Robin Would Be Shocked

Gail & I have been to Telford for the weekend, as it was my first meeting as a member of the Fiat 500 club. When we arrived a RAF Cosford, there were quite a few Fiats of differing models and colours. We met up for an escorted walk around the museum by Alf, a retired ex RAF man who was friendly and a knowledgeable guide, with a few funny stories about the planes and his time in the forces. Gail and I were surprised how well the museum is run with loads of different aircraft on show and how things were laid out. Just as a museum should be. She was amused, as they had called the main cafe "Refuel".
Here's one of those paintings that often appear on the sides of planes, and as there is a Nottingham connection in the name of Robin Hood's girlfriend, I had to take a photo. Although her face doesn't look very feminine though. In fact it reminds me of Phil Oakley; the lead singer with the Human League!

Faces

Here's another of my slightly arty street photos that I create now and again. Nothing much to say about it, only I hope you like my effort.

The **** Factor

What can one say about these two jokers that hasn't been said and written since they first pranced across the nation's TV sets on Saturday night last autumn. They seem to be having the last laugh though, as the media now seem to be scrambling for their services. The latest news is that they are getting their own chat show. I, of course won't be going, not because I can't stand them, but because I wouldn't want to be the oldest there!

Smoke And The Water

You may remember me telling you about last Friday's excitement in town when an electrical substation blew up and the city centre was without power for the day. Well here's the said substation, cordoned off whilst the 'sparky's set to mending all the cables and repairing the building.

I've passed this building thousands of times coming to and from work and I never knew it was a substation. I always thought it was some sort of garage or factory. Disused too, as I never saw anyone go in or come out.

Light Night

Bit short of new photos again, so here's one I took last week of the Robin Hood statue and the castle walls. A different version appears on my flickr site. So do take a look.

It's Header Wednesday again, and my blogging pal Imac came up with this week's theme of mushrooms. Fortunately I recently bought some, so I thought of this idea of doing a line-up, like they do with suspected criminals, but with a bit of a twist!

Shadowdancer

Here's another of my photos that I'm not sure works or not. I like the shadows cast by the overhead bridge, but I think the whole photo could have been a bit sharper. My fault, not the G1's.

A Night Out

Took this the other night, standing near the castle. aptly enough the pub here is called the Castle, and the building was designed by renowned local architect Watson Fothergill. Fortunately the owners have retained a lot of the original features, and they do quite a nice line in lunchtimes paninis.

Having Your Cake And Eating It

Another Mini today. Only this time it isn't one you can drive, only eat. It was our neighbour Joe's 70th birthday yesterday, and he's mad about the classic car. He drives a silver one with 007 on the side, an array of little model ones stuck to the dashboard, and a RAF roundel on the roof. One of his many Mini mad friends had made this cake in the shape of his favourite car, which was presented at his party, held in a pub in Derbyshire. We all had a slice, with Joe getting the front end. It was a very nice sponge, but I found the icing a bit too sweet.

Think Pink

Some of you may know that Gail owns a Mini. The new style, rather than the classic 60's shape. It's black with a white roof and she likes driving it very much. She even lets me get behind the wheel sometimes! Her favourite colour is pink, and I think she would have liked it to have been the same as the one in this photo. I think this has had a special respray, as I don't believe it is an official BMW colour. It certainly stands out from the rest of the vehicles you see on the roads.

Where's The Fire?

Not far from the castle actually, and it caused chaos in the city centre today. The fire was in an electricity sub-station and started with a reported explosion mid morning. This meant half of the city centre were without electricity for most of the day. Some shops closed, including the Broad Marsh shopping centre, whilst others stayed open, even those on the same street! Alas it didn't affect my office either.

Of course the police had blocked the road off, the castle was closed and I didn't have my zoom lens with me, so the photo isn't as dramatic as I would have liked.

What's The Angle?

Here's another gravestone that I came across today. This one dates from 1705. This particular graveyard is very small and surrounds St Nicholas's church, located near the bottom of Maid Marian Way. It's not surprising that the stone lies at an angle, as the road is one of the busiest in the city. I love the way they've used some old English words, as in "lieth" and the word 'also' spelt "alfo".

Ah Bless

It's the Wednesday Header Challenge again between four fellow bloggers, and as I like to join in, I've changed my header to a moody black & white nighshot of Wheelergate.

For my blog, I'm showing you one of the statues from the General Cemetery, which I had a wander around today at lunchtime. I like the ingrained moss or lichen in the cherub, and it's not that badly eroded. It has stood there for over a hundred years, looking over the spirit of the dearly departed.

End Of The Line

I'm struggling at the moment to find anything new to show you. There's hardly anything going on in Nottingham and today has just been dull and grey. A non photography day you might say. So I'm showing you something old instead. Something with a finality about it. A message on a rather old gravestone.

Amongst the various groups I belong to on Flickr, one is dedicated to photographing gravestones & final resting places. A bit morbid you might think. But there are some wonderful examples of a stonemason's art, and you do come across some great names of the long departed.

Brolly Good Show

Here's one of the results of me just firing my camera willy nilly as I walk down the street. I have no idea as to what I'm pointing the lens at, and most of the time I just get out of focus rubbish, but occasionally I get a picture worth saving and doing something with. Like this girl and her bright pink umbrella.

Take The Stairs

I quite like the contrasting colour of the red staircase against the cream of the wall. This building is one that surrounds the university's Jubilee Campus. I don't know if students live there though.

Work Of Art

I sneaked this photograph of some art lovers admiring at David Hockney's painting; "A Bigger Splash". I say sneaked, as although you are allowed to take photos in the new contemporary art gallery, I think you're not supposed to take photos of Hockney's work. In fact I read somewhere that there's something in the main gallery that stops digital photography. Well not one for taking much notice of such rules against photography, I was up for the challenge. And as you can see I managed to take a reasonable, if Teninesque photo of Hockney's most well known work.

Red

Passing through St Mary's churchyard, I came across this Christmas tree bauble stuck on a railing spike. Of course I had to take a photo or two, as it was such an odd scene, and I thought you all might like to see it. I'm surprised it's not been removed by either the vicar, a streetcleaner or a passerby. But I am glad it's still there for everyone to see.

Walkin Tall

Another poor day for photography. Practically all the snow has gone from the city centre, leaving it cold, dull and grey. Everything looks drab, drab, drab.
I managed to take this guy, wrapped up in his duvet coat and Russian hat. I bet he was warm strolling into town.

Elle The Phant

Wednesday heralds the Header Challenge amongst a few slightly mad bloggers from around the globe. Take a look at their entries and vote for the one you like the best. Although I'm not a member of the gang yet, I have started to unofficially join in, hence my new photo of a glass-blown elephant.

Today's main picture is of the arts centre in Highfields Park. I took it last night coming home from work. The reflection is actually a sheet of ice. It was awful cycling to work this morning, as there was ice everywhere. Snow returned this afternoon, so tomorrow's journey should be fun.

Buddha Can You Spare A Dime

I recently ordered a set of 4 macro lenses from Ebay for £10. At that price I wasn't expecting too much. But I am presently surprised at the quality. Made from proper glass and metal. Not plastic like I was expecting. Here's one of the first photos that I've taken with them. It's of a small 4" high resin Buddha, that I brought Gail a few years ago. Don't think I've taken a bad photo for a first attempt. Just took it on the mantelpiece, so no special studio set up.
Might try a few flower heads tomorrow. If I can find any!

Felix Televisuals

In preparation for Wednesday's header competition theme of exotic animals, here's one I caught earlier. A rare beast. Only small. They creep silently, from almost out of thin air. You never notice them appear. But blink when you switch your television set on, and they are there, laying down and staring at the images on the screen.

Stone Me

Here is a pre-snow shot of one of Beeston's statues. He is quite simply known as 'The Beeman', as beside him is a hive of bees; the logo of the town. Beeston doesn't have that many pieces of public art, so it's always nice to show one off to a wider audience.

And The Answer Is...

A door knocker!
Maybe a bit too cryptic for you all. Or possibly a Friday night isn't the best time to set a brainteaser!
Never mind, there's always next time.

It's A Mystery

I've been feeling a bit out of sorts these past couple of days, so I've not been blogging. I did create the posts for completing when I felt better, as I need to beat last years posting total of 359. So please have a look back.

After a few days of monochrome photographs, I've returned to colour and a quiz too. Can anyone deduce what my kaleidoscopic picture can be of?
Three clues:
1, you can hear it, but you can't see it
2, it doesn't move unless you touch it
3, it can be a rude word (but not that rude)

Answer tomorrow

It's A White Life

It seems like the snow is never going to go. It's melting, but then turns to ice during the night. Here's a shot of the Nottingham castle caves, with a light dusting of snow in the crags. The sandstone can be really seen now that the workmen have removed all the unwanted vegetation.

Goodbye

I was a bit sad today, as this afternoon Gail & I attended my neighbour's funeral. You may remember that he actually died the Sunday before Christmas. So the grieving has been a long time coming.
The crematorium was packed, with relatives, friends, fellow journalists and readers of his newspaper articles. It was a nice service, and one of his workmates got up and spoke about him for about five minutes. Reciting amusing stories of his adventures to get a story. How he fell asleep whilst interviewing David Soul, and drinking with George Best.
What picture to show? I thought about some; his favourite pub for instance. But there could only be one really, the Nottingham Evening Post building. A newspaper he worked for, for the best part of 20 years.
He will be sadly missed

Snowblind

Well Nottingham has at last had some proper snow. Possibly not the man sized amount they've had in other parts of the country, but more than the dusting we got last week. In fact it's now so bad that they've stopped the buses! I went for a stroll around the the streets looking for anything interesting. Saw this man in a black coat walking down the road. Not a brilliant photo by any stretch of the imagination. The yellow of the streetlamps doesn't help. So I've gone a bit artistic with it instead.

You may have noticed my new header. I had a call from Imac tonight asking if I wanted to 'audition' to join the Headbanger group that he is a member of. Not very long to get my thinking cap on. So I've gone with the classic writing in the snow. With the letters being my Fiat's bonnet.

Touching The Sky

Today, Dubai officially opened the Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world. Surprisingly a few months late too. But it's still an amazing achievement to produce something 800 metres tall in such a short space of time. Here it can take the council a month to just fill a hole in the road.
As many of you know, Gail & I visit the emirate for a holiday at least once a year. Back in Jan 08, we took a helicopter flight over the city. This included the Burj Dubai. Here's what the area looked like then. Still an impressive sight you must agree. The four buildings to the right is the Dubai Mall, which is reckoned to be the largest shopping centre in the world.

Fields Of White

Gail & I went to see some of Gail's friends and family today who live in the north of the county. I was quite surprised to see a fair bit of snow had fallen around there, compared to where we live. On the way there I wanted to stop and take some pictures of the different scenes that I drove past, but we had quite a few visits to make, so I resisted. Coming home was another matter, and I snapped this field and sunset near Ravenshead.

Dancing In The Streets

Here's a shot of the crowd walking back into town, after watching the fireworks at the castle. I was reading in our local paper that there was a bit of a party atmosphere in the square around midnight, with people dressing up and generally being silly. It might have been a more interesting place for me and my camera to be.

Up In Smoke

For the first time ever we both saw the new year in watching the fireworks at Nottingham Castle. The are lit every year, but we have tended to stay in and watch TV. But unfortunately last night we couldn't, as we seem to have a problem with our aerial, and none of the televisions we have could pick up a signal. There were lots of people around the castle when we got there. Unfortunately the grounds were closed, so we had to stand in the street to watch. The display lasted about 10 minutes, and I took quite a few snaps. This is one of my better efforts.