Snow Going

I had a very long and difficult drive to Manchester today. It took just about twice as long as it should have.

Firstly there were some roadworks on the M1, so speed was restricted to 50mph, instead of the usual 70mph. This of course resulted in vehicles going at 40mph, and sometimes coming to a standstill.

Next came some rain, which made driving hard work, as there was so much spray about. It was like being in a car wash.

Then when I got on the road that runs through the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire it was snowing. And snowing quite hard at times. In fact in one part, there was no movement of traffic at all. I think we were all stuck in the same spot, or moved very slowly forward for almost an hour.

Finally when I reached Manchester, there was a lot of building work going on. So roads were closed, a few diversions or single lanes. There was one particular main road that had single file traffic on each side, and on the side I was on, there must have been about twenty buses all in a queue, and not going anywhere. So that added to my journey time.

The return journey was a little easier, except for the dreaded roadworks on the M1. But what got me, was the fact that I couldn't see anyone working. But isn't that always the way?

The Sky's The Limit

I spent several hours today in Farnsfield, taking photos at their Farnstock event at a local school. The eleventh one, held in the Nottinghamshire village.

It was well attended, and there was plenty to see and do. Pottery making, silent disco, eating, or just listening to musicians that were playing all afternoon.

It was the first time that I had been to the event, but I was asked to take the official photographs by one of the organisers, as he likes my style of photography.

I've yet to start going through and editing them. A bit of a daunting job, when I've taken over 700. It's going to take me a while to whittle them down to send the best ones off.

The weather has been a bit mixed all day. Cloudy. A little bit of rain and then some sunshine. When I was driving home through some of Nottingham's countryside, the sun had come fully out and was dazzling with its brightness, after being so dull for most of the day. 

Passing some fields, I noticed how light they were compared to the cloudy sky. So I just had to stop and take some photos. Luckily there was a pull in nearby, so I was able to get out of my car and take a couple of shots. I was quite lucky, in that the moon was in the right place to be included in the picture too.

Dark Side Of The Gloom

A bit of tweaking in Lightroom on this photo, which I took tonight when I went over to Beauvale Priory.

I'm going to be involved in the Eastwood Arts Festival again this year, when I dress up as a monk and give guided tours around the ruined monastery at the end of July.

I took my OMD and fisheye lens with me, as I wanted to see what sort of shots I could get. But it was raining, and so I quickly took a few shots of the farmland, rather than the priory, as I didn't want too many raindrops hitting the lens. Due to the shape of the glass, you can't put a filter over it, so you have to be careful, otherwise it can get a bit dirty.

Fields Of Gold

Well the clocks went back in the early hours, so that means dark mornings and early dark nights for the next few months.

I detest it, even though we get an extra hour to spend in bed and you know that Christmas isn't too far away. But it always makes me depressed, as you know that winter's here and that means bad weather and feels like perpetual darkness.

I do think it is time the idea was scrapped, or at least curtailed for the shortest time possible; say from mid November to early February.

I always look forward to March and the return of the lighter nights, and I can see and be seen as I'm cycling home.

Here is a shot of some farmland up at Eastwood that I shot at the end of September, when I visited Beauvale Priory, as I didn't take any photos today.

Living History

I went up to Eastwood yesterday afternoon to see the Medieval encampment that had been set up in the farmland surrounding Beauvale Priory.

The weather wasn't particularly brilliant. Windy, cold and spitting of rain. But that didn't put off the visitors walking around and looking at the tents, the people dressed up as knights etc and the demonstrations that the people were doing.

The battle between the knights was quite exciting to watch, and the commentary was amusing. The insults and banter between the men was funny and they managed to keep their language to within the period.

I saw a friend of mine who has been in some of the community plays with me. She was playing one of the monks who lived at the priory and giving tours of the ruins. Very much like I did a few months ago.

Sunset

After so much action over the past few days, things have quietened down a little bit and have nothing new to show you. So I've dug out this sunset over Nottinghamshire from a few weeks back, when we were driving home from our weekend away to Chester. Things are going to liven up a bit at the weekend, as we are off to Leeds for a model shoot. It's going to be a mixture of studio and location shooting. A couple of friends of ours are going too. So it should be a interesting and useful day, with many great pictures to add to my portfolio.

Pulchra Vallis

Today, I have been playing a monk again today up at Beauvale Priory, which has part of the Eastwood Arts Festival.

I and eleven others have been in costume and giving guided tours of the ruins and telling visitors all about the place, the inhabitants and what happened to them after Henry the Eighth and the Reformation.

This is the second time that I have done this and the fourth time playing Brother Leyghton; one of the monks that lived in the priory until it was closed in 1539.

It was great to have a sunny day at last, as we were all dreading more rain and wet costumes. Especially as we wouldn't be able to change at at all during the day.

We had quite a lot of visitors during the day and did three tours in all; which I think everyone enjoyed and learnt something about the events of nearly 500 years ago.