@ Monday, 31. Mar, 2008 – 19:54:10
Staying in monochrome mode...
There are a whole bunch of my images that I'm quite pleased with and although my 'favourites' tend to vary from day to day, this photograph is one I seem to come back to time and again.
Landscape in Black & White
Hope you might enjoy it too. 
@ Monday, 31. Mar, 2008 – 18:38:19
Just feeling the need to slide back to the era of black & white imaging... in digital mode that is... since I no longer have my own darkroom.
The Second Severn Crossing
@ Monday, 31. Mar, 2008 – 12:54:43
...has lost his trike.
The river mud on this tidal section of the River Usk is notorious; people have been known to sink up to the waist and get themselves trapped... must be a horrible way to die, waiting and watching as the river rises as high tide... 
@ Monday, 31. Mar, 2008 – 08:55:10
I had a really good sleep last night... about seven hours worth.
Of course I woke up several times, but still it's a vast improvement on my recent sleep pattern.... 
The trouble is when I sleep like that it always takes me forever to get myself together in the morning... my head aches and feels muzzy... I'm disoriented and slow... 
And joy of joys I seem to have started a head cold... so today I've got red eyes and a runny nose too... great, eh? Oh well... 
@ Monday, 31. Mar, 2008 – 07:33:08
Go on then... all together now... 1... 2... 3...
Oh balls it's Monday.... 
@ Sunday, 30. Mar, 2008 – 19:04:16
I posted an image of this little chap earlier today and thought perhaps I'd just put in context.
He looks a bit lost among all his mates doesn't he?
@ Sunday, 30. Mar, 2008 – 11:45:00
Do trees use toilets?
This little chap's obviously in dire need... he's got his legs crossed! 
@ Sunday, 30. Mar, 2008 – 11:31:32
An old boss of mine was always fond of saying, "The impossible we can do immediately; miracles take a little longer."
Which category does walking on water fall under 
Seriously, this is not trick photography... 
The chap's walking on a sandbar... you just can't see it.
@ Sunday, 30. Mar, 2008 – 10:25:50
Hello all. 
Just thought I'd say...
...I have absolutely nothing to say!
@ Saturday, 29. Mar, 2008 – 13:24:37
It occurred to me looking back over some of this morning's comments that I ought to offer an explanation about one of mine...
I said earlier that Rhossili Bay is a great favourite with hang-gliding enthusiasts and water-babies alike... but if you don't actually know Rhossili Bay, you wouldn't know why.
A picture speaks a thousand words... so I'm going to shut up now!
There we are... 'nuff said!
@ Saturday, 29. Mar, 2008 – 09:34:23
I'm often asked questions about image editing software:
Since the glorious weather I was raving about less than an hour ago has deteriorated into a dull greyness and the first spits of rain are now landing on my window, it looks as though I have some time on my hands so I thought I'd address the topic here.
Adobe Photoshop, in all its various versions.
Photoshop is a truly superb image editing package; no software gets to be the industry standard software set without being good. By virtue of the fact that everyone else is playing "catch-up," Adobe have been able to price Photoshop beyond the reach of most individuals.
Other than the cost of the package, there's little or nothing to criticise where Photoshop is concerned.
Adobe Photoshop Elements
To all intents and purposes, Elements is a cut-down version of Photoshop.
For the average user there is little you cannot do with Elements and in my eyes this is a serious contender for an image editing package at a cost of around £70.00 (discounts are available if you shop around).
Paint Shop Pro Photo X2
Paint Shop Pro seems to have been around forever. From humble beginnings this software is now part of the Corel group and is quite simply excellent. I've heard Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 referred to as a Photoshop CS lookalike; I'd argue with that in as much as PSP is more akin to Photoshop Elements and is priced accordingly. However PSP has been around in its own right for many a year and has a loyal following. Expect to pay less than £80.00 for this software.
GIMP: the GNU Image Manipulation Program
Breaking away from commercial software, GIMP is an extremely versatile graphics manipulation package and having used it myself I can vouch for how good it is.
GIMP has one real benefit though... it comes FREE!
If you visit the GIMP web you'll find tutorials, demos, FAQs and of course the downloads.
There are versions of GIMP available for Linux, Mac and Windows users; just make sure you download the appropriate version for your operating system.
There are, of course, dozens and dozens of other image and photo editing packages available to buy; I'm not about to tell you what you should or shouldn't buy, but the packages listed above are offered as a starting point for consideration.
What do I use? Photoshop is the image editing package I use most... no, not the latest version.
I also have:
For more information about the above go to:
I hope this is useful to anyone seeking image/photo editing software.
@ Saturday, 29. Mar, 2008 – 07:48:28
The sun is shining and although there's a fair breeze here this morning, it is truly glorious outside.
For the first time this year I enjoyed my morning coffee on the patio communing with the birds and talking to my fish... I know, I know... sad git!
I'm all fired up to get out with my camera though and see what I can find to interest my eye. 
I'm sorely tempted to take a jaunt out but doubt somehow I'll find the beach as deserted as I did this day...
A glorious place to walk, hand in hand along the sand...
The time is moving on so I think maybe I'd better get this week's Little Something for the Weekend posted.
@ Saturday, 29. Mar, 2008 – 05:34:22
It's still a bit dark to see what the weather's doing outside as yet, but I can't hear any wind or rain against the window pane. Fingers crossed for a dry day today.
It'll soon be April and time for home wine makers everywhere to be gathering dandelion heads...
...and after a few glasses of "piss-the-bed" wine, who's the say things won't look a little strange?
@ Friday, 28. Mar, 2008 – 15:10:11
Seems there are lots of people in Blogland suffering withdrawal symptoms today...
I'm one among many it seems...
For me it's a lack of Rusty Stuff...
Ahhhhhhh......
That feels so much better......
@ Friday, 28. Mar, 2008 – 07:30:10
The idiom time and tide wait for no man suggests that people should act without delay... have you ever wondered about the origin of such sayings?
Here are a few suggestions for the origin of the time and tide idiom:
For thogh we slepe or wake, or rome, or ryde, Ay fleeth the tyme; it nil no [will no] man abyde.
[c 1390 Chaucer]
The Tyde abydeth no man.
[c 1520 Anonymous]
Tyde nor time tarrieth no man.
[1592 Greene]
Time and tide tary on no man.
[1639 Clarke]
Let's step into the state-room, and turn in: Time and tide waits for no one.
[1767 Barton]
Come, come, master, let us get afloat. ‥Time and tide wait for no man.
[1822 Scott]
This one's obviously not an original, but it made me smile...
Time and tide wait for no man. ‘And a school bus waits for no boy.’
[2002 Washington Post]
@ Thursday, 27. Mar, 2008 – 21:10:11
Apparently mine is the most sick-making boring blog on the internet; thank you so much for letting me know your opinion Anonymous.
You see the thing is, I don't really care what you think... if you really want to let me know how you feel have the decency to tell me so and leave a valid email address so I can answer your inane rant...
On the other hand get a bloody life or simply slide up your own backside and reside with the rest of the shite!
@ Thursday, 27. Mar, 2008 – 20:31:22
...which I wasn't going to, there was also a cityscape in my dream...
I didn't have the right sort of image to illustrate the 'scape in my files though, so I thought I'd make one...
...and here it is.
@ Thursday, 27. Mar, 2008 – 19:26:00
Thought I'd do this as a new post...
The gales around the Gower coast on the morning of 1st November 1887 caused two ships, heavily laden with timber, to be stranded off Mumbles' Head. Unable to navigate the stormy seas to dock at Swansea Harbour, the struggling ships found themselves being blown down the Bristol Channel by the increasingly strong south-easterly winds. One ship luckily managed to reach the shelter of Lundy Island, but the oak-constructed barque of the Helvetia, struck the dangerous sandbank of Helwick Sands. With the next turbulent swell, the ship gained freedom from the shallow waters but was swept precariously around Worm's Head into the shallow waters of Rhossili Bay.
Click for larger version
The captain of the Helvetia dropped anchor here and was taken ashore by the coastguard. However, he refused to abandon his ship altogether, leaving the crew aboard the barque, afraid that given the chance, someone might steal her. Unfortunately, the wind refused to die down and when it changed direction suddenly, it forced the ship to drag her anchor. With nightfall rapidly approaching, the decision was finally made for the crew to abandon ship. The tortured wreck of the Helvetia was discovered the next morning, laid to rest upon the sands and surrounded by her cargo of 500 tons of wood.
During the following weeks the timber was systematically collected from the beach and gathered for auction sale, where South Wales timber merchants purchased the cargo at a bargain price. Arrangements were made for the timber to be taken by ship during the summer months. It was during this phase of the wood clearance operation that the sea brought a second disaster to the area.
The steamboat Cambria, from Llanelli, and a small Mumbles sailing vessel, having loaded the Helvetia’s timber from the bay, were both caught short by the tide. The captain of the sailing vessel carried his anchor out to low water to assist in leaving the bay later, but the propeller driven Cambrian needed to wait for high tide.
As the tide came in, the wind picked up pace causing the waves to intensify and swell. As the Cambria started to float with the rising water, it unfortunately turned sideways onto the strengthening waves, and looked as if it would surely be wrecked. However, with the help from the coastguard, the ship was stabilized and the crew managed to sail away safely later the same day. The ship's anchor had been left behind, however, and so some local men were hired to carry the anchor over the sands at low water, to the nearby area of the bay known as Kitchen Corner. There they attached a buoy to the anchor, making it ready for collection when the ship returned later.
When the ship returned to the bay several months later, the Cambria’s master sent a boat ashore with some day-tripping landlubbers. After spending the day at the Rhossili public house 'The Ship Inn', these men finally recovered the anchor. Unfortunately, the weight of the anchor, accompanied by the weight of the six rescuers, proved too much for the boat, eventually causing it to capsize. All six men were thrown into the ocean. Only one of the men made it to the shore alive.
The wreck of the Helvetia itself was sold cheaply to a local man, but before he had a chance to strip the precious copper keel from the vessel, she had started to settle in the sand. Nevertheless, he made good salvage of the ship's deckboards by flooring his kitchen with its wood.
Rhossili was not a stranger to profit from shipwrecks, previous centuries had witnessed the violence of the Rhossili Wreckers - who lured in unsuspecting ships caught in troubled seas to be smashed against the rocks, in order to acquire their cargo. Such purposeful wrecking confined to the past, the locals would still always make good use of the wreckwood from the beaches, and nearly all of the surviving old farm buildings down the far end of the peninsula are constructed from such reclamation.
The ocean-stripped oak carcass of the Helvetia shipwreck is today an easily recognised landmark of Rhossili and must be one of the most photographed of objects on the Gower peninsula as a whole.
@ Thursday, 27. Mar, 2008 – 17:53:40
The sessions I've been having with my therapist seem to be doing me some good, but oh boy do they leave me feeling shattered... the stuff running around in my head wouldn't let go last night so I didn't sleep much... then I crawled back between the sheets around 9:30am and I'm just up and about and trying to make sense of the rest of the day... my head aches and I'm not sure whether that's from too much sleep or because I'm just befuddled and probably a bit dehydrated.
I dreamed about some weird stuff while I was sleeping, which I won't go into here, but part of the dream took place on this beach and featured the wrecked ship's prow you see here.
So I've kind of had a wasted day, except for having caught up on vast amounts of sleep... so I'm sorry if anyone's wondered about my whereabouts today, I've had an unscheduled and very long lay-in...
@ Wednesday, 26. Mar, 2008 – 10:57:26
Do you recycle your waste products?
You do?
Well done you... you're helping to save the planet!
Tell me though, does your authority recycle everything you'd like them too?
And what do they do if you happen to put something in the wrong box/try to recycle something they won't take?
I hope your authority has a better attitude to incorrect items than Monmouthshire County Council...
A new neighbour had moved from an area where plastics were recycled... Monmouthshire County Council won't take plastics for recycling.
This is what the recycling guys left....
Do you think our new neighbour got the message? 
@ Wednesday, 26. Mar, 2008 – 09:10:48
If sitting in the morning sunshine is too much for you, perhaps you ought to seek out a more shady spot...
...like this one.
Best you don't doze off though... the tide's still coming in and you might get your toes wet!
@ Wednesday, 26. Mar, 2008 – 07:47:32
Take the weight off, sit a while, rest and soak up the sunshine...
Ahhhhh... that's better.
@ Tuesday, 25. Mar, 2008 – 21:12:15
Welcome to Planet Usky.... where nothing is real... but everything is true...
You can't beat a good bit of fantasy... it spices up everyone's lives... well it should spice up everyone's lives... in an ideal world...
Someone pass the suspenders please.......
@ Tuesday, 25. Mar, 2008 – 12:13:47
I spotted this growing in Roath Park, Cardiff last summer...
I've absolutely no idea what it is, but I liked it so I photographed it. The thing sort of reminded me of bromeliad, but also in some respects of an orchid, or one of the succulents... I suppose the flower-head must've been getting on for two feet tall.
Quite an amazing thing... so I thought I'd share it.
@ Tuesday, 25. Mar, 2008 – 10:15:31
When Mr. Praline (John Cleese) realises he's been sold a dud he takes it back and complains to shop owner (Michael Palin)... the shop owner does his best to persuade Mr Praline there's nothing wrong, which for me leads to one of the funniest outbursts in Python comedy:
Owner: No no! 'E's pining!
Mr. Praline: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to
