More ticks on the list
Posted: Wed 30 November, 2005 Filed under: 2005 Resolutions, Travel 1 Comment »A while back I wrote about the progressions in my driving since passing the test in August. Last night I checked off a couple of the things on the “still to do”.
I’ve now driven in nearly-central London (Shepherd’s Bush and Hammersmith, to be exact) and done my first stint on the M25. And no problems on either thing.
Of course, it being half eleven on a Tuesday night might have helped a bit, but all the same, they’re checked off the list now.
Bad Driving – Part Two
Posted: Mon 28 November, 2005 Filed under: Thoughts, Travel, Weirdness 4 Comments »In addition to the stuff I wrote about in the previous post, two more things…
I’ve just seen a learner driver, accompanied by her instructor, attempt to turn the wrong way – ignoring the sodding great blue and white “turn right only” sign – into the one-way system. Fortunately, the road was clear of oncoming traffic, but still, rather than stopping her and getting her to do a three-point-turn to go the right way, the instructor instead got her to carry on down the road until the first (thankfully close) turn off to the right, and go down there.
Now, maybe it’s a first lesson, maybe she hasn’t got to the three-point-turn bit, maybe he just thought it would be an element of added danger to be turning round, but Jesus H Christ, what an example to set. “Oh, you’ve gone the wrong way. Well, just carry on doing it, then turn off when you can”.
Which brings me to the second – bizarrely linked – thing. A man died in a motorway crash over the weekend (and injured three others at the same time) driving the wrong way down the M6. Apparently he’d driven 14 bloody miles the wrong way, down a motorway. Maybe he thought he was the only one driving the correct way. Maybe he was just a fuckwit. Either way, it’s a scary process.
Mancunian
Posted: Fri 18 November, 2005 Filed under: Domestic, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »Last night I booked our hotel for a weekend in Manchester before Christmas.
Herself and I had talked about doing this – and it’ll be good to go back there for a couple of days – and had speculated about whether it would be easier to drive there or take the train.
Anyway, having booked the room, which should be very nice, I looked on The TrainLine to see what the cost of train tickets would be. Two people, booking a month in advance? A minimum of £80 for the two of us, which would also put us on a rigid schedule of when we could take the trains.
Any kind of normal ticket, rather than pre-booked and rigid on train times? A minimum of £120, and more likely £190.
Frankly, stuff that – so we’re driving instead.
Driving Force
Posted: Thu 10 November, 2005 Filed under: Resolutions, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »It’s now three months since I passed the driving test – doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? (Still, at least it didn’t take me 33 years, like this woman)
In that time I’ve done a fair amount of driving, including fun stuff like motorways. I haven’t yet done the M25 at all, nor driven in Central London – there’s still plenty of stuff I haven’t done, in fact, but I’ll get round to it. For the first piece of time though, it’s been more about gaining more confidence on the road, and being comfortable with driving.
Quite honestly, driving isn’t something I enjoy. It’s something I do. Maybe I’ll grow to enjoy it, but it’s not something I love doing. My brother, on the other hand, passed his test as soon as possible, and covers about 1,500-2,000 miles per month now. He loves driving. I don’t.
But I still do it – and I’ll keep on doing so. Maybe with time I’ll get to like it. For now, though, it’s just something that I do when necessary.
A Weekend
Posted: Tue 8 November, 2005 Filed under: Animals, Travel 3 Comments »So, yes, that weekend away. What did we do?
To be honest, in some ways it can probably be summed up using the phrase “Not a great deal, really”.
Friday was mainly taken up with the drive down to Somerset – which I’m pleased to say I did the majority of. Two-ish hours of motorway fun on the M4, and then through Bristol (a minor navigational hitch which we’ve learned a lot from – primarily “Never go this route again”). Having got down to the place we were staying, Hound then got a run on the beach, which was much needed. Then some shopping for food etc., and a “Bloody hell, we’ve stopped” moment which led to complete exhaustion.
Saturday we were determined to exhaust Hound before any fireworks started. First off a quick walk round the park, then off to Lake Wimbleball for another hours-ish walk, then to Combe Sydenham, down to Dunster beach for another one, and then back to the beach at the park for another hour. So all told about four, four and a half hours of walking the Hound in order for her to be knackered. But it worked – she slept for the entire evening, and didn’t even twitch at most of the fireworks that went off. Mission accomplished.
Overnight it absolutely slashed it down, so Sunday didn’t involve much at all – a couple of walks when the weather allowed, and a relaxed day of reading papers, organising mailing lists, and similar.
And then Monday was just the drive back – now all we need is a rest after the holiday…
Photies
Posted: Tue 8 November, 2005 Filed under: Photography, Resolutions, Travel 2 Comments »Well, I’m back in the land of the living. And photos have been uploaded to my Flickr page so you can see them there. I’ll probably add more to it later, but for now that little selection will do.
As should be fairly obvious, I’m beginning to get the hang of the new camera. It’s an amazing bit of kit (and no, Andy, all the offers etc. on it don’t mean it’s a crap camera by any stretch!) that I hope will be able to keep pace with my development for a few years at least. There’s still a long way to go at the moment – and I definitely intend to sort out a macro lens early in the new year, along with (possibly) a Lensbaby, which could make for some interesting ideas and creative odds and sods.
I still find an awful lot of my inspiration comes from people like Chromasia, although there’s also a lot of other sources involved. And I’ve got a couple more shots that are going to get submitted to Amateur Photographer in the next couple of months and so on too.
So yes, photographic development (pardon the pun) is progressing, and I’m pleased with the way it’s going. I haven’t done a whole lot of photos this year, but I intend to change that in 2006 again. And I’ve *still* got to put together that portfolio…