith, the leader of the Tooting Popular Front, a rather ramshackle group of misfits who's aim was to change the world, but never really left the pub. But he has done many things since then. His latest is Ben Harper the put upon dentist in My Family. Here's a link to his website, so you can read more about him.

Brolly Good Show

Here's one of those spur of the moment shots that you only really get the one chance of capturing. Blink and it's gone. Although with the amount of rain yesterday, these two with their umbrellas might have stood there for quite a while.

Raindancing

It absolutely threw it down at lunchtime today. I ran for cover, as I didn't want my camera to drown with the amount of water falling. So I stood in a shop doorway and took some pictures of the poor people running for cover. Normally this paved street is teeming with pedestrians. But not today!

Pampering The Pampas

No, I didn't take this shot on the plains of South America. They are actually growing in our front garden. I thought I had dug up a large clump of them earlier this year, but to my dismay, they have started to sprout again.

Hanging Around

Returning to town yesterday, I came across some workmen who were using abseiling equipment whilst doing repairs to an office block. Well I like to think they were workmen and not terrorists, burglars, or spies. But you never know these days!

Painting The Town Red

A number of Government ministers, including Gordon Brown himself were in Nottingham today, to try and improve their party's popularity. I of course went to the Albert Hall at lunchtime to see what was happening. I was just in time to see G.B arrive & go in. I took a number of shots, but it was difficult, due to the road being sealed off, Police and secret service types swarming all over the place and journalists blocking my view. This was about the best one I could get. I was disappointed that there wasn't a demonstration taking place with yells of "Gordon is a Moron" or similar, as that would have been quite amusing.

On The Move

This set of statues used to be in the Market Square. But they were removed when the tram lines went down. So now they stand at the top of Chapel Bar, a small pedestrian area that houses a number of eating houses and a Holiday Inn Express.

It's Christmas...

So yelled Noddy Holder at the end of Slade's most famous song that has been trotted out at this time every year for the past 30 odd years. The connection; well Nottingham's lights were officially switched on tonight. There were so many people in the market square that I didn't manage to get close enough to take a decent photo of Carl Froch & Sven Goran Eriksson as they pressed the button. So unfortunately you'll just have to make do with this arty shot of the shadow of the tree on the Council House

Oi You Two!

Whilst at work this morning, Nicky who sits opposite me glanced out of the window which looks out onto a multi-storey car park, and wondered who these two people were and what they were staring at. So I got out my camera and trusty 45-200mm lens and took some shots. The two lads then started waving at us. we of course waved back. Later in the afternoon, they came back to their car, and before they left, gave us another wave.

You may have noticed that I have put on a new header picture. It's dedicated to my friend Imac, who with some other bloggers have set themselves a little competition. Follow the link and vote.

Sign Of The Times

Nottingham's newest cultural centre and tourist attraction has now opened. Ironically when I went today, I found that the gallery was closed. So I'll have to go tomorrow to look at the David Hockney exhibition and see what the building looks like in the inside, as the outside still looks like a something that was built in the Eastern Bloc during the 1950s. This sign on the otherhand, reminds me of 1950s America, advertising a diner or motel.

Not That Long Ago

Besides doing some decorating, I have been scanning some of old negatives to put on my Flickr page. Having not taken any photos today. I didn't want cream paint on my lovely black G1, I am showing you one of these negatives. It's of the Trent University building that I took sometime in the 1980s. I can't exactly tell you when. But what I can say is that if you were to take the same shot today, the area would look just about the same. The only big difference is the road layout.

Water Result

Well, the storm over Nottingham didn't appear to be as bad as the weathermen predicted. Maybe they like to hype things up to make them more dramatic. Today has been cool, but fairly dry. Didn't manage to take any photos today, so here's a weather related picture. I did buy a new tripod today though, as I'm getting into taking photos at night. There are some on Flickr, if you fancy taking a look.

Skywatch Friday

I've missed the last few SWF's, so to make up for it, here's a photo I took a few days ago. Great sunset, unlike yesterday and today, when it just rained and rained. Apparently the UK is going to be hit by a giant storm tomorrow. So batten down those hatches and take cover; the wind's a blowin!

For 300+ other skies from around the world, click here.

Think Yourself British

As I promised yesterday, here's the photo of Al Murray signing his latest book at Waterstones today. By the length of the queue waiting to meet him, he is more popular than yesterday's Simon King. Although they both follow different entertainment paths and attract different age groups. For those that don't know his work and style, here's a clip from Youtube. Please be warned that you may not appreciate his style of comedy or what he is saying, but his 'pub landlord' character is what he is known for.

King For The Day

The BBC's wildlife presenter and cameraman Simon King was in town today signing books at Waterstones. A small peaceful line of people had formed when I got there in readiness for his arrival. His most well known TV work is the Big Cat Diary. More recently he has done Autumnwatch; a daily update on the lives of woodland creatures.

I'm expecting to see a more rowdy crowd tomorrow, as the comedian Al Murray will be signing copies of his latest Pub Landlord book.