Words, Thoughts and Deeds

Retro kitchen delights

2010-07-06T16:35:00.001+02:00

For as long as I can remember I've had a real weakness for retro/vintage crockery. Left to my own devices and without thought or care for life essentials such as food, bills and rent, I could quite happily part with significant chunks of my budget on more vintage kitchen accessories than I could possibly ever hope to use in a lifetime.

I guess part of my love of pieces such as these is the sense of childhood nostalgia they evoke. The colours, patterns and images prevalent in pieces by Hornsea, Staffordshire,Denby, Turi Gramstad Oliver and the like are a tangible link to grandmothers china cabinets, fathers mugs, old storybooks. It is a style and form of artwork that must have imprinted on me at an early age, and that I still respond to with a feeling of lighthearted joy.
It is with no small measure on happiness that I can claim not to remember the last time I bought a 'new' item of crockery, and that my kitchen shelves are bursting with a mismatched assortment of flea market finds.
I plan to start experimenting with some of these design elements in a series of sketches/collages soon.

1. Ceramic pestle and mortar,2.Creamer,3.Pots,4.Owly tea,
5.Tea for 3,6.? 7. Hornsea mug collection, 8. Hornsea mugs ,9.?

Apologies for the couple I forgot to make note of....

Loads more amazing finds in this groups: http://www.flickr.com/groups/vintagehousewares/pool/
and this blog
http://hisforhomeblog.com/

Summer in Brighton

2010-07-05T22:36:00.006+02:00

Vintage summer

2010-07-03T16:39:00.002+02:00

In honour of the most gorgeous summer weather we've been having in the UK for the last week, here's a collection of images that give me good summer vibes. They're all examples of a vintage/ethereal type post-processing treatment that I really like, has a very nostalgic and soft summery feel about it. I've experimented a little to try and replicate the look of this with some of my own pictures, but haven't really been satisfied with many of the results so far - can't quite get the same soft pastel feel happening. Shooting in RAW on a 50mm with slight overexposure seems to be a good start

Added to my 'Vintage summer' gallery on flickr - check here for photo credits :)

owly

2010-07-01T19:48:00.000+02:00

1. Hoot
2. You and Me
3. Owl on apples
4.Owl
5. Tulips
6. Blue pattern owl
7. Owl
8. Under my wing
9. Peagreen shop

Owls. I like them

Before and after

2008-04-22T12:32:00.000+02:00

The vagaries of April...one day it's golden sunshine, a couple of days later you're ankle deep in the white stuff

Contemplating Winter

2008-04-21T15:39:00.000+02:00

English, Scottish and Icelandic

Foolish in April

2008-04-01T12:36:00.000+02:00

I'm a sucker for a cheap gimmick.
For anyone that doesn't speak a lick of French, it's a play on 'chateauneuf'
Cat On Egg

If you don't know anything about wine either, then there's nothing I can do for you really... ;)

Crazy eyes

2008-02-22T12:42:00.000+01:00

Donkeys always make such easy photography subjects. Odds on they'll wander up to the fenceline, pull a stupid face and the rest is up to you...
One of the problems with photography in England is the extreme narrowness of a lot of the rural roads. While I'm driving around with one eye on the road and the other on potential photo ops, I need a third eye to spot any potential spot where I can pull up. The size of some of the roads here can make driving a very interesting gamble...

Land of Ice and Fire

2008-02-20T15:08:00.000+01:00

Blue lagoon - Iceland.

New growing season

2008-02-10T17:42:00.000+01:00

First signs of Spring in an English Woodland

Detail

2008-01-24T16:05:00.000+01:00

Near the Tour de Hassan, Rabat Morocco

The cat in Rabat

2008-01-24T15:43:00.001+01:00

Dr Suess, Arab style

Harmony

2008-01-23T16:12:00.000+01:00

For the land where it's a great travesty
To harm a stork's nest in a pear tree,
For storks serve us all...
I am homesick, Lord!...

Cyprian Kamil Norwid

Behind bars - Rabat Zoo

2008-01-21T16:43:00.001+01:00

I recently spent three days in Rabat, Morocco to field a proposal to create a tourism/species conservation centre for Barbary lions in the Atlas mountains. The Barbary, or Atlas Lion went extinct in the wild during the early 20th century. Later it was proposed that the Sultan of Morocco's private collection would likely have specimens of this subspecies within it. In the 1970's these lions were transferred to Rabat zoo, and some later came to our park. Without proper breeding management over the decades, none of the remaining captive lions housed in zoos around the world are likely to be 100% Barbary lions on a genetic level. But it's the closest thing we have left.

Unfortunately the Moroccan authorities ultimately decided not to go ahead with the idea.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T13:08:00.000+01:00

Solstice Sun

2007-12-21T16:57:00.001+01:00

Getting used to seasonal shifts in daylight hours has been one of the hardest things to adapt to since moving to Europe. Although I spent many years in New Zealand when I was young, I lived near the equator long enough to develop a preference for daylight hours of equal length all year round. Still, being dragged comatose around the countryside by the dog early every morning means I'm still guaranteed to get a small dose of sunshine every day.

It's always summer in Provence

2007-11-11T17:07:00.000+01:00

Time to shed the heavy coats and get a welcome respite from the northern winter in southern France.

Vergeze, a small village in the South of France

The fungus among us

2007-10-06T20:19:00.000+02:00

Autumn microcosm in a northern French wood
Learning to identify edible mushrooms has been one of those things that has floated about on my personal to-do list for many years.
Still, for starters I do know which one of these was the shamen's 'shroom of choice...

Carefree

2007-08-30T20:02:00.000+02:00

According to a new government census India's tiger population has fallen drastically during the past five years, with poaching and urbanisation cited as the probable reasons for the decline.

Tigers are poached for their body parts - skins are prized for fashion and tiger bones are used for oriental medicines. India is home to 40% of the world's tigers, with 23 tiger reserves in 17 states.

Yanomama in motion

2007-08-30T19:54:00.000+02:00

The Ocelot (Felis pardalis) is a small cat from Central and South America.
The name "ocelot" comes from the Mexican Aztec word "tlalocelot" meaning field tiger.

The mysteries of the garden shed

2007-08-30T14:26:00.000+02:00

50mm lenses can make anything look interesting

Chaos and Insects

2007-08-30T13:51:00.000+02:00

If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.

E.O. Wilson

Enjoy England?

2007-08-15T20:30:00.000+02:00

Margate, not the best seaside town England has to offer.
Being an Aussie gal, I'm probably particularly fussy about beaches

All in a row

2007-08-15T20:26:00.000+02:00

In the mysterious shell grotto - ooooooh!
Margate - Kent

Botany Bay

2007-08-15T20:22:00.000+02:00

Kent that is, not Australia

Pastorale

2007-08-15T20:10:00.000+02:00

Sheep and apples in the Kent countryside, UK

Cairns birdwing butterfly

2007-08-15T09:39:00.000+02:00

Cairns birdwing butterfly, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Kuranda butterfly sanctuary, Queensland

In the jungle

2007-08-15T09:38:00.000+02:00

In the jungle, originally uploaded by Nyx.

One of my nicer self portraits...Do I look tranquil? Well I'm trying not to be eaten by mosquitos!

Wee willy wagtail

2007-08-14T18:23:00.000+02:00

Wee willy wagtail, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Millaa Millaa

2007-08-14T18:22:00.000+02:00

The unchanged Millaa Millaa cliché shot, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Queensland, Australia

Tree fern

2007-08-14T18:21:00.000+02:00

Tree fern, originally uploaded by Nyx.

50mm lens - much better with the low light conditions encoutered in the rainforest

Bushfire

2007-08-14T18:18:00.001+02:00

Bushfire, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Lethal

2007-08-14T18:18:00.000+02:00

Crocs ahoy, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Love the expression and shadows here

Road trains at sunset

2007-08-14T18:15:00.000+02:00

Road trains at sunset, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Road trains are the most common forms of goods transport in Australia. Huge trucks covering large distances every week.

Magnetic termite mounds

2007-08-14T18:14:00.000+02:00

Magnetic termite mounds, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Selling tradition

2007-08-14T18:13:00.000+02:00

Artist, originally uploaded by Nyx.

At the local Darwin beach markets, Australia

Tyger

2007-08-01T14:18:00.000+02:00

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

William Blake 1794

Canterbury

2007-07-31T12:13:00.000+02:00

Canterbury on a warm midsummers night...and day

Jousting Horse

2007-07-30T20:43:00.000+02:00

Hever Castle, Kent

The Red Knight

2007-07-30T20:34:00.000+02:00

At this moment her thoughts were interrupted by a loud shouting of `Ahoy! Ahoy! Check!' and a Knight dressed in crimson armour came galloping down upon her, brandishing a great club. Just as he reached her, the horse stopped suddenly: `You're my prisoner!' the Knight cried, as he tumbled off his horse.

Lewis Carroll

Birthday Robot

2007-07-29T19:50:00.000+02:00

Perfect gift for a 30-something woman

Bunnykins

2007-07-28T12:26:00.000+02:00

I only recently discovered that rabbits were introduced into the UK by the Romans

On safari in the english countryside

2007-07-28T12:15:00.000+02:00

Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) is a species of antelope found mainly in India, but also in parts of Pakistan and Nepal. This was taken on the safari tour circuit where I work.

14th July Fireworks

2007-07-14T14:34:00.000+02:00

Composite shot - It's hard to get a bunch of fireworks to properly fill the frame!
Bastille Day commemorates the 1790 Fete de la Federation held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on July 14 1789; the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern French nation

Wanderer returns

2007-06-28T20:24:00.000+02:00

I like how the lamp resembles the sun...or maybe the moon!

Desert Island Coral

2007-06-24T00:49:00.000+02:00

Tideline

2007-06-23T14:55:00.000+02:00

Mangrove fruit on a deserted island
Northern Territory Coastal Waters

Scuttle!

2007-06-23T14:41:00.000+02:00

Some beach biota

Forest kingfisher

2007-06-23T01:03:00.000+02:00

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark...

Crossing the Bar, Alfred Tennyson

Nabulwinjbulwinj....go on, try to pronounce it!

2007-06-22T00:54:00.000+02:00

Dangerous spirit who eats females after striking them with a yam.
Seriously, hitting chicks with a yam?

Landscape

2007-06-22T00:52:00.000+02:00

The ancient landscape of the wet-dry tropics. Ubirr - Kakadu National Park

Rock Formations

2007-06-21T23:33:00.000+02:00

I loved the look of these rocks, they almost look like sinking ships

Typically Australian

2007-06-20T23:36:00.000+02:00

Mataranka, NT Australia

Wallaby

2007-06-20T23:35:00.000+02:00

Katherine Gorge, NT Australia

Apostlebirds

2007-06-19T23:38:00.000+02:00

mean looking creatures, but funny!
They get their name from their tendency to hang out in groups of about twelve

Litoria meriana

2007-06-19T01:19:00.000+02:00

Jim Jim Falls, Kakadu - Australia

Butterfly mirror

2007-06-19T01:16:00.000+02:00

Symmetry in nature

Space Age Views

2007-06-17T23:41:00.000+02:00

A very retro set of binoculars, Darwin Australia

Waterfall

2007-06-16T23:43:00.000+02:00

everybody take a picture!

Northern Territory birdlife

2007-06-15T20:38:00.001+02:00

I lived in Northern Australia for about 12 years in total, and spent a lot of that time out in the bush, surrounded by amazing colours, diverse nature and raw beauty. I was always interested in photography, and have had a camera kicking around for as long as I can remember but like a lot of people the cost of film could be a bit offputting when you were still working it all out.
I had so much fun cramming in 13 lost years into a one month holiday, but at the same time I quite regretted that I hadn't go into photography earlier. It was amazing to see how much easier it is to photograph wild birds in Australia as compared with Europe. All of these shots used nothing more powerful than a 200mm lens and a bit of cropping.

Striated pardalote - open eucalypt woodland, Litchfield National Park

Egret at Yellow waters wetland. Kakadu National Park

White bellied sea eagle along the coastal mangroves

Sulphur crested cockatoo in a flowering woollybutt tree

Whiskered tern
Lame joke from the boat guide:
Why do you always see terns in pairs?
Because one good tern deserves another (groan)

Life's a beach

2007-06-10T10:41:00.000+02:00

Life's a beach, originally uploaded by Nyx.

I have to admit that this isn't a very original idea as far as photos go - it's pretty holiday brochure material! But it was a reason to test out my new polarizing filter on an Australian tropical beach.

Sunset

2007-06-07T13:40:00.000+02:00

Sunset 1, originally uploaded by Nyx.

A beautiful sunset but a frustrating photo when it came down to capturing the true colours. The water was a very vibrant turquoise, and the sky a very vivid pink - it seemed that I could either capture the water colours or the sky, but not both...

To the beach

2007-06-07T13:31:00.000+02:00

Genius, originally uploaded by Nyx.

I've been to the mindil beach markets so many dozens of times, but on this one occasion I visited as a real 'tourist' and snapped the things I must have walked by without noticing so often before.

Sunset and palms

2007-06-07T13:24:00.000+02:00

Sunset and palms, originally uploaded by Nyx.

A typical tropical sunset

Don't drive on the grass

2007-06-06T10:56:00.000+02:00

Humourous photo of the day, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Only in Australia!
Mostly it's just a humour shot, but I also like the long shadow patterns.

green ants brigade

2007-06-06T10:54:00.000+02:00

green ants brigade, originally uploaded by Nyx.

The detail that makes this shot for me is the angry ant right in the middle

Simplicity

2007-06-05T10:53:00.000+02:00

Gratuitous desktop wallpaper image, originally uploaded by Nyx.

It's certainly a drag that nature images such as this one, however beautiful, ultimately come across a bit 'desktop wallpaper'.

ibis

2007-06-05T10:47:00.000+02:00

ibis, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Another chance to use a polarising filter - definitely comes in handy in the harsh Australian light. I am finding, however, a much larger colour variation in the photos I took with this filter on different computers. If the monitor isn't calibrated right they come out too blue, too dark, or both...

Forced macro

2007-06-05T10:44:00.000+02:00

dragonfly, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Using a non-macro lens to take a macro shot is difficult to say the least! It certainly isn't as close in as a standard macro shot, but it was a chance to test the limits of my telephoto lens in taking pictures of small objects

chasing butterflies

2007-06-01T10:38:00.000+02:00

chasing butterflies, originally uploaded by Nyx.

In its original state, this photo was pretty flat, but at the same time the blurriness seemed to really convey the flighty silliness of a little girl chasing butterflies. With the contrast levels giving highly saturated colours, the image worked much better overall and I was able to salvage what would've been a throwaway picture in its original state.

Stormy skies

2007-05-30T10:33:00.000+02:00

Calais belfry, wide view, originally uploaded by Nyx.

I've never been a really big fan of the industrial town of Calais, in Northern France. But their belfry is one of the nicest in Flanders.

I love a vodka-cranberry

2007-05-26T10:31:00.000+02:00

I love a vodka-cranberry, originally uploaded by Nyx.

Experimenting with my 50mm lens

Changes

2007-05-25T12:42:00.000+02:00

It's strange to think that a week ago I was miserably despondant about my career, my life, my general direction. I was sick of hearing myself whine incessantly to my long suffering friends and seriously doubting the likelihood of finding any work for at least the next 6 months (outside of September, optimum recruitment periods in France can sometimes seems like an eternal shifting line in the sand).

Moving to France was sort of one of those things that just happened without any prior planning on my part. Initially I didn't think too much about my career, and was more concerned with keeping my bank balance in the black than anything else. After some time temping, I started to concentrate my energies on getting something related to my qualifications and while I knew I would probably not find anything spectacular, I sort of assumed I should be able to find my place in society somewhere, somehow, eventually. After more knockbacks than I can count I changed cities and went back to temping followed by 6 months with social services I thought perhaps I would have more than proven my capabilities to work in the most French of French job roles. Not so.

In all honesty, it was with a fairly half hearted effort that I sent out a few job applications over the water. Two years in France where you're forced to appreciate whatever job you can get hasn't done wonders for my self esteem and I figured I was just a much too little fish in a much too large pond to ever be selected - here or abroad. So my jaw quite literally dropped when I got I got a job offer a half dozen applications. Right now I don't know if I was just lucky, or if things in France are even worse than I imagined. And while I'm really glad, relieved that I won't have to think 'job' or even 'career' for a while now, but there is also a part of me that is angry about the time I have sacrificed in France, jumping through hoops and trying to get a toehold anywhere.

France has a lot of things going for it, but I came to the realisation that it is not necessarily a place where, if you keep at it, and you're halfway intelligent, you WILL eventually get a break. Especially if you come from outside. The thing is, I know all this in part because this is what the French tell me about France already. Job searching assistants, temping agencies, they all sympathetically tell you how terrible it is in France that everyone is pigeon-holed. How the flow of your CV from the right uni to the right work experience placement to the right job is more important than what you as a person could bring to the job. They know their faults and lament them, but the situation remains unchanged. It would seem that, at best, as an english speaker (who hasn't had a work transfer directly from another country), you can get something in the bilingual line of work (barring having good personal connections)or teaching english - which probably suits a great deal of expats who end up settling here. I can't remember the number of times that well meaning locals suggested I switch my career choice to English teaching, and didn't really understand why I didn't follow up on this. I most commonly explained that in Australia we wouldn't ask (for example) a medical doctor who'd just emigrated from China and who spoke English correctly that all he could hope for was a job teaching Chinese. Mostly this worked better as an example because I've found that for the average French person, the notion of working in the 'environment' is kind of vague and airy and not really serious. More often than not, when people asked me about my qualifications, the standard response was 'what's an ecologist?'. I thought I was using the wrong word for quite a while before I realised that a scary number of people here genuinely don't know what an ecologist is, even though there always seems to be a trendy 'environment' story on every other news broadcast. Well anyway, if you're still reading through yet another French employment system rant, good on you. I expect it should be my last.

hippy bakers

2007-05-25T11:48:00.000+02:00

Some great 70's looking ceramic signs in front of a Lille bakery

We all scream for...

2007-05-24T21:00:00.000+02:00

We all scream for..., originally uploaded by Nyx.

A friends daughter, and my favourite girl model. Just being a kid...

Travel

2007-05-21T12:58:00.000+02:00

I finally had a job interview last week with a wildlife park in Kent as I've recently been toying with the idea that I may need to move to the UK if I want to get work in my field, anywhere near my field, 3 paddocks over from my field...

So far 2007 has been a wash out. Presidential elections in May have means that funding has dried up for most administrations as they wait and see what the new government will bring, the July-August period is generally regarded as fruitless for any long term contracts (though there may be some short term temp work on offer), and in June I'll be in Australia so I can't take up any temping jobs that cut into that month. My unemployment benefits run out sometime in August and things will start to be a bit stressful, to understate the point ever so mildly, if I'm still out of work then. The interview went well, though it involved an inordinate amount of travel and hairline precise connections as I had to get myself out into countryside Kent, and was at least less intimidating that doing in French.

It was interesting to notice the contrasts between interview techniques. French interviews are highly jobs focused - they ask you about many of the positions listed on your CV "tell us about your time at job x" , while the UK interview was highly skills focused, with practically all the questions being along the lines of "do you have any experience with doing x task?". Obviously this brings up prior work experience, but I found it gave me more scope to discuss my studies and more general competencies that can be grouped over several years and different jobs. Its a more flexible approach - some of those jobs on my CV don't bear mentioning and the fact that I got through them at all without being fired or quitting is probably more of a testament to my capabilities than the fact that I was simply employed during said period. Whether I impressed them enough to have got a job out of it is another matter. I'm pretty rusty on my interview technique as it's been a case of much too few and far between lately. It would also mean moving to southern Kent and buying a car rather speedily. The fact that I'm also not here in June plus the extra time needed to get myself settled might not bode well for me in the eyes of the interviewers - so I don't want to get my hopes up at all, and simply regard it as being a good sign that after only a few applications over the water, I already have scored an interview. It's a start.

Wild Iris

2007-05-11T15:46:00.000+02:00

I've recently joined an online photography school site that has an great series of photography tips as well as post processing techniques. I'm just starting to experiment with a different software package. This was a simple crop, addition of a vignette and the usual fine touches of contrast/exposure/saturation levels

Even my dog has a chiropractor

2007-05-11T13:06:00.000+02:00

I've never had a dog before. In fact, I've only very sporadically had cats and have never had the occasion to take any of them to the vet. However, being as I am a newly responsable, mature and adult dog owner (read 'wallet on legs') I have had a couple of recent visits for booster shots and the like. This last visit came with a singularly bizarre witch doctory chiropractic session where my fairly confused and generally overexcited dog (beggin the frequent question 'Is he always this hyper?') was treated to some micro manipulations from the local vet who, as far as I could tell, appeared to be casting out localised stresses with dramatic flourishes of her wrist.

So, is that normal then? Or has she hexed my dog?

Customer Dis-Service Industry

2007-05-09T13:52:00.000+02:00

Dancing girl
Originally uploaded by Nyx

In general terms for Australians, the customer service industry encompasses any and all sectors of commerce where you're being inadequately served by a halfwit that's only doing the job to pay the rent/ their pot habit/ their car/ their trip around the world. Yet amazingly enough - in France, a country where these types of jobs are frequently regarded as career jobs - the service is even worse. I used to be one of those halfwits that worked these kinds of jobs while I was back at uni. I did an ok job, it wasn't very interesting but it had the advantage of flexible shifts to fit around my lectures and fed the standard female shoes/bags/clothes habit. However, despite the general indifference of the bulk of my fellow employees, there was still a basic level of service demanded from the staff.

My fellow expat friends and I have frequently been discussing the problem of the seemingly standard level of shitty service we've encountered in France. An American friend of mine summed it up perfectly while we were waiting many long minutes at a counter to be served by a non-existant employee (and half-heartedly considering raiding the till and fetching our own meals just to pass the time)

" I've become accustomed to the mediocrity"

She's doing better than me then, because I still have serious problems with it. There are two varieties in the bad sales technique dept. that I come across all too often;
1. Talkback tactics: where any complaint you might have is generally regarded as somehow being your fault
2. To stand and ignore: stand there and clear your throat all you like I'm not going to acknowledge your presence until I'm ready.

Though far from perfect themselves, in other anglo countries I've lived in or visited, the mantra of 'the customer is always right' (no matter how much of an arse they are) holds more sway. There seems to be a strange idea in France that it's not the person with the wallet that has the power but rather the commerce that has the goods. This possibly explains why - to buy my camera and pay it over several months, I was forced to buy a membership card with the shop in question and have had to pay 17% interest over the term of the purchase plan. This is about the same rate I'd expect to pay if I was overdue on my credit card repayments. In Australia, interest free terms on monthly repayment schemes are fiercely marketed and I've never had to pay to become a member when I've opted to pay over a set period. Not to say the credit issue is better in Australia, there are a lot of people who have got themselves caught in the big financial hot water soup that we call materialism. But still, you get the impression you're being taken for a big fat overpriced ride with a box of popcorn and premix coke that just cost you 10euros.

Still, the service at the restaurant where I took this photo was acceptably decent. It's the first Indian restaurant that my friends or I have come across in Lille that serves half decent Indian food. It's something of a perplexing mystery why - with a short hop, skip and jump over the channel you're suddenly swimming in great tikkas, whereas over this side of the pond they still don't know a poppadom from a naan bread. So this resaturant gets my ok:
Namaste
Boulevard Jean Baptise Lebas
Lille

By contrast, I'll take a moment to mention the Indian restaurant 'Aux Indes' in Vieux Lille which gets my two thumbs down. Terrible service, overly hyped, exorbitantly priced micro portions of nouvelle cuisine and a crazily limited amount of choices on the menu.

Changeling

2007-05-06T10:12:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately a bit underexposed, but I liked the image composition

Silly shot for the day

2007-05-03T12:05:00.000+02:00

The dog ate my sunglasses

Cat tossing

2007-05-02T09:16:00.000+02:00

During the middle ages in Europe many cats were sacrificed by being burnt, beaten or thrown to their death. It is not know whether the people in the middle ages wanted to punish the cat as disturber of the peace, renounce evil or simply continue the ritual of cat sacrifices …

During the middle ages the Grote Markt in Ypres became overcrowded on Cat Wednesday (the last day of the annual fair). The city jester would throw live cats to their death from the belfry tower. Ypres has continued custom for centuries - up until 1817. In 1938 the tradition was revived by throwing velvet cats from the tower.

Grote Markt

2007-05-02T09:11:00.000+02:00

A difficult shot due to the strong sunlight. Used a fill flash to highlight the miniature of the Grote Markt in the foreground. Ypres, Belgium

Grote Markt detail

2007-05-02T09:08:00.000+02:00

Mascarons on the Grote Markt (old cloth hall) building in Ypres, Belgium

Building detail

2007-05-02T08:52:00.000+02:00

Ypres, Belgium

2CV

2007-05-02T08:48:00.000+02:00

A colourful 2CV on the streets of Ypres, Belgium. Post-processed to creat a fake lomo look

Supermarket

2007-04-30T09:52:00.000+02:00

I got a request to do a 'stock photography' style photo from a friend for a webpage. This is also the first time I've tried the technique of slightly blurring the background to enhance a point of focus.

Brugges facades

2007-04-29T08:55:00.000+02:00

Typical Brugges scence - flemish façades and horse drawn tourists. Brugges, Belgium

Lone Bike

2007-04-29T08:54:00.000+02:00

In Belgium, like Holland, people use bicycles a lot to get around. Brugges, Northern Belgium.

Brewery

2007-04-29T08:53:00.000+02:00

Brugges, Belgium

Clog

2007-04-28T12:17:00.000+02:00

High contrast. Brugges - Belgium

Lacemaker

2007-04-28T09:00:00.000+02:00

Belgian lace is a common product of Brugges. This photo was taken in front of a lacemakers store.

John Butler

2007-04-26T15:45:00.000+02:00

From a rocking Australian band called the John Butler Trio. They played a short set at the local bookstore in Lille, France

French politicians have fake suntans

2007-04-22T15:31:00.000+02:00

There are some upcoming presidential elections round the political corner, and - as with any modern democracy- this translates to a lot of talk time. What is quite singular about the French democratic process is the sheer number of candidates that put themselves forward. The road to presidency is littered with hitch-hikers holding 'Elysée' placards. While most of them will become nothing more than roadkill (circled by media vultures - just go with me on the lonely desert road political bandwagon, vultures picking the bones of the politically dead imagery ok?) it is this system of supersaturation that resulted in Chirac winning the last lot of elections. With the vote split amongst a large number of candidates, the two candidates whose heads were peeping up a little higher from the pile of political carcasses were from the centre right (Chirac) and the far right (Le Pen).

In April we had the first round of voting for the Presidential elections.
In May it will be down to 2 candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royale

The lost art of sleeping in

2007-04-15T14:39:00.000+02:00

I protest! Ok, so I've never been someone able to sleep in to a great extent.
My mother would tell you differently but even in the halcyon days of life as a university student, unless I tried really hard I couldn't sleep much past 10.30am. This, amongst my slacker intellectual peers, was regarded with some horror. And despite what the old adage may say, the early bird does not always get the worm, more often what (s)he gets is the job of cleaning up the beer cans, bottle tops and cigarette butts. While those days of excessive post party clean ups are long gone now, and I don't regard that with any sense of nostalgia, and 10.30 is a bit late to be laying about in bed, 7.30 is still too early to be up on Sunday.

It's an unusual sleeping pattern for a period of unemployment (I've had one before, I'd hoped it'd be my first and last combined). Generally the panic and stress keeps me up until the early hours of the morning, and the depression keeps me under the covers until the mid morning. But no, here I am, up bright end early every single day. Not that its changed anything. Last week I got interviewed and subsequently knocked back for a 2 week high-school graduate level job as a data entry person for wetland biodiversity studies. Financially speaking it wouldn't have made any difference, it WAS only two weeks, and it was a hell of a difficult commute to get out there, but I was still angry. Probably because I'm looking for any excuse to be angry. Otherwise I'm just being knocked back from the usual - admin assistant, bilingual assistant. Mostly I'm just looking forward to heading back to Australia at the moment. Should give my body clock something else to think about at least...

Ardennes horse

2007-04-09T15:53:00.000+02:00

The Ardennes is one of the oldest breeds of draft horse originating from the Ardennes area in France/North Western Europe.

Fallen log

2007-04-07T15:48:00.000+02:00

Moss hanging off a fallen log in the Ardennes forest, north-eastern France

Kites in Berck Plage, Northern France

2007-04-05T14:40:00.000+02:00

21eme Rencontres Internationales de Cerf-Volant (21st International Kite Festival)

This is an annual exhibition of kites that takes place in Berck Plage, Northern France. Entrants from around the world have an opportunity to show off their spectacular kites and compete in kite flying competitions.

Ivy on Brick

2007-04-04T17:27:00.000+02:00

Easter at Meert

2007-04-04T17:11:00.000+02:00

Meert, one of the nicest gourmet dessert shops you're ever likely to find
Lille, France