The Milky Bars Are On Me

A once familiar strapline to an TV advert of my youth for a bar of white chocolate. You may remember them. Small boy dressed as a cowboy, does a Clint Eastwood and rescues all the Milky Bars from the baddies. Well I happen to be rummaging through a box at a jumble sale the other week, and pulled out this little fella. A Milky Bar Kid Weeble. So I decided to take a photo of him in various locations across Nottingham. So stay tuned for his appearances.

Feeling Blue

You've probably noticed shops with some strange names on your travels. I spotted one yesterday called Blue Banana. It sells a range of mens and women's clothing, for that individual look. The bag with the dead bird on it is a very intriguing, if not disturbing image.

Up For Sale

This former vicarage directly opposite the castle is now up for sale. It's asking price, £1.2 million. If I had the money, I would snap it up, as it's a huge property, full of character, with a great garden and fantastic views across the city. And also it wouldn't be too far to travel to work. I expect some property developer will buy it and turn it in to luxury flats. I just hope they won't spoil it too much.

The Headbanger theme this week courtesy of Lammy is 'harvest'. Certainly one for my thinking cap, as I live in a town, and miles away from any fields. Of course there's plenty of scope for interpretation, I took some photos of a stall selling fruit and veg yesterday, but wasn't too happy with the results. So dipping in my archive, I came across this freshly cultivated field of straw, where the farmer had created these giant round bales.

Don't forget to visit the rest of the gang's sites, to see what they have come up with.

Peter Parker With Knitting Needles!

If you're wondering who Peter Parker is, well he's the guy that dressed up as Spiderman. And he must have knitted this web, rather than spun it, as it's the strangest one that I've ever seen. The poor spider must have spent hours creating this piece of art. A shame then this morning that it, and many others had disappeared.

It's A Spider Man

It practically rained all day yesterday, so I wasn't expecting much when I unlocked this morning. Marmalade was waiting outside, ready to come in for her breakfast. But no rain. Just damp and a little misty. The mist had done something amazing though. It had highlighted all the spiders webs in the garden. So I got out my camera and snapped a few. Marmalade was mewing at my feet, saying "forget your photography, feed me"!
I took a number of shots with different lenses, but like this one the most.

Satisfied Customers

I hope these two ladies enjoyed their visit to the castle the other day. Although I do think some visitors are rather disappointed that Nottingham Castle actually resembles a large country house than the traditional idea of what a castle should look like, namely turrets, a moat, a drawbridge and a dungeon. Alas the original castle was knocked down in 1674, when the Duke of Newcastle decided to build his new home there. In 1878, the then empty building became a museum and art gallery.

Robin Needs A Hood

Continuing my autumnal, widescreen and moody theme, here's the Robin Hood statue taken from the castle entrance, as I stopped off on my way into work. There are usually tourists posing by the statue even at 9:20am, but the weather clearly kept them away.

Forever Autumn

Another sign of the changing seasons is the falling of leaves from the trees. This gardener at the castle is finding life a lot easier with the motorised blower, rather than using an old fashioned broom.

Smoke On The Water

Today marks my 1500th post. No balloons, banners or fireworks this time, but a very misty Highfields Lake. It was very foggy this morning, an obvious sign that winter is on its way. Shot in black and white for added atmosphere,

Street Life

Headbanger Wednesday again, and Tom's choice this week is of a reflected image in water. An interesting subject matter, and open to all sorts of interpretations. I have quite a few possibilities in my archive, but chose this one, as I like the colour of the brickwork against the black of the wet road.

Please visit the rest of the gang to see their choices.

As promised yesterday, here's another 'now and then' photograph. This is Theatre Square, named naturally because of the presence of the Theatre Royal, a fine Victorian building of great note. In the undated original, but going on the fashions I'd say the 1910s, the County Hotel adjoined it, but shamelessly knocked down many years ago. The Royal Centre now stands in its place. The road layout has clearly changed, mainly thanks to the tram. Alas I do not know what happened to the statue, or who it is of.

What A Difference A Century Makes

I was looking at some old photos of Nottingham the other day, partly for inspiration and partly for pleasure. Seeing quite a few familiar streets, I wondered how many, or how few differences there might be. I did something similar earlier in the year with the locations used in Saturday Night Sunday Morning.

So to begin with here is Bridalsmith Gate. The photo on left was taken during 1899, the one on the right was taken today. I think I managed to stand in just about the same spot. On the whole, the street has hardly changed. The buildings have obviously been modernised, or in one case, rebuilt. Not exactly sure when though, but probably in the 1920s.

Shoot To Thrill

Here's a fellow photographer shooting the deer in Wollaton Park. Fortunately not with a rifle or shotgun but with a Nikon or Canon.

No Train No Strain

Beeston has had a railway station since Victorian times, but this sign has nothing to do with trains, but a small health spa in Chilwell. It follows the same design as the old British Railways logo which was used before it was broken up in the late 1960s.

Halfway Up The Stairs

Marmalade has a number of places where she likes to fall asleep. On our bed, on the settee, a seat in the upstairs office and on the stairs for some reason. It is usually the seventh step from the top. Here's a close up of her after just waking up.

For The Chop

For various reasons I've never really been a fan of going to the barber. Fortunately, since meeting Gail, she's done it, as she did a course some years ago. It seems many children don't like going either, going on the way this Beeston hairdressers have tried to make the experience more enjoyable.

You may have heard the old joke before about this man goes for a haircut. The barber says "how would you like it sir?". The customer replies "in silence!".

Flower Power

It was curry night tonight at The Last Post; our local Wetherspoon's pub. Just over a fiver for a curry and a pint of real ale, is a great deal, and it makes a nice treat for a Thursday night. I tend to go for a chicken jalfrazi, while Gail switches between a korma and a lamb rogan josh.
Naturally I had my camera with me, and so I tried taking a photo or two of this flower that was on our table while we were waiting for the food. I used a floating candle, which was also on the table for a bit of ambient lighting.

Night Of The Living Dead

The carnival went on for quite some time, and it was dark by the time they returned to the Old Market Square. They were following a truck that had musicians on it. There were also some spotlights on the back which helped to keep the party atmosphere going.

This week it's my turn to choose the theme for the Headbanger Challenge. And to tie in with my theatricals last week, I've suggested 'All The world's A Stage'. To bring my series about Friday's Latin carnival, I've done a montage of some scenes I took. Have a look at the gang's interpretations through the links above.

Hold Your Head Up

This puppet of a giant certainly kept the crowds entertained with its antics. I don't know if it is a Latin version of the Wicker Man, but it is certainly a lot more colourful than the one from the remote Scottish Island.

Photography On Photography

This is my pal Lewis who is also a keen photographer and fellow Flickrite. He is presently doing an arts course at Trent University. Although he lives on the same street as me, we have a tendency to bump into each other at events around town. Somehow he always manages to find his way up on top of things for that different angle. I took this shot outside the Contemporary, which is presently showing a number of photographs by Diane Arbus.

Smile

This dancer looks like she's enjoying herself with her spinning hat. I quite like her make-up around her eyes. I just hope they don't represent tears.

When Twelve Heads Are Better Than One

I'm not too sure what this character represents. He is certainly strange looking with all those heads, and the person playing him must certainly have been tired after being on those stilts for several hours.
The women behind him look very colourful in their wedding cake style outfits.

Dem Bones

Tonight there was a parade around the city centre of music and dancing Cuban style. It was very loud and very colourful, with everyone in great costumes, as I intend showing you over the next couple of days. Firstly then here's a great example of facial make-up that some of the dancers wore.

Bill Posters Are Never Prosecuted

Came across this rather unusual advertising poster during my walk on Sunday. Not the advert itself, although it's quite amusing, but the fact that they've tried to make it look like one of those old adverts where they used to actually paint the bricks. You can still see remains of these 'ghost signs' as they are called even now. Apparently there are three designs. I hope to capture the other two on my travels.

Slow Timing

This week's 'Headbanger Challenge' is macros or close up, and chosen by Imac, who likes doing that sort of thing and to be honest is rather good at it. It's not something I've done very much, so I was wondering what to take a photo of. I just happen to be putting the lock to the garage on the wheelie bin, when I spotted this baby snail chugging along the lid. I took a few frames, with this one being about the best, although it wouldn't win any prizes, let alone the gold shield! So for my header shot this week, I've gone for a 'close up' of the logo that was on the side of one of the Bartons buses that I saw on Saturday.

Don't forget to visit the rest of the gang to see their interpretations of the theme.

School For Cows

During the walk we stopped outside this old house. The guide told us that the right side of the building was used as a school and a cow shed. Naturally the school was upstairs and the cows downstairs. I'm not sure how well the children did in their lessons with all that mooing going on under them.

This Ole House

As a change to all the drama rehearsals that I have been doing, and more next week, I went on a local history walk. The Beeston and District Civic Society had organised a free guided tour around my town as part of the Heritage Weekend. Between thirty and forty of us spend an interesting two hours being shown buildings and being told about them. The first one we stopped at was the Manor House, the oldest building in Beeston. And like the name suggests, it was the main house in Beeston when the area was just farmland.

On The Pull

There has been another Heritage weekend of buildings and events being open to the public. I only managed to get around a couple yesterday, as I had a drama rehearsal in the afternoon. One of the really good ones is visiting the old Barton bus garage in Chilwell. There were a few new things to see, including a film show of old buses moving along the routes in the 50's and 60's. I saw this truck last year, but it was parked in such a way that I couldn't photograph it properly. Better luck this year.

Skywalking

Another drama rehearsal this afternoon. My poor old brain is struggling to remember the lines, although I haven't got that many. And only one week to go!
Arriving home, I saw quite a display of clouds. Of course I had my camera with me, so I collected a few shots.

Late Night Loneliness

This is the High Road in Beeston, taken yesterday at 9:15pm. Strangely deserted. I was waiting for Gail, and of course I had my camera with me. Whilst I was waiting for her, only about three people passed me; and one of them was on a bike. I even passed a pub that had no customers in it!
I'm not sure where everyone was. It wasn't even raining.

You Need Hands

Hands can be highly expressive, as every Italian knows. These three girls were all busy doing something with their hands as they were walking along Bridalsmithgate. And not a shopping bag between them!

Hanging Around

This week's headbanger subject is 'with strings attached' and was picked by Dave. Another theme to get the brain going. An early contender was Gail's guitar, which unfortunately has been languishing in it's bag for the best part of two years. But walking around town I remembered the balloon seller, and so went to hunt him out. When I saw him, he was having some problem with the balloons, as it was windy and all the strings had got entwined and so he was having some difficulty straightening them out.

Don't forget to see what Dave and the others in the gang have come up with this week. Links above.

My daily photo today is one I took last night, as I walked around town with a fellow Flickr photographer. We both agreed this window display in a clothes shop looked a bit macabre, with the headless manikins being hung up by a single chain (or string) from the ceiling. I went back today to take some more photos, but there was too much reflection in the windows and didn't look so effective as they did when it was dark.

A Square Deal

Hooray, the beach has finally disappeared and the Square is empty and ready for another event. There was a solitary roadsweeping vehicle this evening going around and around and sucking up the last remaining grains of sand.

Supercat

Here's the latest photo of Marmalade, sound asleep. From her pose I think she's dreaming that she is Supercat and flying through the air and saving other cats from barking dogs and horrible humans. Or maybe she's seen the new Go-Cat TV commercial, and she leaping over buildings, just like the ginger cat in the ad.

Two Hands Make Light Work

Stumped for a photo again, so I've been toying with one from my archive. One that came out poorly, but haven't got around to deleting yet. So even rejected photos have their uses sometimes!
It shows one of the corner towers that make up Wollaton Hall It was taken from the gardens, rather than the park.

Lord Love A Duck

I went through Highfields on the way home yesterday, just to see if there was anything worth taking a photo of, as there has been a dearth of subjects in the city centre this week. Nothing really different in the park except this duck doing an impression of Long John Silver!

Golden Days

I was looking for a bit of inspiration today, as I haven't really found anything worth photographing since I got back from Arabia. So I had a stroll through the Lace Market. But it was very quiet, as the students haven't returned to their classrooms yet. Passing through the grounds of St Mary's, I saw this rather nice rose shining in the lunchtime sunshine. Alas it didn't have a scent, just this wonderful honey colour.

You Need Hands

Sorry, here's another shot from Dubai, as I've not found anything worth recording in Nottingham since I got back.
This stand is to promote caring for others during Ramadam and beyond. I like the way one of the promoters has his hand on the back of the other, in a close friendship and supportive way.

Hello Earth

These Headbanger challenges soon come round, and Lanny has picked this weeks' subject of 'change'. Change comes in many forms, how a room looks after it's been decorated, how a person ages down the years, from that kid with lots of energy to the person with various aches and pains. But I've gone for a shot of the remainder of our spending money. Yes, I've taken the literal translation of change! If you're interested, these Dirhams represent about £5.

Leaving the airport in Paris in a smaller plane, we were soon flying over England. I'm not entirely sure where this bit of Britain starts, but I would guess somewhere along the Essex coastline.

Coming Home

Whilst we were away, Gail and I often wondered how our little Marmalade was getting on back in Beeston. We had asked our neighbour 'Uncle Brian' to keep an eye on her and make sure she got some food. Although by all accounts, she has restaurants all along our road, and never goes hungry.

When we arrived back, we both whistled her, and she came running. She was obviously pleased to see us, as us her. But after a while, she was back to her old self and fell asleep on her throne.

As The Night Closes In

Well Gail and I are back safely in Beeston, after taking the night flight from Dubai. Getting a bit tired now, but still have to blog. My final photo from our latest holiday is the classic sundown shot over the Creek, with an Abra and a Dhow passing across the water. Back to normality tomorrow with getting up early for work. Boo!

On Top Of The World

Last night Gail and I visited the tallest building in the world; the Burj Khalifah. You can go on a tour where you are taken up to the 124th floor and you can see the whole of Dubai. But the 124th floor is only about two thirds the way up. The rest of the floors are made up of apartments, offices and an Armani designed hotel.

I'm not very good with heights, especially trying to stand by windows or walls. I always have this fear that the structure is going to break and I am going to fall out. Sitting on the floor seems to cool my terror a bit, so did that to take some photos of Dubai at night. I would have preferred to go during the day, but no places seemed to be available then.

Fair Fun

It was quite strange walking around Dubai Festival City and seeing a funfair completely empty. All the rides were there and lights flashing, but no music or screaming kids. All down to Ramadan. No food, drink or fun until the sun has disappeared.

Rail Ways

Those people that have used the London Underground, and indeed any form of rail transport in England will know what a grim experience it can be. Torn seats, grafitti and some rather rude travellers make for a ride best forgotten. How different in Dubai. Because there is a fine for practically every misdemour going, the stations and trains are spotless. Feet on seats carries a fine, eating and drinking are banned. One of the biggest fines is for setting off the fire alarm for a joke.
Here's a shot of inside the monorail. Everyone sits quite still, or speaks in hushed tones.

Monorail Mania

We've finally managed to go on the Dubai Metro. There are 4 different kinds of tickets you can buy, depending on how much travelling you do. We opted for one where you pay a couple of pounds and can travel all day. We tried to visit Jebel Ali, as we have not been there yet, but for some reason the train didn't go that far, even though there is a station there. So we visited a couple of the shopping malls enroute. I took loads of photos of the various buildings that we passed. I was going to put them on Flickr, but it has been blocked by the leaders here, although strangely enough you can use Facebook, which is far more subversive.

Keep Your Cool

A difficult headbanger challenge set by Tom this week; 'Animal Reflections'. Made even the more difficult, as I'm presently on holiday with just a nextbook. So I've had to do a bit of blue sky thinkiing. Which in Dubai is very easy, as everyday there's a blue sky! It came to me last night as I was waiting for Gail to buy some make up. I just happen to be standing next to a mirror, and so got one of the postcards I was posting to our nearest and dearest and proped it up. Voila, my submission for this week.

My daily shot today is of the swimming pool at the hotel. Which is very welcome at the moment, as it's a rather humid 88*F. I'm just quietly sitting here in the shade typing away and sweat is pouring off me. As it's Ramadan at the moment, we can't eat and drink in public. So as soon as I've finished blogging, I'm off back to the room for a long cold glass of something.

Going Underground

We had our first glimpse of the new Dubai Metro last night, as we visited one of the stations to pick up a map and timetable, and to see how much the tickets are. Unfortunately they didn't have any maps left. The assistant suggested we got a silver card as that allowed travel on the buses too. It's something to do later on in the week, as we want to spend the whole day travelling the entire route and getting off at specific points of interest, such as the Burj Kalifah and Jebel Ali.

Lighting Up Time

It's nice to be back in Dubai again. It's been a whole year since our last visit. The pace of change appears to have slowed a little, although the new monorail and the Burj Khalifa are now finished and working. We intend to spend one of our days travelling on the monorail, as it goes from one end of Dubai to the other and you can buy a day roving ticket for a couple of pounds. Today's photo is a night shot which shows the Burj Khalifa towering over some of the other skyscrapers along the Sheikh Zayed Road.

Rocky Roller

The journey with Air France wasn't too bad, even though I didn't get a window seat and the screen wasn't working properly, so I couldn't watch any of the films on offer. Gail and I had a walk to the back of the plane for a bit of exercise. I took lots of photos of the earth below. I had no idea where we were, but these mountains looked quite impressive from 36,000 feet.

Not So Much Oh La La

Gail and I usually fly to Dubai with Emirates. But things being what that are, we had to look for a cheaper airline. After much trawling on the Internet, we found one with Air France. As neither of us had been to France before, we were looking forward to seeing what Charles de Gaul Airport in Paris had to offer. We were disappointed. There was quite a performance in getting off the plane, going through transit, and back on a different plane. We were searched twice, even though we hadn't been in contact with anybody. The first time by a very officious employee, who insisted people were checked one at a time. Some passengers got a bit irate, as they were in danger of missing their flight, as it took about 10 minutes for each search. Then the airport bus driver couldn't find the plane. He eventually did. Then whilst reversing, crashed the bus into an airport truck. Just as well it wasn't a tanker.
Here's a shot of the roof of the terminal T2, that I took whilst waiting to board the plane.

Shopping And All That Jazz

During August, my local council hires a band every Saturday morning to entertain the passing shoppers. Some seats are put out in the square, so people can sit a listen for a while. The band on Saturday were called Ty Garner and the Blue Notes. They played a selection of light jazz classics during which Ty showed off his very good guitar skills.
I don't normally like jazz at all, but these guys were worth listening to. Like most musicians these days he has a website, so you can listen for yourself.