Entering Another Decade of My Life

I was born on this day in 1944 so enter a new decade. Here a selection from those years ending with a birthday shot 5 years ago in the Arctic - it felt almost as cold on the Bird Walk at Paxton Pits today.

Walk with Dogs on Royston Heath

Today, Phil's birthday. we met up with Ian and Peter for a walk on Royston Heath with the 4 dogs. Meredith was in her element. Isla and Bracken are totally addicted to ball chasing while Ted and Flora were much more interested in the treats that Phil had. Taken with my not very powerful camera phone.

Antigua Day 5 Olympus Tough 6 is Watertight!!

I reported in an earlier blog that I had purchased a TG6 to use on a family holiday underwater and on beaches - here it is in operation. The sea around the resort are a bit too turbulent to get clear images but Holly and I managed a few fishy shots snorkelling there. The rest are taken in the resort pools. Today is our snorkelling trip so hoping for some more underwater images though with some trepidation as it is rather windy. 

London: Farringdon Station, Smithfields and Charterhouse Square

A few more images from my nostalgia trip visiting an area of London that my parents lived in. Farringdon Station was opened in the 1860s as the terminus of the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground metro line but the present building dates from 1922. It was built together with a freight station to take livestock to a slaughterhouse to supply Smithfield Market. Smithfield was redesignated as a wholesale 'deadmeat' market in the 19th century and the Freight station was last used in the 1920s. Meat has been traded at Smithfield Market for more than 800 years, making it one of the oldest markets in London.
Charterhouse was founded as a Carthusian monastery in 1371 near a 1348 plague pit, which formed the largest mass grave in London during the Black Death. Tens of thousands of bodies were buried there (some discovered during the Crossrail excavations). It was later dissolved and the building has been an almshouse and later used by two public schools, Charterhouse and Merchant Taylors'. Now it is partially occupied by Charterhouse Square School a much smaller primary school. The square is managed by Trustees, one of whom was inspecting the Square and chatted to me on Wednesday.

Family Portraits from PreChristmas Walk and Meal

Phil and I joined Bracken the dog, Peter and Holly for their morning walk  and then we treated ourselves to lunch at The Plough in Coton (in lieu of Xmas presents as none of us really want any more possessions)

Majorca: Our Home for a Week

Matt, Ellie, Sadie, Meredith and myself are staying in this property near Pollensa. Beautiful garden and interesting though noisy surrounds - the frogs croak a lot, dogs bark and cockerels crow throughout the 24 hours! Off to the beach this morning as it is already warm.

Christmas Day in the Miles/Ranson Household

Just the thing to work off a large Christmas lunch - thanks Matt and Ellie for an excellent meal - a bit of dancing to rotating disco lights. Sue Ranson proved a star at this. This involved a lot of changes of clothes for Meredith - here in Rapunzel wedding dress. Sadie completely loses herself in dance which is great to see. I tried some strobe flash but need to find out a bit more about getting the correct balance to not light the background. Only achieved the background disco lights in one or two images at the beginning - not sure yet what I changed!! 

Final two pics of girls unwrapping pressies for the memories book!! Similarly, one of Peter and Holly that I really like.