one mans' junk

a life in my day

2007-03-16T17:27:00.000Z

I never thought that working in a mental hospital would send me round the bend but lately I feel as if I am constantly fighting an uphill battle in which I am the only one that takes my job seriously, actually giving a toss about the young people that are in our care. It seems that the modern day motto of public services is ‘if only we had more money we could do this right’ but to me it just seems like a crutch, a way of pushing the blame around and not owning up to our own short comings. A much more productive motto is the one that my father has ground into me from the day I was born, ‘if something is worth doing, then its worth doing right’ and the older I get the more I have come to understand that this is not just a motto but is, in reality, a philosophical mantra.

Working in the public service I am constantly up against a barrage of misinformation, confusing red tape procedures and a persistent lack of communication to the point where not only does the left hand not know what the right has been up to but the index finger can’t even carry on a civilized conversation with the thumb. It is of late that this combination of obstacles has really begun to frustrate me to the point of exhaustion. Each day I wake up, cycle the 20 minutes overtop of east London’s sewage and approach the brand new building in which it takes three months to fix a burnt out light bulb and six to swap a few desks around, feeling surprisingly upbeat with energy and enthusiasm for the day ahead and tasks at hand thinking that I really have an opportunity to make a difference. But by the time 3pm rolls around I inevitably feel deflated and beaten for the most part by a system that is being forced to be something that it is not, effective.

Mental ill-health is not something that most people want to talk about. The conversation is broached every now and again when we hear a news piece about a lack of funding or catch a snipit of a conversation but for the most part we never talk about mental ill-health like we talk about cancer, diabetes or AIDS. It appears that this is one of the last bastions of publicly acceptable discrimination that is practiced in almost every professional discipline and by the population at large. We see those of us with the misfortune of developing schizophrenia, OCD or bi-polar disorder as damaged goods, people that we can no longer trust as they are unpredictable and wild, not real humans but rather animals that we should be afraid of.

The last place however, that I expected to see this discrimination was within an community that is primarily responsible for supporting these very individuals during their formative years of development. Now I must admit that for the most part, professionals within the field have a true desire to assist these young people but it seems that the collective body that they form when pulled together has morphed into some Frankenstein-like creation complete with bursting pustules, bulging electrodes and appropriate bumbling monster gait that is only focused on quick fixes and band-aid solutions – surely there must be a better way of doing things.

Case in point – a young adolescent with long history of parental neglect, abandoned by their father and seen as a painful reminder of past mistakes by their mother, burdened with almost complete rejection in favour of a shiny new baby decides that they have had enough and begins the preparations to take their own life. But not having tried this before and mistakenly assuming that it is as easy as it looks in the movies fails to complete, is discovered by the neglectful parent now racked with guilt and rushed to the nearest A&E. As it is the middle of the night the duty doctor, astute in the knowledge that they are required to meet targets, makes an immediate referral to psychiatric services shunting the patient along the conveyor and hey presto the next morning we have a new face, a new story and a new challenge.

The beginning is brilliant, as beginnings usually are since we see a clear path ahead, a chance to facilitate a wonderful recovery and who knows maybe even a good case study to report. The new patient settles in well, not without a few bumps and scrapes but on the whole they get the routine and while they are not engaging particularly well with individual therapy they are slowly taking up their place in the group. Progress is made, a few relapses are experienced, coping mechanisms are discussed and a consideration of the future is begun – and this, is where the whole thing goes pear-shaped.

Endings are not the easiest things to process at the best of times, think back to leaving the security of your family for the first day of primary school or sitting with your gran on her deathbed - in general, endings suck. Now imagine how difficult it would be for someone who for the first time in their life has felt cared for and looked after and is about to give all that up for a completely uncertain future in which their own mother refuses to have them home because they feel it is just too much work to live with their unpredictable child and they are exhausted and can’t someone else just take care of them? But you say they have a group of professionals trained in providing comprehensive psychological therapy and they should be able to stitch up a decent ending nice and neat, support network in place, regular contact with professionals, secure and safe home environment – no problem, right?

Only its’ not that simple and this is where the whole index finger and thumb analogy comes into play. For this ‘ideal ending’ to happen several dozen people from a host of agencies and government bodies need to come together and construct a cohesive plan outlining procedures, timelines and expectations, which we all know is just not going to happen. So instead, a patchwork quilt of social services, housing and mental health services is stitched together using the flimsiest of threads and we all pray that the worst doesn’t happen and that we avoid burying another one of our failures.

Ending are clearly where the whole system falls apart in tatters, literally and figuratively with everyone scrambling around attempting in vain to collect the pieces and stick them back into something that resembles the original ensemble but because they have no idea what it looked like in the first place they invariably put things back incorrectly, upside-down and inside out – it’s a bit like attempting one of those 3-D puzzles but not knowing if you’re make a shed a boat or a shed, leading to something in the end full of slash marks indicating the collective indecisiveness.

Is there anything that one person can do to put this behemoth beast back on course, engendering some sort of stability in endings and facilitate smooth transitions back into community living for these extremely vulnerable young people? In short, no but then I never was a pessimist. So I suppose I’ll continue on doing my little job that is worth doing the best way that I know how and hope, however naively, that just maybe someday I’ll rub off on at least one other person along the way.

easter in italy

2006-04-24T15:08:00.000Z

this easter we had the good fortune to be able to take a trip to italy - the flight and car rental were planned way back in january and almost forgotten about but as time drew near there was some good news from scotland with a new job and then it was off to the italian countryside for a week - talk about cramming a lot into one month!

in order to get the cheapest fares we were forced to fly out of stanstead airport at 6:30 in the morning - which meant we were up well before the sunrise and actually watched it come up while we were waiting to board the plane

we landed in pisa after just less than two hours in the air and were out and through customs in record time as we were the only arrival in the tiny airport - we picked up the car, obtained some directions in broken italian/english with lots of gesturing and headed for our hotel just the other side of florence in pontassieve

as we were leaving the airport we could see the hills in the distance and my mind was racing with photo ideas, but the drive was all highway with no chances to stop which was just as well seeing as the conditions weren't the greatest - arriving at the hotel we checked in, parked the car and hopped on the train into florence (firenze in italian) for the twenty minute ride into the city - upon arriving we took off and began exploring the city, heading in the direction of the main cathedral - in the process we came across a market in the back streets selling mainly touristy crafts and trinkets

it was as we were approaching the end of the market street that i caught a glimpse of the cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore) which was built in the late 13th century and wasn't completed until the 19th with the addition of the marble facade

walking around the structure on the wide streets and then into the main square fronting it gives you a real appreciation for the detail and craftmanship that went into its creation

further wandering took us about the tiny cobbled streets and alleyways flanked with old and new buildings alike complete with shutters and all in muted tones of yellow, brown and green

furhter away from the cathedral we found the famous jewelery district on one of the many bridges crossing over the arno river - all along the river the buildings are extended out using braces to claim all the available space in this very crowded city

after a couple of days in florence which was full of american tourists we were itching for the countryside - so we were back in the car again and heading in an easterly direction towards the adriatic coast - we took the opportunity to drive cross country instead of using the major roads and were rewarded with some beautiful scenery as we ascended and descended the many hills and mountains

our destination for our first night on the road was urbino, a small mediveal hill town not far from the coast - taking a lesuirely drive we arrived in the early afternoon just in time for some good light to grab a few snaps before we got rained on later in the day

after finding the restaurant that we wanted to eat at closed (just a sign of what was yet to come) we found a good alternative but dropped 45 euros on some pasta and what turned out to be veal instead of what we thought was scallops - needless to say it was a good thing that we were planning on sleeping in the car that night, which it turned out was a little more uncomfortable and colder than we thought it would be - but at least one of us had a sleeping bag!

after the cold temperatures of the previous day and overnight the executive decision was made to head south instead of north and we pressed on for our destination of vieste in the national park amongst the promontorio del gargano mountain range which is right on the tip of the spur - after leaving the main highway the drive along the coast was spectacular passing by two large saltwater lagoons

and several abandonded dwellings on hillsides populated by olive trees and cacti

before coming to the village of peschici perched on the hillside overlooking the ocean looking like it would belong better in greece

upon arriving in vieste meaghan was eager to dip her toes in yet another ocean and due to the chilly weather and the very high winds we had the entire beach of more than 2km to ourselves

the following day we were back on the road again headed this time back inland to the west and with an extra blanket in tow that we "borrowed" from the hotel we stayed in the night before - our destination this time was sulmona which is a tiny village in the mountains and the birthplace of the poet Ovid which has been around for over 2000 years - once again we were in mountain country and passed some beautiful vistas on our way

just before we reached the village a quick detour took us off the main road onto a muddy laneway ending in an old church perched on the edge of a massive alpine meadow bordered by snow covered peaks on all sides

once in the town we attempted to find the hotel we were hoping to stay at but ended up almost getting the car stuck on a tiny back lane that was clearly built in a time before automotive transport - after some deft reversing and taking the decision to park the car and search out a bed on foot we were pleased to find the hotel italia smack in the centre of town, a beautiful building full of charm with loads of nooks and crannys

the village itself is bordered by mountains of three sides which loom rather ominously over the main square

after sulmona it was back on the road heading further west and north heading in the direction of viterbo with the hopes of a nice soak in the hot springs but upon arriving at the sight we found that it was no more than a glorified swimming pool and was bursting at the seams with italians eager for a long weekend treat - so we decided to give it a miss and found a quiet place off the main road and spent the afternoon enjoying bird calls and a spot of reading - the following day we were off to volterra - known as the first great etruscan metropolis with a grand alabaster trade - perched atop the tuscan hills

here we were able to stay at seminario di sant'andrea a hostel/religious retreat with massive hallways and frescos decorating the walls (and where meaghan was informed that the middle name she shares with the catholic saint was actually a man's name)

after spending a day poking around volterra we spent our last day in italy on the mediterrnean coast (where meaghan dipped her feet in yet another ocean) in a small town called castiglioncello where we had some great seafood, basked in the warm afternoon sun and poked around in the rock pools finding small crabs, sea slugs and tiny fish

sadly our time came to end all too soon and it was back to pisa and then onto london once again at some ungodly early hour - hope you enjoy the pictures, check here for a some more if you're interested

urban heron

2006-04-06T18:26:00.000Z

on my way to work yesterday i literaly stumbled across this grey heron on the peir side in richmond - while photographing the boats on the opposite bank he/she must have snuck up on me and ended up posing for several shots before a passing garbage truck scared him/her off - the herons are very common along the rivers and canals in the city but i have never been this close to one before and to be honest the sight made my day :)

bruges, ieper & calais

2006-03-03T16:36:00.000Z

bruges is often called "the venice of the north", having never been to venice i can't vouch for that claim but i can definitely confirm that the city is extraordinarily beautiful

the establishment of the city itself dates back to the 9th century but it really came into its own beginning in the 12th century as the cloth trade was booming in europe - over the intervening centuries the city changed hands many times falling under dutch, german and french rule during the various conflicts in the region - as the cloth trade waned in the 15th century and the canals linking bruges to the north sea silted up the city fell into decline and remained rather destitute until the tourism trade of the 20th century brought it new wealth and prosperity

various elements of medival construction still remain in the city (including cobbeled streets) and are now mixed with various modern elements with lots of little secrets in the alleyways

as with other cities in the area many people travel by bicycle and since the land is almost pool table flat its an easy way to get around the narrow streets - as long as you avoid the horse drawn carriages, which is pretty easy seeing as there are bountiful cycle lanes separate from the traffic, a far cry from the situation here in london!

tyne cot cemetery is the largest memorial/cemetery for fallen allied war soldiers in europe - the cemetery takes its name from the shape of the german concrete machinegun bunkers on the site which reminded the conquering british soldiers of the sheep cots from the tyneside region in northern england - the cemetery is the resting place for nearly 12,000 fallen soldiers and contains a memorial of almost 35,000 soldiers for which no body was ever found, many being lost to the seeping mud of the trenches or the ravages of battle

ieper (ypres as its more commonly known) being only 40 miles inland from the belgian coast, was the hub of many important trade routes consisting of roads, rivers and canals leading to the netherlands, france and to the english channel - consequently it grew into an important market place for the region - easy access to the coast meant that the the people of the city established links with the wool trade in england and around the world - during the first world war the city changed hands various times with each side bombing the occupying enemy leaving the city in ruins by the time the war ended

the ruins of the cloth hall in the centre of town as pictured above were reconstructed from the rubble by the inhabitants of the city almost to the exact specifications as before the conflict, the only difference that can be seen today is the lack of glass in some of the framed windows on the upper levels

ieper also has a remarkable cathedral (St. Martin's) just behind the cloth hall which was also rebuilt along with the rest of the city although it was at first suggested that the city remain in ruins as a memorial and a new city be built nearby

the ferry trip was a first for me and unfortunately we were too hungry to get any pictures of the dover coast on our way out spending our time scarfing a full english instead - but on the way back the calais port was well lit and we just caught the sunset setting behind this very busy port

see the rest of the pics here ... enjoy :)

richmond

2006-02-11T16:04:00.000Z

winter here in london is nothing like back home in canada - for one there is no snow and secondly the light here has this unbelievably warm quality to it - combine that with the many brown/red tones of surviving vegetation, some old stone structures, a few interesting boats and reflections on the thames and you have some great photo opportunities - earlier this week i caught the train to work arriving in richmond with plenty of time to wander around and capture a few frames - once again, i've applied a photoshop infa-red filter effect to a few just cause i like it so much ;)

experiment ...

2006-01-19T19:04:00.000Z

tried some experiments with painting light - towels over windows and mats at the bottoms of doors - and then some further mods in PS to come up with these examples, what do you see???:

obviously i am not that coordinated and the symmetry was achieved through PS by copying and mirroring pieces of the orginal composition - i must say that i was pleasantly surprised by the results which reminded me somewhat of those folded paper paintings i was so fond of as a kid - hopefully i'll be able to do some more experimenting in this vein and i'd love to add one of those mini pointing lasers to my arsenal!

a scottish christmas

2005-12-30T13:17:00.000Z

i have to admitt that the idea of spending a christmas away from family and friends at home was a bit daunting but the highlands of scotland were too tempting to pass up so plans were made way back in october for a visit - we found a great little cottage online, booked train tickets to edinburgh and a car for the remainder of the journey

the train trip was interesting as we took the overnight service from euston station which put us in edinburgh around 5:30am on the 21st - we booked super cheap tickets and so only got a seat instead of a sleeping berth but the car was almost empty and we were able to stretch out on two seats each making it relatively comfortable - once arriving in the city we hung around the station waiting for things to open up so that we could eat and then caught a taxi over to pick up the rental car - out initial views of edinburgh were somewhat limited as the sun was just coming up at 8am but the sight of the castle up in the old town perched upon a sheer rock face was more than a little impressive and we made plans to take some time on our way back through town to take a closer look

after picking up the car and getting some route advice from the attendant we took off towards inverness up over the forth river bridge and via the cairngorm mountains for our first taste of the rugged scottish landscape - we were hooked instantly as we came across views such as these:

after a quick stop in inverness for some groceries we made the final leg of the trip up to the cottage arriving just before darkness enveloped us (at 3:30pm!) the cottage itself was nestled in perfect solitude in a glen (valley between two mountain ranges) about 15km from the main road up a single-car lane so it was important to get there before dark as there was no way that we would have found it otherwise - the cottage itself was classic highland made from fieldstone and perched on the edge of the mountain overlooking the valley and the river meig below:

we spent most of our time during the week touring around exploring the local area both by car and on foot, a short walk up the valley from the cottage revealed this stunning view:

further up the glen at the end of the public road lies a rather large lake (loch beannacharain) with a private estate at its western-most end and flanking montains to the north and south - we spent an afternoon driving up the road to this spot and exploring the surrounding hills on foot spotting a few deer in the process but i wasn't able to get any useable shots of them as there was so little light :( but i did manage to get a shot across the lake towards to west:

taking a driving tour of the area one day we happened upon a wonderfully bleak and barren landscape on a plateau called "the aird" that reminded me distinctly of county donegal in ireland - a small lake was nestled amongst gently rolling hills covered in bog heather turned a beautiful shade of brown in the winter sun - we stopped here for lunch and of course a few pictures:

a short drive down the side of the mountain into the valley below revealed an entirely different view and temperature, it dropped nearly 8C! indulging my penchant for exploration we decided to take a small back road up the valley following the river (affric glass) which ended up revealing the origins of its name rather quickly:

being a mountainous area the highlands are dotted with numerous waterfalls, rivers and lakes, the first is a real interest of mine and i was able to get a couple of shots on a cloudy day of the one closest to the cottage - mind you the descent down the slippery moss covered sides of the river was rather treacherous but it was worth it as i was rewarded with a remarkable viewpoint:

on our last full day in the highlands we took off in the car again and caught this on the way out near the man made lake supplying local hydroelectric energy:

then we headed out to the black isle which is contained between two small bays on the east coast but we were thwarted by some really heavy fog and decided to head back inland again but this time towards easter ross in the north east - we drove all the way up to the end of yet another one lane road parked the car and headed out on foot towards the forest but turned around rather quickly when it was decided that it was too cold and headed for the hills instead as they were still bathed in late winter sunshine - on the way we came across a young sheepdog escaped from the garden and having a ball rounding up the sheep in the neighbouring fields, much to the embarassment of her farmer master who wasn't having much luck rounding her up:

but once we got climbing we kept ourselves warm anyway and only noticed the cold again once as the top of a rather high rise at the foot of beinn tharsuinn at 692m:

looking back towards the black isle and the coast in the distance we could see the entire valley and the heavy fog still in the distance:

sadly though the week came to an end much sooner that either of us would have liked and it was back to edinburgh and then onto london - but as we had planned we spent some time wandering around edinburgh before catching our train - the city is magnificent with the old town perched up on a rocky rise with the castle peering out over the entire city - the old town is exactly that and remains pretty much unchanged since ancient times save for the obvious modern upgrades such as electric lights and stop lights making it easy to envisage the inhabitants of late doing a good old pub crawl and then stumbling back down the narrow steep closes to their beds in the city below - at night the castle is lit up like a chistmas tree and i was eager to get a few shots in while meaghan was shopping, it was difficult though to get a good vantage point as the streets were quite busy but these give you some idea of the imposing nature of the buildings themselves:

so, now we're back in the city and although we're enjoying some more vacation time before we end up back at work i know we're both dreaming of our next visit to the highlands :)

ps. if you want to see the full book of pictures from the trip you can see them here

clapham common

2005-12-17T18:27:00.000Z

while stopped at a light on my ride home from work yesterday, i noticed a distinct orange/pink glow reflecting off the side of a building in my periphery and looked over my shoulder to catch this breathtaking sunset - since i was right next to clapham common i decided to lean the bike and grab a few shots, the only thing that i had for some f/g interest was the tree and it sort of works although it would have been nice to be able to include some more of the trunk but the lighting conditions were just not the best and i was sadly without a tripod (not something that i am willing to carry back and forth to work each day)

not that i have ever done this before but i ran the IR filter on this image and was pleasantly surprised by the results - a bit of fianl tweaking yielded this result which a slightly errie feel to it ...

clapham itself has become a mecca for the young up-and-coming in the city and is mostly filled with 20 & 30 something aussie's, kiwi's, south african's and of course the odd limey ;) the cross-roads near CC underground station are littlered with bars/pubs & clubs that naturally spill out onto the sidewalk (or footpath if you prefer) on the busy nights - my partner and i have taken a liking to the common which is a huge open green space which is almost entirely flat, so its perfect for summer football, frisbee and bbq's

this other shot was taken a few months ago on the common on a really foggy morning just as the sun was rising highlighting the trees & cyclists - i must have shot close to 20 images on this occassion but this was the only one that really worked

richmond park

2005-12-10T18:06:00.000Z

so, it seems that this is going to be a once a week thing - or at least so for now ...

richmond park is right across the road from work and has been a nice diversion from the river for lunches especially since the weather has been a little wet and cold lately - there are lots of beautiful trees to take shelter under and the fall colours have been particularly brilliant this last week

the park itself dates back to the 13th century and at its highest point there is a clear view of st. pauls cathedral through a hole in a hedge bordered by an avenue of what i think are beech trees - now for any of you that know london at all you'll know that st. pauls is almost 20km away! according to the national parks website king henry VII retreated to the park in 1625 bringing his entire court with him in order to escape the plague in london - it was king henry VII that made the decision to enclose the entire park of 2,500 acres with a continuous brick wall that still stands in some form or another today, although it has been reinforced or repaired in many areas

anyways enough history - as i said i've been having lunch there some days (funny how so many things revolve around food for me) and happened to catch a beautiful sunny day on wednesday - luckily i brought my camera along with me and was able to grab a few shots which i subjected to the IR filter and they seemed to respond pretty well :)

the autumnal face of the thames

2005-12-02T20:07:00.000Z

only one post this week ... not quite what i was hoping for but better than none i guess - the whole idea behind keeping this record is working well though as i have been taking the camera to work each day and actively searching for new photo-ops, so i guess it hasn't all been in vain ;)

a while ago i found instructions for completing Infa-Red (IR) conversions on colour images and i must say that i have been pleasantly surprised by their effectiveness, so much so that i created a dedicated action within PS and run it randomly on images just to see what they might look like

i took this shot of the thames along the footpath at the bottom of river lane near work in richmond - the river was at high tide, most of the trees were barren of leaves and the light was perfect for just a moment and luckily i had brought the camera with me, so i grabeed this shot before heading back to work for the afternoon - there is slight processing of the original with regards to saturation and levels simply because my pocket digital is somewhat lacking and also a bit of a crop to remove some of the extraneous sky and water

having improved the original to what i remember and saw in my mind's eye i decided to run that IR action and was totally blown away by the results as you can see here:

the change gives the image a somewhat errie, almost ghost-like feel to it - i'll have to remember to try this out more often, maybe in the graveyard down the lane ...

lunch by the river

2005-11-26T09:48:00.000Z

for the last few weeks i've been filling a thermos with tea at work and having my lunch down by the river, which is a great escape from the working environment - i hate endless questions about where things are and the like while i am trying to enjoy my lunch

the route down to the river takes my through this tiny little walled walkway and down river lane past more enormous estates, tiny little cottages and a farm filled with grazing cattle - on the days that it hasn't been too cold i've taken up my spot on a bench under an absolutley gigantic old maple tree which is slowly giving up its leaves to the dwindling light of autumn - from here i can see the ducks, seagulls, herons and cormorants cruising about on the water and sunning themselves by stretching out their wings while resting on the exposed rocks at low tide - i think i am even beginning to reconize some of them as they seem to be in the same spots each day

a couple of times now i've taken a bit of a walk as well and the other day i came across Ham House of which i have heard talked about numerous times but had yet to see - as with most of the houses in the area it was built in the 17th century and is totally extravagant beyond most peoples needs, to add to this it is reported to be the most haunted house in britain, or so the sign said - not feeling like paying the admission charge to take a walk around i settled for a walk around the outside of the walled garden and captured the shot above of the tree lined avenue which lies to the south or back side of the estate, which to mention is enormous as well but for the most part open for free public use - while i was walking the avenue above i was passed by numerous dog walkers, children on bikes and others most likely doing the same as me out for a lunch time stroll

brilliant autumnal sunset

2005-11-21T20:38:00.000Z

it was a long day at work today most of it spent shifting dirt and stapling chicken wire to the floor of the chicken coop in an attempt to keep out the rats, which is next to impossible being so close to the thames - anyways, as i was leaving and riding in towards richmond town centre i caught this brilliant sunset (beofre 4pm!) off to my left and simply had to stop and take a few shots, this being the best of the season

we've been having some really heavy frosts here lately and today there was a substaintial amount of fog as well, in this shot you can see some of it reappearing on the surface of the river in the distance - this morning the whole river valley to the west of richmond was shrouded in fog and all the vegetation was covered in a frosty coat, unfortunately i'm not too keen on lugging my SLR back and forth to work each day and my compact is just not that great at macro's so the frost shots will just have to wait :(

eye can see you

2005-11-19T19:35:00.000Z

last weekend involved a trip into central london, not that its that far but we never seem to make it in there anymore - by the time the weekend gets here we both seem to be happy enough to hang out at home, which usually means that i am out in the garden tackling the brambles in the hopes of hacking out space for a garden in the spring ;)

anyways, we eneded up seeing Sophie Scholl at the ICA which was impressively moving, the courage and determination shown by both her and her brother were remarkable - then it was off in search of food which included losing half a wrap to the floor at the Pret nearby before finding an italian place that actually had a cover charge! the shot above was taken from the western-most of the golden jubilee twin bridges across the thames as we made our way back home - the memorial on the building was for rememberance day and i'm assuming that the red lights on the eye were as well since i think it's normally blue - i tried taking a number of other shots from the same location with longer shutter speeds but seeing as its a suspenstion bridge the movement was leading to severly blurred images, this one was the best of the lot

my first post ...

2005-11-18T18:53:00.000Z

so, the idea is that i'll post a photo and a bit of text every couple of days with the hope that it will encourage me to use the cameras a little more ... anyways, right now i'm a gardener working on a way too posh (god i hate that word) estate in south west london (richmond to be exact) and often snap a few shots at work when i see something of interest - the last couple of mornings have been really cool here (-5C) and we have had really hard frosts which created some nice effects on these bark chips and the crab apple that happened to be nestled amongst them - needless to say my 20km+ ride has been a little chilly of late and this morning the bike even protested by refusing to shift gears, maybe i should be taking the train ...