The mighty Gulls!

I knew at some stage in my intermitant interest in Brighton & Hove Albion FC there would be something worth celebrating - and today is the day with a win over Manchester City!

I think you should support the football team you were born closest to - so I got stuck with Brighton & Hove Albion FC.

I only glance at the results most of the time, crack a smile when they win, wince when they flog star players like Bobby Zamora and shout obcenities at the TV when they sell the stadium to Tesco's and end up playing in Kent for a couple of years!

But, you have to take the good with the bad... and today is a good day.

Ryder Cup

Sorry, couldn't resist posting a comment on this weekends sporting failure......

Ian Poulter - superstar! All of the pre-match banter about him getting a wild card over others was total crap, well done to him, let's hope he makes it in next time as well. It's the one descision Faldo got right in his captaincy. Sadly his appointment of DJ Spoony at team motivator defies belief!

My notes to the organising comittee for 2010... sack Faldo, never let him near the team or competition again. Bring back Ian Woosnam as team captain, appoint José Maria Olazábal and Colin Montgomerie as vice-captains (ready for Oli to be captain in 2012). Sack whinger Westwood and dull (but previously in form) Harrington, replace them with Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke - at least they've got some passion about winning!

Coffee.....

I like coffee, so much so I invested a couple of years ago on a DeLonghi Magnifica beans to coffee machine. Plug it in, fill with water & coffee beans of your choice (see later), press button, it whizzes, whurs & splutters, then moments later a fresh cup of coffee is deposited into your favourite mug. Expensive, but convenient.

I searched for ages to find a nice balanced coffee bean and finally arrived at.... bog standard Sainsbury's Medium Roast, couple of pounds per 500g & easily available in the 2 local stores.

Year's ago during my quest for the coffee of choice, I stumbled across "Jamaican Blue Mountain" coffee, said to be the finest in the world. I bought some at Fortnum & Mason in ground form for my Cafetiere, it was hugely expensive, but at the time I thought it was excellent. So during my time off last week, I undertook a retail therapy day in Knightsbridge and visited the Harrod's Food Hall and procured more of the "best coffee in the world" as you can see it wasn't cheap at more than £106 per 1Kg.

Sadly it dissapointed, bitter & sharp. Much like the Taittinger experience, I'll stick to what I know I like.

Garden life

Having spent a few weeks at home on holiday dossing about, I spent today in the garden tidying up and noted a Leaf Cutter Bee using the bamboo shelter I had installed in the spring, so out came various camera's, lenses, extension tubes, flashes and tripod to catch the fast moving thing.

Shot with a Canon EOS 5D body with a Canon EF180mm f3.5 Macro lens attached with Canon Extension Tube 25. ISO 200, 1/250th at f5

Holidays....

... are here again!

I've decided to take 2 weeks off and do a couple of things for me..... retail therapy, photography and relaxation are high on the agenda.

I combined all of these yesterday evening by going to Stockbridge to take some photo's of a barley field, popped into Orvis for some new shirts (I just have to comment on the girl who was at the checkout.... beautiful is the only word!) and then went to the 3 Cups pub for a couple of pints of draught Peroni in the garden.... fantastic.

A review of the food at the Three Cups is in the pipeline as I will be visiting to partake of their evening menu in the very near future.

UPDATE : went to the Three Cups for lunch on Friday 8th. Hugely complex menu with probably 60+ dishes available, every one had some twist of ingredient - e.g. Hake with Paella and Razor Clams or Salt March Lamb & Green Olive Wellington with Jerusalem Artichoke Cream. Gordon Ramsay would have a field day here, they need to cut the complexity and number of dishes down dramatically, it would save having 2 chefs on a lunchtime and the probable large amount of food wasted.

I went for the most simple dish I could find and had Roast Garlic Chicken Salad with tomato's, parmesan, capers and croutons, my companions had steak & chips and soft shell crab tempura. The best thing of all was.... the chips. Tough Chicken, tough steak (that came minus portabello mushroom & beef tomato as described) and crab was 50% edible.

Dessert however was spot on, Eton Mess with Shortbread and the Strawberry parfait with marinated Strawberries were both 100% perfect.

Rumour has it that Gordon Ramsay has bought the old filling station in Stockbridge High Street, if it's true, existing Stockbridge eateries with delusions of grandeur will have to watch out, a serious restauranteur with great idea's, a clear business head and a stack of cash to invest is on the way to your town.

Bird watching excursion.....

my first dedicated trip to a bird reserve at Titchfield Haven was interesting, but I did feel a bit of a nerd.

Nice weather was a bonus, sighting of a Kingfisher, Little Egret and various dippers, waders and gulls added to the day, but photographically it was a bit of a challenge from the hides as they are a new environment for me.

Lens envy was clearly in evident in hides, various Canon (500mm & 600mm) & Sigma (300-800mm) lenses on show. Noise etiquette and keeping still also clearly high on list of requirements of serious twitchers!

I have finished reading a book....

..... you may well think thats not very impressive, but in my mind it is.

I do read a lot, I mean A LOT, but almost exclusively online and nearly all for reference, whether it be online news, Teletext\Ceefax sport, information on helicopters or the latest magazine report on a bit of photographic equipment. The Sunday Times sections that interest me are picked out & the rest discarded almost blindfolded, add to that the copious amount of email I have at work and personally, it all stacks up to a lot of reading.

I have never really been a reader for pleasure, I only really realised why this week - in my O-level English literature exam we were told to read The Hobbit, the well known epic tale of Bilbo Baggins et al. Sadly I didn't like it, in fact I just couldn't get on with it, so I didn't read it past the first chapter on several occasions. This event probably turned me off reading for pleasure forever.

I have since read few books from cover to cover, (un-authorised biog's of Al Fayed and John Delorean are most noteworthy thus far) I now add another - "Bearded Tit - confessions of a birdwatcher" by Rory McGrath. I like the writer, his appearances on "They think it's all over...", "QI" and "Three men in a boat" demonstrate a fast wit (mostly directed at Jonathan Ross & his attire) and an irreverant attitude to anything "establishment". Add to that the books premise around bird-watching, drinking and womanising all make it really rather good.

Sign of the week.....

... saw this & it made me smile at least.

Shitty week, stress, stress & more stress. Chest pains (muscle strain after lifting 100+kg pot in garden [full of soil & plant!] not heart attack) all week have merely added to the pain.

All topped off by physio visit where the pain was enhanced with deep tissue massage - why didn't I show them this sign first!?

FYI - the sign is in the cockpit of a Westland Scout helicopter.

Sleeping Cygnet.....

This was taken a few weekends ago when it was dry! There were 2 Swan nests at Rooksbury Mill Lakes nature park, it appears that only one Cygnet has survived the hatch.

I have been messing about with a few settings on the cameras to try & get them right, with mild success, but mostly HUGE frustration!

Anyhow, pictured right is an edited RAW image, processed in DxO Optics Pro v5 and then modified in Paint Shop Pro v7. Taken with a Canon EOS 40D with my EF500mm f/4 & EF1.4x converter at 1/2000th sec at F5.6

Memories.....

This Camellia was given to me by my old Solicitor, now sadly passed away, it always reminds of her when I walk past it in the garden.

Pictured in the rain a few weeks ago, just beautiful.

All the flowers now gone, but the plant seems to have thrived in the recent warm & humid conditions.

When feeding smaller birds in the garden.....

..... always be aware that bigger birds are watching!

This male Sparrowhawk swooped in on the Goldfinches tonight, don't think he got anything, but I suppose it's only to be expected given the numbers of smaller birds around at the moment.

Sort of nice to see, but always hope they might get a Pidgeon or two versus a Goldfinch or Greenfinch.

Shot through a pane of glass in the Dining room, so not as great as it could have been, but needed to act quickly as it was gone as quickly as it arrived. Luckily the EOS 40D with EF500mm f/4 and EF1.4x was at hand already set up.

Garden visitors.... and departures

A welcome visitor has been the Goldfinch, a couple of them in fact, all feeding on the black thistle seed (also called Niger seed) feeder I put up about a month ago.

I was just about to take the feeder down as nothing had shown any interest - when they turn up and start feeding like crazy, taking it in turns to feed & then preen.

Also present in the garden have been Greenfinch, Dunnock, Starling and the usual Blue Tit's, Blackbird's, Thrushes and many Robin's. Haven't seen the Goldcrest for a while, but hope to get a good photo of it later in the Summer.

Grey Squirrel's continue to get shot upon entering my garden, I must have taken 30+ now!

Still trying out the new lenses....

...... the Canon EF 15mm Fisheye lens used in a slightly different way.

A much over done subject, the yellow sea of Rape Seed that is so beautiful (if pollen filled & smelly) in early May in the UK.

Dodged the April showers which are still hanging around for my birthday week to take this in a field close to home.

Took a couple in landscape, then a few more in portrait & decided I liked that orientation better with vivid colour of the field with shadow in foreground and large expanse of bright, but cloudy sky. Critics have said they don't like the tree in the top left corner as it distracts the eye, but I think it works.

Bad news......

..... the lady who owns the biggest plot on the road where I live has sold out to developers, sadly for me it means the view I have had for the 10 years will change.

As you can see from the photo taken from my neighbours loft conversion window just 2 weeks ago (left), it's a beautiful large open garden, but it's a crappy delapidated house, and if my 70 year old mother was in the same position I would have advised her to flog it for £1.2m as well.

Banner Homes Wessex Ltd. have applied for 8 houses to be built, having looked at the planning application I have made my objections known, so now it's in the hands of the Test Valley Planning committee to consider them.

12/06 UPDATE : well, well, well. I have now received letter from Banner Homes saying that they have modified their plans in accordance with my suggestion and deleted the 2 windows I said would overlook my property, they have said that they will also frost glaze the 2 remaining windows on the same elevation. They haven't mentioned any of my other suggestions, so assume that they were too much to ask. At least they listened to my main objection, only time will tell whether they are as keen to listen when they start work on the site....

Bad days.....

..... just when you think you are having a bad day because of something trivial like dropping a plate, burning the dinner or things just not going your way. Spare a thought for these two.....


BBC News website reports that a stunt driver delivering the ONLY Aston Martin DBS available for filming of the new James Bond Film - Quantum of Solace, crashes it on a wet road & it then plunges into Lake Garda! Oppps! Luckily he was OK.





Then, photo left shows a minor incident in Mexico to a Eurocopter AS365N3 Dauphin helicopter. It was being towed from the hangar when a part of the undercarriage gave way, I do hope that the proud customer wasn't there to witness it!

Photographers rights....

.... as I have been taking loads of photo's recently, this caught my eye on the BBC News website.

There have been many stories of late of photographers being challenged, and at some point if you take photo's in public places I suppose a stop & search is at some point inevitable, however if anyone (even a Police Officer) asks you to delete photo's or surrender Compact Flash cards etc. - YOU ARE NOT OBLIGED TO DO SO.

This link provides a very useful 2 page PDF file for reference.

You can sign up to the Downing Street petition to stop over zealous local authorities preventing us from doing what we have done for years & years.

Sadly, advertising like this from the Metropolitan Police doesn't help. It goes without saying (or advertising) that if anyone is taking any kind of interest in noting where things like CCTV camera's are in any location it should be reported.

Some of the more intelligent and enlightened forces have adopted some aircraft spotters as another set of eyes. Even the Metropolitan Police worked with Scotland Yard & BAA a few years ago with a scheme of registration for aircraft enthusiasts with LAAS International. The MoD have just started a similar scheme at RAF Coningsby.

They're back......

It may have something to do with my neighbours insistance to feed the birds in the garden with peanuts, or my feeders full of "Robin Bird Feed Mix" which they seem to like as well, but the little bastards a.k.a grey squirrels are back.

So, along with my trusty Theoben I have despatched 3 in the last 2 days (so I've probably got 20 or so in the past 6 months). Keep 'em coming as far as I'm concerned, I've got a couple of thousand pellets spare!

Lot's of coverage in the media about how the grey squirrel does so much damage to bird life and how it carries a virus that wipes out red squirrels, but people still think of them as little fluffy darlings - they're not, they are tree rats & vermin!

Royalty free picture by nvmdigital.com

Things could get a bit samey.....

.... if I over use this lens.

Just a close up of the car, weird how it cuts of the headlights, windscreen & roof.

I'm sure I'll take a load more just like this of many different things that I stumble across, but I'll probably spare you looking at my whimsical snaps.

Fisheye frolics.....

This is a shot I have wanted to try for a while, with the new 15mm Fisheye, I thought it would look a bit different.

Just a snap at the bottom of the garden at the moment, I will try & explore for some more densely populated woodland at the weekend.

A different perspective.....

.... through a newly acquired Canon EF 15mm f2.8 Fisheye lens.

I've always wanted a fisheye lens for my camera, so when one or two came up on ebay I decided to get one, saving s quite a bit on the list price for a new one from Canon.

I don't this it's going to be the most used lens in my camera bag(s), but a useful addition none the less.

As you can see from the quick snap taken earlier today at Rooksbury Mill lakes (home of the Kingfisher), landscapes are big with this lens. Closeups are also interesting as the distortion becomes more noticeable, particularly if the subject has straight lines.

New kit......

In my last post I eluded to the fact that I had successfully found all the elements of photographic kit I was spurred into getting by my chance meeting with a wildlife photography enthusiast a few weeks ago.

The photo left shows some of what I now lug around...

When I attach the EF500mm lens [the taller lens pictured left] to my EOS 1Ds Mk II with a 2 x Extender II and Manfrotto monopod it all weighs in at 7Kg (15½ pounds) which has meant further investment in lens\camera specific bags.

I'm hoping that once I get used to using the kit, I may even start to derive some earnings from photography for a change, maybe try & sell some stock photo's or even get a commission or two for some wildlife images.

Updated kit brings results... but could do better

I've found and procured all the elements of the camera kit I wanted, all 2nd hand, but still mad silly prices - I keep telling myself I can sell them for what I paid..... yeah right!

At least the equipment has proved capable of getting results, I think it's now a matter of me getting better at using it.

Simple things like covering up the dirty great big white lens with something green or even camoflauge would help, I don't think I'll be getting myself decked out in Realtree though.

Rent a stalker.....

... but it actually sounds like a great idea in the end.

London Photo Bloggers reported a few days ago about a new idea of taking candid shoots of a person going about their normal day & presenting them as gift portfolio.

"MethodIzaz is a unique photography experience. Using information provided earlier about their weekly routine, the photographer will arrive on the scene, and unseen, take shots of the subject. Subjects are unaware of the exact moment they will be photographed and of the photographer's identity. Instead, the subject is photographed completely naturally, living life as normal. "

Looks like it's only in New York at the moment, but I'm sure someone will start up in London soon enough.

The image [left] is of a bronze somewhere in Bratislava, I think it's a really good piece. It apparently is on the corner of a building housing a restaurant call The Paparazzi.

Just when you think you are making progress......

.... someone else comes along and pisses on your parade.

I'm talking photography, yet again. I was told a few weeks ago that at Rooksbury Mill Park lakes which is close to my home, there are a number of Kingfishers to be seen.

So, on Sunday morning with the sunshine making an unexpected appearance before the well forecasted approaching storms, off I went in search of said bird with Canon kit in hand - not an insubstantial setup of kit - EOS 5D, 70-200mm f2.8 L USM IS with 2 x Extender attached. Only to find that a local wildlife photographer had beaten me to it. He was fully decked out in Realtree camoflauge jacket with EOS 1DS Mk III and a Canon 500mm f4.0L USM IS in hand, similar to that as shown above.

To add insult to injury, no Kingfisher (wasn't expecting to get any shot's on first attempt, so I will try again) it pissed with rain, and of course I hadn't taken coat as the sun was shining when I left!

Having seen what can be done with the EOS 1DS Mk III & Canon 500mm, I have to confess that plans are afoot for an upgrade! Watch out Mr Mastercard, your about to get a short term beating!

If you really want to see what can be done with kit like this, check out this link... Ophrys Photography in Kent, UK. A wonderful array of amazing & beautiful wildlife photographs. I have to admit that I have half hinched the image of the Canon setup from their website, so I do hope they don't mind as long as I give them a plug here!? If you do have a problem with me doing this, please mail me.

I hadn't thought about this until today.....

.... who owns today? Leap year day, added to the working week without any mention by employers.

Except for the National Trust who have granted its whole full-time workforce the day off. Calling it the Great Green Leap Day, they are asking staff to use it for the environment. "We're giving them this opportunity to look at steps to green their own lives at home," explains Mike Holland of the Trust. "Anything from converting to greener energy to starting a compost heap."

Think I'll just be a bit greener, by turning off a computer or two....

A mine of useless information......

......I have been called many times.... about many things.

But I have been amazed at how little I really know about subjects that interest me, like photography. It was only when Carl Tyler made a comment about taking a photograph of the lunar eclipse & that he didn't have a fancy camera like his brother.. how he didn't understand f stop values etc that I realised I don't know them 100% either, I know how to use the equipment & what the values translate into when using the kit, but where they come from or how they are derived - no idea. Until now.....

Excellent easy to understand articles on lens apertures, focal length, lens speed and a whole host of other photography subjects can be found using these links from the Canon Professional Network Infobank website.

It's broken, one of two things should be in mind.....

..... either I should jump for joy at the thought of being freed from my continual reliance on email & Sametime (not self imposed!), or I should feel lost without it?

I think I feel more of the former.

Screen went blank today, sadly the IBM fix it squad can repair it in about a week & have kindly supplied a replacement.

I did go out for lunch in London today feeling a great release at being PC free for a couple of hours though.

Waddesdon, wine & poor weather....

Another Sunday spent visiting a National Trust property, this time Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire.

Very grey day weather wise, interesting place, will visit later in year when all the statues, gardens & grounds are looking a bit better.

Nice lunch in the main house, and yet again free entry included in National Trust membership. Interesting shop with a range of Rothschild wines.

Couldn't find corkscrew big enought for this bottle though!

I think Lacock Abbey could be next on the list of NT places to visit, it has photographic museum & the cloisters were used in the Harry Potter films, see if I can find myself a Dobby!

A brief history from Olympus to Canon.....

I've been taking photographs for 20+ years, I'm not particularly good at it, given the chance I put a camera into full auto mode & snap away. But given my interests in aviation, fully automatic\sports mode\landscape mode have suited my requirements.

I started out using some money left to me by my Grandfather to buy an Olympus OM30 kit from Dixons, it was over priced & totally shite, but I was hooked. I soon progressed into getting some after market lenses for it & then trading up to an OM2SP and I lusted after the OM4Ti, god knows why, not because the camera isn't great, it's just I would never have got any benefit from it's capabilities, they even made a gold plated OM2N! I had accessories like the Winder 2 which enabled me to waste film at a much faster rate of 2.5 frames per second and flash guns that would blind someone at 50 paces.

I then discovered that Olympus Zuiko lenses were clearly streets ahead of after market ones & set out to obtain one of these..... the Zuiko 85-250mm f5 [see above photo right]. What a revelation, the ability to zoom across such a wide range. Perfect for the work I was doing at airfields and events like the Epsom Derby.

Nowadays I use Canon kit, I think that the DSLR's they do are the best on the market. So an EOS 5D is now my main camera which gets attached to a wide variety of Canon lenses, the next of which will probably be one of these.... Canon 70-200mm f2.8 IS USM, everyone I have spoken to who has seen & used one say it's the best Canon lens in the entire range.

At last a seat worthy of my patronage....

...... I am the King of the castle!

Went to Stowe today in the lovely sunshine & took a load of photo's which I will post on my pBase gallery later.

National Trust membership may be perceived as an old fart pastime, but I have discovered that it's a wonderful gateway to lot's of nice places to visit.

Stowe Landscape Gardens in the winter sunshine being one of them, fantastic day, not a cloud in the sky, just a load of plebs with kids screaming & shouting, even they couldn't spoil my day.

I hadn't quite realised the size of the problem......

..... yes, squirrels. I hate them! They are tree rats to me (as pidgeons are flying rats to me as well!).

I had over the winter thought that the numbers were high in my garden & surrounding area, but only when I saw 5 in the same space did I decide to take drastic action by culling them.

So I started to shoot the little furry sweet looking things [not my terminology, but my neighbour thinks that way - my view is a little different - disease ridden, bird nest raping, tree bark stripping little bastards!].

So I quickly and quietly got to 5 clean kills with my Theoben .20 Rapid air rifle, but there were clearly more to be had - 12 so far! More to follow, I'll give them a couple of days to feel more comfortable moving around & see how many there are to be had before they start breeding!

THE lens......

...... I want one, but the £17,000 (yes, seventeen thousand pounds!) price tag might put me off somewhat.

Sounds impressive specification though... f2.8 throughout the full 200-500mm zoom range, comes with a dedicated 2x converter that makes it a 400-1000mm f5.6 with autofocus working all the way. Sadly it has no Image Stabilizer and it weighs a hefty 15.7Kg. I also think the way it looks is more likely to get you arrested as a terrorist than a pap or bird watcher.

Take a look at this link to get the true scale of the lens.

It happens every year....

... at the first sign of good weather, I dust off the camera & go on a wander.

Lucky enough to catch this Heron stalking something in a meadow just off the River Test in Longparish today. Also saw a Kestrel & Buzzard circling about overhead.

1/500 f11 ISO 400 with an EOS 5 and Canon 100-400mm with 1.4x extender attached.

I've seen a new lens from Sigma I quite like the idea of, but not the costs involved.... more later.

Can you guess what it is yet?

Do you think (like me) that it looks like feathers?

Spotted this morning on a cold & frosty start to the day in the rising sun...... ice on top of my car roof.

[Click on the picture for full size]

Value for money from South West Trains.....

Everyone moans about how expensive train travel is nowadays, and most of the time with very good reason. I had a different experience that has been added to this week.

I buy a weekly season ticket for my journeys to & from London, it costs a good deal of money, currently £87.50 for 7 days. I don't use it every day, but if I travel into London twice in a 7 day period (which I invariably do) it saves my employer money - yes, I am lucky enough to be able to expense my travel costs, but I still watch what I am spending. If I were to buy a ticket on a daily basis, a standard day return would cost £44.50

Add to this a journey on Friday which I undertook from Andover to Reading (via Basingstoke) for a meeting with customer in the morning, then travel into London for meeting in afternoon, then travel home with the herds at 5.50pm Friday evening - all still covered by my weekly season ticket at no extra cost - bargain!

As football stadiums go.....

.... Arsenal's Emirates Stadium is quite nice. Large scale development, good conference facilities etc... Just a bit of a bastard to get to. Waterloo, Northern Line (3 stops), Piccadilly Line (7 stops) and a 5 minute walk in the sleet & rain.

Coffee was good, food was shite. Speaker at lunchtime was brilliant - Tim Smit. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, go along, particularly if it's your third invitation.... (You will find out what I mean by this when you go!)

His irreverant tinted spectacles and ability to communicate are clear for all to see, well worth seeking out.

How many workmen......

....... does it take to change a speaker on Andover train station platform 1?

You might think the answer is 5. As in the 5 you can see in this picture [2 feet on the ladder shows workman number 5!] but I didn't photograph the 3 other pillocks stood on platform 2 watching from afar!

What a sorry state of affairs, no wonder the infrastructure provides such a shit service.

Cool plates.....

As a number plate fan & owner of what I think are some pretty nice vehicle registration plates, I saw two plates this week that made me smile and think how good they were - 81 RDY was seen on a VW Touareg in central London & WE57 HAM was on a Bentley GTC on the M3 heading northbound.

The BBC have just reported on the plate F1 which has been sold at auction for Essex County Council who had it since its first issue. It was apparently sold for a total of £440,625 to car designer Afzal Khan from Bradford, he runs the Project Khan business that does bespoke Range Rovers etc. The previous UK record for the most expensive plate was M1 which went for £331,000 in 2006 to a Cheshire businessman who bought it for his sons 6th birthday!?

The article gives some examples of who & how much has been spent on some amazing combinations such as the plate COM 1C which is owned by Jimmy Tarbuck (don't know why?), K1 NGS for which the Sultan of Brunei reportedly paid £231,000. In April 2006 a Sikh businessman paid £254,000 for the number plate 51 NGH.

All of the UK records pale into nothing when you consider that £3.5 million was paid last year at auction by Talal Ali Mohammad Khouri for single digit 5 plate in the UAE state of Abu Dhabi. This however might be trumped later in the year when the single digit 1 comes up for sale in Abu Dhabi.

UPDATE : Edited to appease local resident and ex-college class member. Respect? Remember the word "Germanic" Mr B? It's term I used at Cricklade one day in lecture with Mr Lees, you seemed to take the piss at my then superior wine knowledge. You have earn respect, if you start with a deficit, you have a longer journey...

UPDATE 28/06/08: MDB 64 is still for sale Mr B! NewReg want £8k for it.

Gate to nowhere.....

.... spotted this on way home from work today.

Seems a shame that such a nice gated entrance is now bricked up & forgotten. Logical if no longer is use, and an alternative entrance is in place, but still a bit weird.

I have plans (in my own mind) to have such a gated entrance to my house fairly soon, but with electric gates, rather than bricked up!

1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA

They're right....... it's the most depressing day of the year.

The formula is made up of the following variables....

W = Weather
D = Debt
d = Money due in January pay
T = Time since Christmas
Q = Time since failed quit attempt
M = General motivational levels
NA = The need to take action

Some, but not all apply, but nevertheless, what a grim day this is.

STOP! - Stop Tesco's Oversized Plan

As a resident of Andover I have long known about the proposed Tesco development of what was the now disused RAF Andover site, but only recently found out more detail, sounds hideous......

Tesco plans to build its largest distribution centre in Europe - you might claim this to be good news locally with perceived investment of £120m & lots of jobs. Reality is local contractors won't get the work to build or manage the development. The warehouse is highly automated, so when completed, employment opportunities will be scarce. If as is thought Tesco close two other depots in the South of England and relocate to Andover, a lot of the skilled workers such as management & drivers will migrate with the depot.

The site concerned has outline planning permission for a business park but on a much smaller scale than that being proposed by Tesco. As is usual Test Valley Borough Council Planning claim that a small business park & hotel will be built adjacent to the Tesco development, but in reality who in their right mind would build a a hotel & business park next to a traffic junction that is choked to a standstill with Tesco HGV's? The business park & hotel won't ever happen, they are just a distraction in the plan to make it sound more attractive. (Much the same tactic as when TVBC suggested building homes on Andover Golf Course & they reassured people that they made provision & plans for a Golf Course in the new housing development planned for Picket Piece - sadly TVBC were never going to fund the construction of a new course & were looking for private investment to do it - again, it was never going to happen, but TVBC could state in their plan that they had made provision for another golf course to be available for the displaced membership of Andover Golf Club).

Estimates vary massively between 1,200 (Tesco estimate) & 3,200 (campaigners estimate based on other Tesco depots) vehicle movements in every 24 hour period. There are two direct results of this massive traffic flow, the first is increased levels of road noise from the biggest HGV's on the road, the second is that the A303 will become choked with traffic desperate to overtake convoys of Tesco lorries blocking each other as HGV's do today on roads like the A34. Net result will be businesses moving away from Andover as their productivity declines & costs increase due to more time spent travelling to & from customers.

It looks like a well thought out plan when viewed in the Tesco & developers glossy brochure as seen below, but all the gloss & proposed development mean nothing, the biggest impact will be to every single driver that uses the A303 in increased journey times.

Sticking to what you know....

... and like, sometimes isn't a bad thing.

I've been a fan of Taittinger NV for 20+ years, I was first introduced to it in my college days, when I was given a bottle as a gift for working extra long hours at a now defunct arts centre near Winchester called Sutton Manor.

Taittinger was the house Champagne served to the masses at the evening classical concerts where I was lucky enough to see such artists as Andre Segovia & Yo-Yo Ma, but at the time I didn't really appreciate who they were. Krug NV was the sole choice of the estate owner and his personal guests, a certain Mr Alex Herbage who later served at the US Governments pleasure for fraud.

Don't know where Alex Herbage is now, but he employed his brother Mr Peter Herbage to run the catering on site. "Mr Peter" as he was known (so as not to confuse with brother Alex Herbage) was an absolute gent, he was a past Master of the Worshipful Company of Cooks and was hugely generous with his knowledge to all the staff he employed, he also appreciated the long hours some of us worked to get things done, hence the gift to a few of us who finished clearing up at 3am one night.

After consuming several hundred bottles of Champagne over the years, a large proportion of which have been Taittinger, I can now identify Taittinger NV in a blind tasting, with my eyes shut and hands tied behind my back just by the smell of stuff, to me it's like nectar.

I have for years been wondering about the Cuvee Prestige of the Champagne House - Comtes de Champagne, but never had the impulse to put my money into some investigation and actually buy a bottle or two at £100 each to do a tasting... until now.

Clearly I can read a label & should have known what I was in for. Blanc de blancs means made entirely from white grapes, which in this case it is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes. Taittinger NV is made from 40% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir and 30% Pinot Meunier, so a completely different wine is to be expected, but my blinkers were clearly on & I had over looked this.

My favourite wine merchant BBR reviews Comtes de Champagne as follows... "Its top Champagne is Comtes De Champagne - first produced in 1952, it is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes from 6 Grand Cru sites in the Côte de Blancs. This is finely aromatic, rich, creamy Blanc de Blancs at its best, though patience is required as the wine should not be approached for at least ten years."

Other reviews were equally impressive.... "This wonderful vintage champagne from the very good 1995 vintage scores 95/100 Parker points and the hugely impressive 1995 Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs displays ripe apple and pear scents. Broad, rich, deep, and medium to full-bodied, this dense (yet admirable balanced), powerful wine is packed with concentrated layers of white fruits, flowers, and toast. Notes of tangy green apples appear in its awesomely long finish to reinvigorate the palate. Drink now - 2012."

Great I thought, splash out on a bottle or two & give it a whirl at a special occasion or fine meal. I can only say now that having tasted it, I'm disappointed. My over riding view is that it was sharp on the palate, not particularly rich and in my mind very much over rated. I should have known, I have bought other vintage Champagne in the past & been equally disappointed.

From now on, I think I'll stick to the NV.

PS... Sutton Manor Arts Centre as it was known was previously the private home to the late Lord Rank of the film & business fame. I have fond memories of the place and a few wonderful stories.... one of which includes an alledged interlude between the butler, a certain (now departed) flambuoyant male jazz artist and a £1200 bottle of Armagnac. Needless to say, the butler got sacked and the keys to the private cellar under the house were kept well away from the staff afterwards. Sutton Manor is now a residential care home & some of the grounds now form the base for Naomi House.

A plank from the past.....

.... or to be precise an Optica Industries OA7, which started out life as the Edgley Optica EA7 but after crisis after crisis followed by a few ownership changes (Brooklands Aerospace, Lovaux, FLS etc..) things weren't going too well & they stopped production.

Such hopes had been pinned on this aircraft as a viable surveilance platform, but sadly the fatal crash of the Hampshire Police aircraft put an end to that scheme and was probably the nail in the coffin.

The last 3 remaining registered aircraft have turned up at my local airfield at Thruxton, so very unusually for me I took a photo of one, even though its a plank wing & very much against my better judgement to snap things with wings on them.

Unusual aircraft with local connections to me, as they started out life being produced at Old Sarum near Salisbury - until a suspicious fire burnt the hangar & its contents (including a number of OA7's and a civil registered Gazelle helicopter [G-SFTE]) down to the ground.

UPDATE : Looks like my anonymous commentator is right.... link. I wonder if the presence of the aircraft at Thruxton is linked?

Working for a living again....

... back on the road.

I get to go to all the nice places - even those that charge you £5.20 to get in!

Yes, I've been to Wales. Bridgend in fact to see a customer data centre, all very interesting [yawn].

I did however discover the The McArthur Glen Bridgend Designer Outlet just off J36 of the M4 motorway, I'm sure a visit there when I have more time will be on the cards & make the whole journey more bearable, retail therapy whilst on a business trip always seems to make the day go along a bit better.

New Year....

...... New cookware.

It's been time for a change for a while, but I've finally taken the plunge and replaced my pots & pans.

May not be important to everyone, but as I enjoy my cooking and spend a fair bit of time in the kitchen it's important to me.

Loads of bargains to be had at the moment, but the best place to buy I've found is Cookware Online or Bhs Home in Reading.

For once the marketing blurb is spot on.... "Tefal and I see these as the ultimate set of pots and pans, giving you control and comfort, ease of use, value for money, durability and the versatility so you can be the best in the kitchen you can possibly be" - they are also dishwasher safe (unlike the Tefal Circulon ones which end up going white!!).

So far, I'm very impressed with them.

The coolest camcorder in the world so far.....

.... from Sanyo!? I've been looking for a while for a new camcorder to replace my Sony DCR-PC5E which uses MiniDV tapes and is a bit of a pain in terms of digitising the clips.

I've arrived at the Sanyo Xacti HD1000, seems the only place that stocks it is Jessops. High Definition recorder that uses SD\SDHC cards & can record 85 minutes of full 1920x1080 HD MPEG-4 material on a single 8Gb SD card.

A stunning 38-380mm optical zoom range (35 mm equivalent), with 10x digital zoom added make it a combined equivalent of 100x zoom total.

Battery life is good, but the best bit is the way it handles, ergonomically it's just perfect, sits in the hand very comfortably. It really is easy-to-hold and easy-to-shoot with.

Loads of other features such as adjustable resolution modes, image stabilizer, in-camera editing, super fast startup at under 2 seconds, easy PC connectivity and a HDMI output built in all stack to make this a very impressive small camcorder.

Car of the future......

.... I have often wondered about what to do about my next step in the car market. I currently drive a 4.2 litre V8 audi A8 that isn't very carbon footprint or wallet friendly. I also expect these types and size of cars to be priced off the roads in the next couple of years by the Scottish interloper and his cronies, so it's days are numbered.

I've thought about getting the next generation of Smart car with an electric motor for local journeys, but then the electricity bills will spiral, so if I invest in a wind turbine and\or solar panels for my house I could be close to self sufficient in motoring terms, albeit with a hefty upfront investment. I would also have to hide a small petrol sports car away in the garage for high days & holidays!

But then today I hear of a car that runs on hot air (honest!), all I need to do now is find a wife who can power it!! No really, it's a new French (oh dear) designed small car that runs on compressed air, with a range of 200km on one charge & speeds of 110kph it sounds interesting, particularly when you also find out that one of the of worlds largest car manufacturers has bought into it - Tata Motors of India - they have a massive market to tap into and with the worlds oil reserves dwindling, could this be the small car of the future? The greens are already complaining that creating compressed air from electric compressors isn't very energy efficient or eco-friendly as most of the electricity is coal, nuclear or gas power station produced! But in my mind, it's a start.

Link to BBC News website with video of car & designer is here.

Designer shite.....

I had the misfortune of finding these in the interweb today.... As you will have seen from my previous posts, I'm into conspicuous consumption and excess, I even have a passing interest (okay, great interest) in guns, but these caught my eye as a complete load of old shite.

The sales patter...... "Philippe Starck's intention for the Flos Gun Lamp for was to create objects which remind us that our state of well being is the result of somebody else dying - contentious maybe?"

"The gun light has a body made of die cast aluminium with an injection moulded polymer overprint and gold plated finish. The diffuser or shade is matt black plasticized paper with a silk screen gold printer inner."

The reality - artist trying to cash in on tools of war made from die cast aluminium with an injection moulded polymer coating (plastic coated gold plated aluminium replica to you and me). Hurry now, they've been reduced in price! No suprise there then! And given the artists name the price tag is ludicrous - the full set will cost you £2,830.00