Roadside Abstracts

I was killing a bit of time last night waiting for a friend to arrive for our evening at the Anthony Burgess Foundation for the launch of their new exhibition Rome in the Rain.  I had thought to bring my camera and was very pleased indeed to find a row of hoardings around one of the…

A new blogging direction.

When I started to get serious about my Iyengar yoga, around the time I embarked on teacher training, I decided that I wouldn’t write about it.  I found many yoga blogs intently irritating and really didn’t like to read them so obviously I wouldn’t want to emulate anything like that!  At that time (Spring 2012)…

Outdoor adventures in Anglesey.

We visited our good friends Wil and Ann in Anglesey for the weekend and despite a gloomy and drizzly start we were gratefully rewarded by splendid weather.  It was like summer on Sunday which is pretty good for the first day of November. Our first visit was to Parys Mountain in Amlwch, it was the…

2016 Calendars

Every year in my Etsy shop I sell calendars, it’s become a bit of a tradition.  I usually offer a selection of 5×7 inch desk calendars with optional mini wooden easel.  This year is no different, except that I am having the pages professionally printed rather than printing and trimming them myself.  I fancied having them…

Life's a beach in Abadaron on the Llŷn Peninsula.

We had a family jolly to North Wales last week to celebrate my father’s 80th birthday and while we were out and about we visited Aberdaron on the Llŷn Peninsula.  It was the first time any of us had visited this much loved part of the country.  Some good friends have a holiday home here and…

Roadside Cafe on the A5 in Wales.

Last week we had a family outing to Portmerion in North Wales to celebrate my father’s 80th birthday.  Our first port of call was the splendid Ruthin Craft Centre which has been totally rebuilt since my last (first) visit many years ago and was even better than I remember.  From there we headed into some serious…

Slow Shutter Cam Photos on iPhone

I love to take photos from the windows of a car.  No, not when I’m driving (although I confess to trying that too, in stationary traffic anyway), but when I’m a passenger and there are some interesting colours going on outside.  It’s easy to experiment with a DSLR as you can manually set all the…

A visit to Lincoln Cathedral

I was in Lincoln last week and managed to fit in a visit to the grand Lincoln Cathedral which wasn’t quite at it’s best as they were hosting a performance of Jesus Christ Superstar and the stage, seating and orchestra were set up in the nave rather spoiling the usually spectacular view.  This was quite a good…

Kentish Corrugations

I have a bit of a thing for nice straight lines.  I also have a bit of a thing about windows, doors and blocks of colour and when all of these things are combined in one handy visual package there’s no way I can resist.  One area where such arrangements are prone to helpfully throw themselves…

How organised is your shopping list?

It’s a rare occasion when I scribble down a couple of items I need to buy on a scrap of paper.  The reason for this is that I have had a digital shopping list for a very long time, all the way back to the old days of my trusty Palm Pilots, of which I…

Manchester as Film Location.

Manchester is becoming increasingly popular as a film location.  The dramatic town hall has been used for many years as a stand in for the interior of Houses of Parliament.  Not so long ago it had a starring role in The Iron Lady with Meryl Streep (which amusingly crashed a real life Mancunian wedding), Ripper…

Welcome back Manchester Central Library!

I’ve always loved libraries, almost every Saturday when I was little involved going to one library or another with my father to stock up on reading material for both of us.  Both voracious readers we could spend many happy hours browsing, reading and enjoying the peaceful calm which surrounds spaces of many books.  The library…