Fishslice photography is a new genre of art whereby objects are seen through a fishslice. The main subject is brought into sharp relief against a metallic foreground that reveals both some of the backdrop behind the camera and aspects of the photographer himself.
The fishlice itself has a semi-translucent feel to it that asks questions about its composition and by doing this makes the viewer question what he is seeing. Is it the view beyond the fishlice or something different?
The playful interchange of the twin phonetic sounds at the start of the words fishslice and photography amplifies the question and suggests a certain irreverence by the artist towards the established order.
Must be said that today is a glorious summer’s day here in the shire. I’ve dropped John off at the station for him to head South to London. He is staying with Tom for 10 days until they come to the Isle of Man.
Found out that he doesn’t after all have a young person’s railcard which is the basis of the fare I bought him so arrived early at Lincoln Central to sort the ticket out. Arrived at 10.25 am. Station doesn’t officially open until 10.30. Actually opened nearer to 10.35. Then we stood outside the locked ticket office for 5 minutes but that didn’t open so I knocked. The girl popped her head around and gestured that we should go to a window to the side. She had seen us waiting there but not bothered saying anything. Finally found out that they were unable to change the ticket and that we would have to buy a new one. Pathetic.
I thought sod that for a game of soldiers and gave John some cash to pay the guard on the train. Turns out that when I had previously changed the date of travel for John’s ticket from the following weekend after he had sorted out some work experience at Colt I had automatically upgraded it from a railcard fare. All a bit of a long winded mouthful and a kerfuffle.
This afternoon Joe is off to Charlotte’s so it will be just Anne and I. Like being in Whitby again 🙂 Then on Wednesday I am off to the Isle of Man for a week as the advanced party. The others are coming over the following Tuesday.
After dropping John off at the station I swung by the Brayford to see the VW campervans. I hadn’t realised there was something going on until last night. Was too late for us to be part of it. Didn’t have time this morning to get the van cleaned and turned around. Never mind. Got some useful pricing info – I think ours is too much to hire which would explain the lack of orders. There’s been a fair amount of interest but no bookings. Will revisit the pricing before I go to the Isle of Man. Ours is based on others but one or two were in Devon which has a bigger market I suspect.
Had an iMovie lesson off Joe before he set off. The rest of the day is a chillout. Anne called to say that Halfords thought her bike wasn’t worth repairing so that’ll be a new one then. Going to have a nice bbq just the two of us.
Nice time at Steve and Helen Dowse’s 25th wedding anniversary last night btw. Cricket going well. Pakistan are 5 tickets down on the last day with perhaps 3 hours left. We shall see…
Have started collecting images of vw T1 and T2 campervans btw – check them out and feel free to add your own if you have a different one.
Just watched the women’s 140km cycling road race – am exhausted just sat here!
Bright breezy morning here at the Whitby Holiday Park. Not a cloud in the sky. Perfect British summer holiday weather. The kettle is on. Tea will be on it’s way shortly. All is well.
I woke up very early again this morning thinking I’d left a light on but no in fact it was the sun. Should think about getting an eyeshade. On the other hand why waste the day. I did have to go out to check out a noise. Think we had a seagull on the roof. The little bugger had also been at our rubbish bag so had to retrieve some of it and return to its rightful place.
After that fell asleep again and had another hour and a half or so. That extra bit of kip is always the best innit.
Walking around the site last night came across another T2, also called Betty. She had a full width bed inside that looked very comfortable. Have decided I’m going to take a picture of every T1 and T2 I see. Might be interesting. This one was a left hand drive and in immaculate nick.
Today we are going home. We were going to have to leave relatively early in order to get John sorted for his week of work experience at Colt in London (arranged by Colt’s newest employee his sister Hannah). Now we hear he is off to Edgebaston with Joe. They will have a great time. Probably still means we will be leaving early as Anne will end up doing all the packing herself. We shall see. I wouldn’t mind swinging by to see the trains at Grosmont before we turn the van South.
The weather forecast is looking good for the next week or two which bodes well for our trip to the Isle of Man.
I must say that the fridge, about which I was somewhat sceptical, has done really well for us. We have had it plugged in to the electrical hookup. I’ve also had the 12v supply that feeds it switched off. It sits directly above the fridge and gets quite warm so not optimal when it comes to refrigeration. Might discuss that with Coops.Anyway the food is cold and I might even need to turn it down a setting or two.
One thing that has stuck in my mind this trip is that there are a lot of caravan parks around Whitby. I guess it’s brought prosperity to the town but they are a bit of a blight on the landscape.
Tonight we are off out to Steve and Helen Dowse’s 25th wedding anniversary. A good time should be had by all. Steve has been one of my camping buddies over the years. Works for Openreach. We had been expecting Joe to drop us off there, at Dunholme Village Hall, but will have to instigate plan B now that he is going to Edgebaston. Ah well. Plan B is probably a taxi.
Warming up nicely here on pitch 39. I think the sun must have risen above the caravan next door. It’s a motorhome actually but I put them almost in the same bracket – caravan with an engine.
Will be finishing off the bacon and sausage this morning. I’ve also kept some mushrooms and half a tomato and last night on our way home we bought a loaf of “Champion Yorkshire Bread” from the park shop. Tha nose.
One of the problems of getting up early and writing a diary entry, having only just written yesterday’s is that you quickly run out of things of a diary nature to say. This is the opposite problem to some days where I have had to hastily jot down a few facts and leave it at that.
Of course a diary shouldn’t just be a list of things you have done in the day. It should reflect the innermost you:) I’m probably not ready to let you have the innermost stuff yet. It may come. To some extent it could be unfair on some people living and I might bump into them. After all Samuel Pepys wrote his diaries in code for exactly this reason. He didn’t have to worry about being read by millions on tinterweb though. Neither do I actually but you never know…
I might have an unpublished version for release posthumously. This would have all the juicy stuff in it. Not sure I have the time, or the juice to do it.
Right, breakfast time…
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In the end we went on a train trip – Grosmont to Whitby (of all places). There was a 90 minute layover in Whitby. Video is a long one but shows a crew changeover on the NYMR – I was just expecting to capture the train arriving in the station but this was a bonus, if you like that sort of thing:)
Hot and sticky drive home. Aircon full on. Ie window open and arm hanging out, guvnor. 24 degrees at 5.30 in Lincoln.
Sat outside the van having breakfasted very well on bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomato and fried bread. We are walking to Robin Hood’s Bay today for a spot of lunch. 10 mile round trip along the coast.
Quite a wet night but the site has dried out nicely and today looks like being a goodun. The rain “unfortunately” meant we “had” to get a taxi back from Whitby. Wouldn’t have been a particularly pleasant walk up past the Abbey and around the coastal path especially as it was getting dark.
V nice curry at Indian Moments last night. Had only been open 2 weeks and they brought us a complimentary brandy and baileys as a digestif. No idea how they thought Anne would want the Baileys and me the brandy:) She downed hers in one almost. Found a couple of good pubs in Whitby – The Endeavour and The Black Horse. Both up there on Trip Advisor and both proper pubs as opposed to the food toting tourist establishments. That’s not to say there were no tourists there. Us for example.
Reusing some of my Coast to Coast walk kit today. Didn’t bring the kecks. Wearing shorts instead. Also my Osprey laptop bag instead of the Deuter which I thought would be overkill.
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Made it to RHB at a leisurely 2mph. 2 ½ hours. Loads of people waking the other way but nobody else seemed to be heading South. Unless we started at a different time I suppose. Lunch at the Victoria Hotel at the top of the hill. Cheese sandwich somewhat overloaded with mayonnaise but good sized portions. After a stroll down to the beach and a cup of tea and ginger cake we caught a cab back to the campsite. Opted for spending more time in Whitby rather than walking all the way back.
Now chillin before having a shower and heading out again.
It’s been generally lovely weather today except for a couple of unforecast showers. Perfect camping weather really The good visitors of the Whitby Holiday Park are all sat outside their caravans enjoying their holiday. Particularly one bloke across the way who has a cast on his foot so probably not mobile enough to walk into town to see the sights.
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Walked into Whitby. Had a bit of a pub crawl including a cocktail bar where there was no room to shake a cat. Most of the other pubs were pretty much dives. We tried booking into a few restaurants but all were fully booked. Ended up at Burgsy’s which happened to be number 1 on trip advisor. Just basic home made burgers. Bottle of shiraz cost £15 and the whole bill only came to £37. Barg.
It’s now only 19.30 and we are back at the campsite. People are just starting to go out but we are back on the countdown to bed. We’ll have to stick it out for another couple of hours really.
I have a couple of decent reds in the cupboard so they may make it easier. Most of the caravanners are congregating outside their vans. Dunno if they’ve eaten. Lots of them have dogs. Seems to be a bit of a common denominator for a caravanner. A couple just walked past and suggested it might be time to stop tapping in on the laptop and think about beertime. Honestly. As if everything revolves around beer! 🙂
It’s funny how people change when they are on holiday. Someone who has turned up in a caravan leaves his home life behind and has an equal status to everyone else who has also turned up in a caravan. It’s all about the caravans and the common interest. There isn’t very much common interest between a caravanner and someone with a VW T2 bay.
The featured image is the shelving unit I bought from the BHS closing down sale. A piece of British high street history. It is now loaded with stuff from the shed. Boxes of weedkiller, a gazebo, some gardening tools. Stuff like that. I can’t be bothered to nip out and take another pic.
Today has been quite leisurely. Pottering around with the camper, printing off boarding passes for the IoM trip, tidying the bench in the garage etc. Bought a couple of plastic baskets to put in the van cupboard and changed John’s train tickets. He is now going a week early in order to do some work experience at Colt Telecom, Hannah’s impending employer. Staying with Tom which is not only v handy but also only a short tube ride away.
We are off out to see the Lincoln Mystery plays tonight. Never been before. Took a quick look to see what this one was about and discovered that it lasts 2 ½ hours. Gulp. There is an interval after an hour. We can take a judgement at that point. It’s outdoors and currently raining but I think it’s just a passing shower. The forecast is no rain. Anne went out for lunch (again 🙂 ) with some pals so it’s just the lads and I eating before we head out. Steak pie. mm.
Tomorrow Anne and I are off to Whitby in the camper so look out for lots of pics and vids. Ciao amigos.
Busy day in prospect. Potentially off to Grimsby to buy a CBE switch for the van to drive the tap. Might test the functionality with a normal light switch first. Also need a bigger plastic water container for the sink.
Also going to fit the on/off switch for the fridge. Need to be able to isolate the fridge when it isn’t in use to avoid draining the leisure battery. We are off to Whitby on Thursday so getting the last few bits and bobs sorted.
Simon the technician from Camper UK advised that he would keep the same fridge. Sticking in a new more efficient job is going to be problematic. Venting to allow sufficient air circulation isn’t going to be easy, particularly as we don’t want to cut holes in the side of the van. Simon reckoned we would get 2 or 3 days of leisure battery life when using this fridge. This is better than I was led to believe by the previous owner who figured it would only be 12 hours or so. The clue is to plug the fridge into the mains the night before leaving so that everything is cooled before using the battery.
Hannah is off to Italy today for three weeks. Al Ward is swinging by at 8.30 to take her and Sarah (Ward – her travelling companion) to the station. V exciting. It’s going to be a fantastic trip. They have done a great job organising the travel and the accommodation. Fair play.
I’ve been waking up very early. Today it was before 5am again. You wonder where the line is between just waking up early because you’ve had enough kip and insomnia. I tend to wake up earlier in the summer because of the light mornings, despite having very dark curtains. It’s not a bad time of day to be up.
Last night was a quiet night in. We all sat and watched University Challenge. It’s unusual for all 5 of us (Tom lives in London) to watch the TV together. When I was a kid watching the TV was a communal family event. Nowadays we have so many gadgets that provide the same service that folk watch it in their own space. Anne will even sit in the kitchen and watch stuff on her iPad in preference to sitting in front of the TV.
We are lucky that our house is big enough to fit a family of 6 without getting on top of each other. It’s often difficult to know if someone is even in. We need a pager. A loudspeaker system that calls family members to the phone. Could also be used to call them to the dinner table.
We do make an effort to eat together, at least for the evening meal but often for lunch if we are in. It’s v important, even though it can be a very noisy affair if everybody is at home. Can be v stressful 🙂 Last night we had falafel cooked by Hannah. Very good fair play. It’s our effort to make Mondays a meat free day. Didn’t totally work as we had a McDonalds for lunch but hey… I discovered last night that I like Harissa paste. Why haven’t I noticed this before? A mix of red chilli, garlic and tomatoes. Great stuff.
One of the things about getting up early and sitting at the computer is that the time does go very quickly. It’s all about the Third Law of The Internet. Nuff said.
It’s the start of the Olympics coming up this weekend. London 2012 was brilliant. Rio has had a lot of debate surrounding the readiness, poor state of Athletes’ Village, Russian doping and subsequent bans. One hopes that it will all go ok. It does seem that the Olympic Games are getting to be too big a commercial entity. Lots of sports trying to muscle in on the act, understandably I suppose. Big bucks.
I’ll probably watch a lot of the events. Interesting really that we will sit down and watch the Olympics but never look at most of the sports in the intervening four years. We went to London 2012 but I doubt that we would travel any distance to the games. Prices shoot up. I remember that London was quite empty. Most of the normal tourists stayed away. We did a last minute booking for the Blur gig at the Hyde Park last night celebrations and were able to get the Waldorf Hotel quite cheaply. Lots of unsold rooms.
It’s rained overnight. I need the lawn to dry out today in order to empty the shed and stick the new ex-BHS shelving unit in. Needs reassembling but that shouldn’t take too long (!!!???). The important bit is putting things back in the right place to Anne’s satisfaction 🙂 Also need to get on and progress buying the new network switch (long overdue upgrade to GigE + PoE) and maybe even nail the new CCTV spec I have had suggestions. Hikvision. Need to get the right cost/performance spec.
Great night at the Drill Hall last night with Julie Felix and Lindisfarne. Truth be told we only got back from dinner in time to see the end of Julie’s set but the audience clearly loved her. In fact I looked her up and she was really famous in the sixties and still going strong at 78 years of age. Fair play.
Anne and I had a lovely meal at Chimichanga Mexican restaurant on the Brayford. The staff were friendly and the food, whilst a chain recipe, was perfectly adequate. We were out to enjoy ourselves in any case.
Today we set off at 9ish to go and pick up John and Jo Donnerstag from the YNOT festival. Stopped en route at the Post office in the bail to post Hannah’s Student Finance forms. Had to wait as we were a little early. Turned out to be a 5 ½ hour ordeal – lots of traffic. Stopped at Maccy D’s in Chesterfield to refuel. When we arrived home Ashley rang to say he was ready to help pick up the BHD shelving unit so I hot footed it down there (Anne gave me a lift).
Miraculously we not only picked up the shelving unit but also the rear shelf of the Peugeot. I’d accidentally left ti there the other day when we had the first aborted trip to pick up the shelves. Good people at BHS. Shame they are going to be out of work.
It’s another 5am Sunday morning. When you are awake you are awake. Eyes need to clear somewhat but otherwise fine. Looks like another warm day in prospect. Anne and I are off to see Lindisfarne at the Lincoln Folk Festival at the Drill Hall. Looking forward to it. The only downside is that the beer selection at the Drill Hall is rubbish. Run by the council… We are having dinner somewhere in town which will be nice, just the two of us.
Enquiries starting to come in for the campervan through the camperbug website. None have bitten yet, other than an advanced booking for next year but one of them must do sooner rather than later. I have a couple of little wiring jobs to do this week before we head up to Whitby. Also had an enquiry for this week which would put the kybosh on the Whitby trip (for which I’ve paid in advance for the campsite) but business is business.
Was quite late to sleep last night – 11.30 ish. Anne was watching the Celebrity Masterchef Final in bed on her iPhone so I drifted off. It was a quiet Saturday night in despite there being attractions all over the place – Joe playing at the Jolly Brewer, and bands on at both the Morning Star and the West End Tap. Friday was such a long day though that the body needed a quiet night aven though it was a Saturday. The days all blur into one anyway.
Cardiff was a successful trip. We had a bbq at Sue’s following a lovely lunch at Fish at 85. Bbq’d breakfast on Saturday morning and then went to Cardiff Bay for a looksee before heading home.
Facing a busy few days. Have to go to Matlock to pick John and Joe Donnerstag up from the YNOT Festival on Monday morning and then figure how I’m going to get the shelving unit I bought back from BHS. Need a pal with a van – I have someone in mind.
Then I have to do Hannah’s student loan form, the paperwork for which still hasn’t arrived. I have printed something off but it doesn’t look like the one I sent off for Joe! The Student Finance company is a bit of a joke tbh. It’s not funny though. It’s stressful for everyone involved. I’ve found an online version but it won’t print off properly. It’s 12 different GIFs of the form!
Whilst I was trying to print the forms off the printer came up with a message saying I was running low on ink so I ordered some online from HP. Nw that is an efficient system. Printer website directed me to HP and a few clicks of a button and the ink will be on its way. Not particularly cheap but efficient and effective. Student finance could learn a lesson or two from them
Got to cram a lot in today. 9am dentist. Then it’s take the van to CamperUK to get the sink sorted and get some advice on fitting the fridge, After that it’s downtown to get a new SIM and pick Rich up and if possible go to the back door of BHS to pick up the shelving unit I bought yesterday. Hopefully I will be able to dismantle it and fit it in the estate car. May have to do that after Rich has gone.
It’s a 5am start today. Reminds me of an early morning in Greece. Although I have been trying to get some work done pretty much most of the rest of the world seems to be on holiday so not much is happening and I am almost by default also on holiday. Life is pretty relaxed anyway.
The phone arrived yesterday pretty much at the start of the 1 hour window given by DPD. Fairly stressed looking driver. I was delivery number 94. All the deliveries seemed to be within half a mile or so of our house.
The first immediately noticeable thing about the phone was the quality of the camera. It is seriously good, especially when compared with that of the Kindle Fire I have been using, which I know is no real comparison. The other thing is the speed. No more waiting for web pages to load.
Very successful pizza making session last night. Joe made the dough and we all did our own toppings and cooked the pizzas on a special stone on the bbq. Came out like a wood fired pizza. The bbq has been a result this year what with the success of the rotisserie.
John is off to the YNOT festival today, after his tennis coaching stint. He has been helping out at the Eastgate Tennis Club Summer Camp. The festival will be a real contrast with the summer camp – grunge versus clean cut. We’ve been digging out kit for him. Already looks as if he has a ton of stuff without adding in the cans of cider he will be smuggling in. Warm cider, yuk.
Got an email last night saying that my phone insurance claim had been approved and a new one would be despatched within 3 working days. This morning woke up to an email with the DPD tracking link showing that the delivery will arrive between 16.35 and 17.35. Yay. I will be whole again.
Did some work on the campervan sink but have decided to leave it to the experts – CamperUK are looking at it first thing in the morning. That’s after I’ve been to the dentist and then downtown to pick up Richard from Lonap and a shelving unit I bought from the BHS closing down sale. It’s a real result at £25 for a very solid double sided unit each with three shelves. Just so happens we need one anyway. Also bought two good solid wooden boxes at £5. You know it makes sense.
Picked up Hannah and Sarah Ward from the train station, dumped their bags in the car and went for lunch at Chimichangas on the Brayford. Sat outside in the sun on the off chance of seeing Guy Martin practising for some hydrofoil speed record. Lots of crowds there but no sign of Guy when we were there. No matter.
En route back to the car bought Joe a second hand hard drive for £4 (40GB) so that he can learn to build a linux server and finally stopped at FatFace to buy a new pair of shorts – nice red pair. Might take a pic when I have my phone back. Will need to get a new sim tomorrow. Jobs jobs jobs.
Weather is still perfect. Tomorrow afternoon is supposed to be wet but the next week is looking good.
Another great night’s kip. This is what a quiet night in does for you. Today is Tuesday. It’s just another day. It will be marked, unremarkably, by a trip or two to the tip, a visit to Coops to pay for Betty’s MoT test last week and other as yet unknown and unremarkable activities.
Most days are thus. They can’t always be whiz bang headliners really can they? It is important to cram as much in to your life as you can but it is difficult to sustain the pace. You need a rest every now and again.
Or do you? Let’s consider this. My life philosophy is to enjoy it while I can. I don’t know why I am here and on that basis might as well make the best of it. This is a personal philosophy. Others find it convenient to delegate their life direction to deity(ies). At least their after life direction. Others give it little thought. None of it really matters.
What does matter is whether you are happy. Many people in this world are unhappy. There is a lot of bad stuff going on. Many people probably can’t define their state. They are neither happy nor unhappy. These people probably have bouts of contentment. A surprise birthday party maybe or a holiday in Spain (or Greece etc).
I once put my name down for a yoga taster session. There was a notice in the men’s changing room at the gym. Figured this was part of me taking control. Eventually got a call saying I was the only person to have put their name down so instead accepted a Tai Chi taster class instead, with a load of retired housewives. Only did the one class.
It is difficult to take control over your own life. We all have commitments. We have to pay the rent or mortgage. We have to eat, socialize, wear clothes in which to socialize and so on. We get trapped into situations that are difficult to escape from. People who live in places like London pay a high cost of living. It would be cheaper to get a job outside of London and live somewhere more pleasant but they don’t like the idea of stepping off the London housing ladder and worry about job options. They find it difficult to escape. It’s also hard once a family becomes established in an area.
I’m not here to help them. I only observe. You have to do stuff yourselves.
Last night I dug out an old passport. I may have needed to tell the Chinese visa people when I last got a visa for China. It was 2001. Turns out I only need to let them know if it had been in the last 12 months but it did make me look at the passport.
The passport expired in 2005. It almost looks as if I replaced it because I had run out of pages but my current passport expires in 2025 so that mustn’t have been the case. The old one has lots of interesting stamps. 05 Oct 1999 Singapore. July 13 1996 Los Angeles USA. March 24 2000 Vancouver. March 20 1998 Taipei. 8th October 1999 Indonesia. 29 Nov 2000 Japan. 20 July 2000 Ben Gurion. To name but a few. I once lost passport in amsterdam that had New York, Moscow and Tel Aviv all on the same page, fwiw.
Whilst it was exciting to do all this travel, and there are only a few places left that I haven’t been to that might be on the bucket list, with hindsight the trips were characterised by waiting at airports and sitting on long flights in uncomfortable seats. Very little of it was done at the front of the plane. When I stopped the international travel in 2004 to work at Timico I didn’t miss it at all. The airport waits and the jet lag, which gets me quite badly, were what I remember most about the lifestyle. Sure I got to see a lot of the world but was happy to stop doing it.
Now I seem to be travelling again. Not nearly as much and in far more comfort as the trips are mostly short haul. This year I will have flown to Venice, Dublin, Luxembourg, Brussels, Barcelona twice, Copenhagen, Isle of Man, Madrid, Krakow and Shanghai. The Shanghai trip is the outlier but I figured I’d not been for many years so I’d go and it won’t be too onerous. In fact I’m really looking forward to it. Staying at the Shangri-La Hotel. Stay tuned for that one.
UK life has also been action packed. Wimbledon, Coast to Coast walk, Latitude in the campervan, Llanberis walking holiday all spring to mind. It all adds up to a certain state of existence. Good karma, if that is a phrase.
It’s time to go and make Anne a cup of tea. In a bit…
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The pool was quite full this morning with lots of people I’d not seen before. They don’t normally stay the pace. Most of them will not return. When I returned to the house the tree surgeon truck was waiting outside the house. We had been expecting them tomorrow. No matter. Better to get it done.
We are having the tree that overhangs the decking trimmed and the front hedge. It’s only after it has been done that you realise how badly it needed doing. The guy climbed to the top of the tree to sling his rope over. Missed that bit and the Kindle Fire camera isn’t really up to capturing the moment anyway.
As I write I can hear a second chainsaw in operation down the road. The tree surgeons just said to each other “that’s Eric”. “No it’s not Eric. Don’t know who it is” 🙂
The mellowest of saxophony The soul of the trumpet The romance of the plucked guitar The captivation of the slow dancing piano The birdsong of twilight The relaxation of rain The silence of the lone singer The hypnosis of the violin The irritation of leaky headphones The symbolic crash of drum The awakening
