I’ve been useless at writing recently. I’ve got lots to write about, and I’ve failed. I think generally I’ve had a few things to do in the evening when I would normally write this which have taken precedence (although I’ve been a bit useless doing most of those things, too). I’m going to try to catch up with a few things in one go here, but I’ll try to write in more detail about a couple of other things soon.
I feel bad. This month I’ve let myself down. There was a run of 4 days and have been quite a few separate days when I didn’t get a picture for my daily photo gallery, and at least one where I took a picture on a different day to the day I filed it under (although in this case the image was related to the day I labelled it as…). I must try harder.
Catch up with the gallery here: http://www.flutt.co.uk/daily-photo/
I spent a little time this evening watching the BBC News channel’s coverage of the death of Michael Jackson. As part of it they went over to Lizo Mzimba, their showbiz correspondent, who is currently at the Glastonbury Festival (I feel a little sorry for him, he’ll be up all night covering this and then have to do Glastonbury in the morning!). He spoke to a few people about it. The first was the keyboard player of one of the bands playing this year, and another two who he introduced as “music fans at the Glastonbury Festival” who were hoping to see Michael in London in the next few months. He asked these two how they heared about the news. First of all they said they heared through their mobiles, Facebook, and general word of mouth. And then one of them said “we caught on to it first over at the press tent”. [read more]
Does it strike anyone else as slightly disturbing that the current Müller Corner advert starts off with a lady singing the line “I’ve got my berry, got my cherry…”? This point is reinforced a little later in the advert by another lady repeating “I’ve got my cherries”.
I would have thought that the alternative interpretation of this phrase would have dawned on someone, either at Publicis or Müller, well before the advert made it to mainstream television!
I noticed just now while out doing my weekly shop in town that the local camera shop, Wellington Cameras, has closed leaving another empty unit in the high street. The first thing which crossed my mind was that it’s a shame that another independent camera shop has been forced to close. This one seemed to be a very traditional shop selling cameras and telescopes and things, and I would presume has been there for quite a while. Thinking about it though, I’ve never been into the place and this is what I do for a living. I can think of two other professional photographers around here and I recon they probably do the same as me — shoot in digital and buy their kit from specialist online retailers. It’s a shame to see another shop close in the high street, but I suppose I didn’t do anything to help it. I also noticed another empty unit further along the street, although I can’t remeber what that shop used to be. This is on top of the mobility shop at the top of the high street which closed a few weeks ago, and one of the travel agents on Victoria Road which moved out probably 3 or 4 months ago now.
On a (perhaps slightly) brighter note, the site of the old Woolworths store has now become a ‘99p Stores‘ shop. It’s good to see the place isn’t empty, but a bit of a shame nothing of any better quality has sprung up — while this 99p shop seems better than the other one in the town (it’s a chain for a start, so I’d guess has bigger buying power), it is the second the town has.
I bought a new computer today from the Dell Outlet. My main work computer finally gave up and exploded last night just as I was switching it off (I thought I could smell something burning for a while and it just went pop as I was shutting it down), and I’d been thinking about it for a while now, so it’s not really a great leap to buy a new one (a Dell Vostro 420 LMT since you ask).
The thing which surprised me was that in the checkout process I was asked the following: “Will the product(s) be used in connection with weapons of mass destruction, i.e. nuclear applications, missile technology, or chemical or biological weapons purposes?” Of course it won’t, and I clicked that box, but it did cross my mind to wonder what would have happened if I’d said yes. [read more]
The 2009 London Marathon took place on the 26th April and I decided I’d go for a day out with my cameras (apparently I do the same thing for fun as I do for work). It’s the second time I’ve been to the Marathon. After my pretty successful visit last year I decided I’d try to catch it in different places, so on Saturday night I sat down with a map of the route, the estimated runners times, and a bit of paper and planned my own journey for the day. [read more]
A little while ago I was asked to write something for a book being put together to be presented to a teacher who was leaving my old theatre school. I thought I would write about something I had photos of — the day before his wedding. After much procrastination I finally sat down one night and wrote this short piece. [read more]
It’s been a while since I wrote in here, and I think it’s time I updated. I’ve been trying to work out if it’s because I’ve been too busy to write, or done so little I can’t think of anything to write. I think it’s a bit of both. [read more]
I like to think I’m not one to be taken in by TV adverts. In fact I don’t generally see many adverts on TV — the majority of things I watch are on the BBC, and those things which aren’t I generally don’t sit and watch, they’re just on in the background (Sunday’s omnibus of Come Dine With Me on More4 is the background to my weekly flat cleaning efforts). So I recon there are only two reasons I’d really notice what’s being advertised — an attractive young lady, or something a little bit different. Both of these have caught my attention of late. [read more]