Taraxacum
Since I'm going to have approximately stuff all (very approximately) time to do any uploading or processing tonight I thought I'd grab one of the flowers shot yesterday and submit it for the popular #FloralFriday theme curated by +Tamara Pruessner while I've got a moment to spare. Now, I know that some people will claim that this is a weed and not a flower and so, perhaps, technically shouldn't be included in a floral theme but I have spent many years convincing my wife otherwise (pro tip: using latin names helps) and I'm afraid I can't possibly permit any dissenting view on the subject. Google+: View post on...
Patrolman
The seventies was a tough decade for a lot of people and my family was no exception. When you've watched your parents scrimp and save to buy a gorgeous, brown-striped three piece suite only to realise it's going to be a pretty bare Christmas on account of having nothing left there's only one thing that a considerate eldest son can do. And so it was that I moonlighted; school kid by day, patrolman by night. I kept the job a secret until such time as I could present my family with a tree and at least one of every possible type of decoration known to man at that time. I'd like to say that everyone was happy that year but in truth Tigger never forgave me – he was a proud cat and had considered it his responsibility to provide for the family; it really wasn't his fault that there simply wasn't much money to be made in the scrap mice industry after 1973 – and he refused to join in the otherwise uplifting December celebrations. For #BlastFromThePast curated by +Cheryl Cooper, +Isabelle Fortin, and +Mark Rodriguez. Google+: View post on...
Green Leaves
I forewent (I think that's the first time I've ever conjugated the past tense of forego in a sentence!) street photography today in favour of a little stroll around the canal area in Chichester. It was fairly pleasant temperature-wise, although the wind could have been a tad less blustery if I'd had my hand on the weather control knob. I took quite a number of photos but a quick check shows that there aren't any daily themes for #WeedThursday , #AnotherWeedThursday , #HoorayAnotherWeedThursday , or #WhatIsThatDuckDoingToThatOtherDuckThursday so that's the bulk of today's shots that I won't bother uploading. However, there is #LeafOnThursdays curated by +Margaret Tompkins, +Marilou Aballe, and +Ray Bilcliff so the day wasn't a complete waste. Google+: View post on...
Peter Bowles
Chichester is – according to my colleagues – a haven for celebrities. People I work with every day frequently tell me tales of spotting Hugh Dennis or Tim Curry or various other names. However, in over a year of frequenting the city's streets at lunchtime I've spotted not one single person that I could claim to be in any way famous. But that may have changed today. I was drawn to this man for one reason only: that coat. I loved that it was damp at the bottom. I loved how loose it all hung. I loved that my first thought was: Columbo has risen from the grave! He was initially turned away from me when I noticed him and I waited until he turned back slightly before taking my shot; of course, being a brave street photographer, I immediately angled my camera away afterwards so as not to make eye contact and it was for this reason that I never really paid attention to his face. "Excellent!" I said to my colleague. "There should be quite a bit of interest in that shot." "Yes," my colleague said. "Isn't that… erm?" "A flasher?" "No! You know! He reminds me of someone." "A flasher?" "No, no, no. It'll come to me in a second." "Are you sure it's not a flasher?" He was sure it wasn't a flasher despite my best efforts. I, at the time, had no idea what he was talking about and it's only now that I look at the photo that I realise it was the actor Peter Bowles. My first celebrity. Or it's a flasher who looks like Peter Bowles. My first pervert celebrity double. Google+: View post on...
Crozier
I offer up a shot of a palm tree (*), recently attacked by a gardener at the behest of the bishop. There were puzzled looks from those who passed by the recently-mutilated plant in his garden and mutterings about just what could drive a man to find the sight of a palm tree so abhorrent. Who aong us can know the mind of a bishop? Funny you should ask. Have you ever woken at dusk on a tropical island, under trees laden with coconuts, hungover, stark naked, and with just a crozier to fend off the crab population engaging in migratory action around and over you? This thought and others too hot for the web came to me in a flash of extra sensory revulsion this lunchtime. I blame it for the lack of street photography inspiration. (*) No, no I don't. Google+: View post on...
Portsdown Hill
Yesterday was the first anniversary of my mum's death. To mark the occasion my dad, my wife and I, and my brother, his wife, and their two kids arranged to meet on the top of Portsdown Hill overlooking Portsmouth with the intention of setting off some Chinese lanterns at sunset. There are some safety precautions you need to take when using Chinese lanterns: it can't be too windy, you shouldn't stand underneath power cables when releasing them, you should always try to refrain from setting yourself alight, and it's best to pre-warn local UFO forums that there's no need to panic. Three of these steps are in your own hands but the weather is the one thing out of everyone's control (until next year, shareholders in Mark's Meteorological Mayhem Inc. (I swear this time)). Nevertheless, we made every effort to check what the forecast was using a variety of weather apps on phones and it was anticipated that we would be facing either clear, cloudy and clear, overcast, or partially cloudy conditions for the occasion. The wind howled and swept up from the south, the banks of deep, dark clouds rolled up and over the hill, and the rain absolutely pissed it down. So we went to the pub instead. Mum would have liked that. For #MoodyMonday curated by +Philip Daly and +Carole Buckwalter. For #MonochromeMonday curated by +Jerry Johnson, +Charles Lupica, and +Hans Berendsen. Google+: View post on...
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