Twisted Kites

Guess it’s about time I made a blog entry. Nobody seems to be blogging lately and I suppose the lack of activity rubs off on me.

Work has been very busy, especially with the summer holidays, plus some new services and the move into Victoria Coach Station in London.

Things are going great with Nicola, we have so much in common and get along brilliantly. Someone like that is just really good for me, and vice versa I believe.

Just been away together for a few days in the Lake District, staying in Ambleside at a B&B called Lakes Lodge. The lodge was lovely, think of a hotel set in a guest house atmosphere, right in the centre of Ambleside which is a lovely little town. Plus we had a four poster bed which wasn’t expected at all.

Highlights were drives out along mountain passes, wandering around Bowness-on-Windermere, cruising on Windermere, seeing Beatrix Potter’s house, spending time in Carlisle and having a meal at the stunning Kirkstone Pass Inn.

Made the most of the drive there too, driving through Birmingham, the Wirral and Liverpool with a nice stop at Southport, then through Preston on the way up, returning through Lancaster, Manchester, Stockport and stopping at Buxton, then through Lichfield on the way back home. No point in rushing is there!

Of course, I have plenty of photos. Might even put some up here when I get chance.

I’ll try and post again soon, hope you are all well.

Have been playing around with Photoshop totally abusing some of my photos today. Here are a few…

1) Big Ben, black and white silhouette with sun rays coloured; 2) The London Eye given an inky look.

3) The Moulin Rouge in Paris, black and white with red portions added back in; 4) The Bridge of Sighs in Venice, black and white with the bridge and boats coloured.

5) Gas Street Basin in Birmingham, black and white with partial colouring.

6) Coloured water features at a black and white St Martin’s Square in Birmingham.

7) Birmingham Bullring contrasted and faux-coloured.

Colourful blue tit against a black and white backdrop.

9) Underneath the Eiffel Tower, Paris, black and white.

10) Bottom of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, black and white with blotchy effects.

These were all taken from proper photographs of mine. I’ll work on a few more sometime.

Spent one of my long-ish breaks at work last week by going into town for some fresh air. I’ll post a few pictures over a few forthcoming entries. For today’s post, a selection of pictures from when I was in St. James’ Park. I took all the pictures in this series of entries with my Nokia N73 phone’s camera, hence why the quality might not be as good as it could.

St. James’ Park is probably one of my favourite places in London. A gorgeous place, nice lake, pretty plants, plenty of wildlife, the Palace at one end and the buildings of Whitehall at the other.

1. A view from the bridge across the lake headed towards Buckingham Palace. I really love the bold colours in this picture, especially as it’s a camera phone picture:

2. And in reverse. Taken from the pathway below the Palace area, looking back towards the bridge on the lake (sorry about the stray sunbeam!):

3. Taken on the ‘north’ side, facing Whitehall, the London Eye overlooks. The ducks are sunbathing. What a life, eh:

4. A thirsty squirrel having a drink from the lake (I wouldn’t fancy drinking it!). I managed to call this squirrel right over to me afterwards, and I was almost able to stroke it’s head but it scuttled away:

5. An inquisitive duck wondering what that strange red thing (the phone) was that was hovering over it’s head:

First time in a while that I was able to spend time away from the coach station. Was also glad that my Oyster card still worked as I hadn’t used it in so long (£1.50 for the tube on Oyster, otherwise £4 in cash!).

Writing this entry shown me what a breeze it is to upload, insert and position images with Wordpress. Lovely stuff.