Clarity

..... whilst the sun shines! Seeing as it was shaping up to be a very nice day indeed on Bank Holiday Monday (makes a change) I thought I'd get in a nice long ride in the sun. Turns out it was beautifully warm in the sun, but a brisk breeze made sure I kept going at quite a lick when I was in the shade! The wind and recent rain had scrubbed the air clean and there was a fantastic clarity and brightness in the hills.



Doesn't that look inviting?? It was twice as lovely as it looks, believe me! There were hardly any cars around, and I bowled along sometimes listening to The Mediaeval Baebes and sometimes just enjoying the sound of the wind whistling past my ears and the birdsong. Magical.

I started to get shaky and tired after a while, so before the boink took hold I turned my wheels in the direction of The Scarlett Arms (OS Map Landranger 187 · Map reference TQ 119 381) which is a very friendly (and cyclist-friendly) pub in Walliswood.



A sausage roll, J2O and a Fudge cake bar later and I was ready to wend my way home again. I took it nice and easy as the weather stayed lovely for me. I was extremely gratified to find that it seems my hill-climbing technique has improved. I managed to make the hills between Ewhurst and Cranleigh seem easy compared to a couple of be-lycra'd and expensively kitted-out young things who had to stop after each uphill looking like they were about to chuck their guts on the verge.

Maybe this old bird has some life in her yet, eh?

I love this place. Mottisfont Abbey.



I grew up not ten miles away from it and never got round to visiting. We had a fantastic afternoon here on what I am convinced was the last, perfect day of Summer. There was a strong, fresh wind, the sunlight was golden and warm but not scorching and the temperature was just perfect. It was like the Summer was bidding me farewell for another year. We spent a long time wandering beside the type of river I really love - deep, fast-flowing mature river, cold and very clear. The type of water that you get the best watercress from. Test Valley water.



The river was full of different sizes of trout. I mean a lot of trout. I think they might have been brown trout, too. They were having a lovely time - swinging through the current, basking in the sunlit calm spots near the bank and hiding in the weed. I think this river is trout-heaven.

I didn't want that day to end, it seemed so perfect. We eked every bit of relaxation and pleasure out of every hour we spent there - it was a special time. It's been a strange and special Summer, I've been ill for a lot of it, but I've spent a lot of time thinking and cuddling my sweet old mog. I've changed my future and chosen another path than the one I was on. This Summer has seemed far too short -but Autumn will bring me other reasons to be happy, and Winter will be very different now that I am so active during the day, instead of office-bound.

It was a lovely place to spend a special day.

It's the end of my first week working for my new employer, a Surrey-based charity and limited company. I've been employed as the Resource Centre Manager, which basically means that I am responsible for the upkeep and development of the building, facilities and IT provision. An excellent opportunity!

I had a trial-by-fire as we had a power cut on Monday afternoon to deal with and I've learnt so much this week. It's OK though as it seems to be filling the space that was left by my "brain-dump" that seemed to happen as soon as my redundancy package was confirmed with my previous employer. I've purged all of that unnecessary information, so there seems to be plenty of room for new! There was no handover with the previous incumbent as he may have left under a bit of a cloud, but I'm not sure about that. None of my business really anyway.

But! It does mean that I've needed to be very much a self-starter and not worry about being thrown in at the deep end. Luckily for me, that's never been a problem as long as people, whilst expecting me to hit the ground running, still expect me to take some time to learn everything that I need.

I'm reporting straight to the Chief Executive and she said she was very pleased with my first week's progress and what I proposed to work on whilst she's on leave, so I guess it's a case of so far so good!

I have a bit of an issue with my attitude that I need to work on though. I keep having to tell myself that there's nothing here that I won't be able to do. There are sides of the building maintenance work that I'm not experienced on, but they know that, I've not misrepresented myself at all. I guess I'm feeling like a bit of a "Pretender" at the moment, I mean, what am I doing as a member of the Senior Management Team??!! What makes it even more difficult is that I really like where I'm working, it's situation, the people (so far) and the job - I seem to be scared to allow myself to like it too much in case it's suddenly whipped away from me.

It's wonderful to have time in the morning - I've been drinking tea before getting ready for heaven's sake! I've been commuting for considerable distances for so many years now that I'd forgotten what it's like to leave your house and be at work twenty-five minutes later, and that's going at an unhurried pace.

I've got a big, fat confidence issue here. The problem is that if it's left unchecked, it may be a self-fulfilling prophecy as nervousness will impair my judgement, affect my ability to learn and remember, and make me seem nervous and unsure when at the moment I need to project calm and confidence.

I wish I had time this weekend to take myself off somewhere quiet and deal with this, but sadly it seems not to be. Well, they say that realising there's a problem means you're half-way to solving it don't they?

Last Saturday I fancied some fun (and fancied finding something interesting for Ian to photograph too), so we trekked down to Neil's parents' house on the banks of the Adur to indulge in the madness that is the Adur Bathtub Race.

We'd not been before and did not quite know what to expect, although we knew that flour and water bombs were definately going to make an appearance. Ian took his camera gear, and I took a light pack and my compact camera in case it got too messy to get the "big" camera out. We sat on the back merrily munching lunch whilst we watched the competitors being lowered into the river and the tide racing in. The water level really does come up quickly and by a long way, and the tide really races up that river!



These preparations were accompanied by music from the Bruder mechanical organ which was stationed just by the crane and brought a really comical and festive feel to the whole area! The baths were excellent - most of them were mounted really cleverly into frames making them seaworthy and then they were decorated in all sorts of ways - most of the rowers were in costume too. Things got really interesting when each bank was fully populated with kids armed with the flour and water bombs. They were in battle-mode!



Missiles hurtled across the river to the opposite bank and cheers erupted at any particularly accurate hits. Spectators on the bridge occasionally found themselves targetted, and flour covered the body and windscreen of any hapless driver that tried to come across the bridge - even the buses!

Obviously one of the best parts of the race was the start, where all competitors had to row the gauntlet of by now thoroughly hyped kids armed with flour bombs, water balloons, super-soakers and buckets with which to fling water. What a laugh!!



I didn't get any serious action shots of the mayhem right at the start as I was getting covered in flour. I may well stand back with a longer lens next year, but the start is so crowded that I think it would be hard to get anything. Maybe this one is just for enjoying!

When I used to live close to and work in Romsey I frequently would visit Romsey Abbey in the early morning and sit out of the way near the small chapels behind the High Altar and allow the quiet old stone to give me some measure of calm. Those who know me well will know that I am quite adamant in my opinion that any organised religions are not for me and may be surprised at my habit of visiting and spending time in old churches quite frequently.

I had a couple of hours to kill last Friday whilst waiting for my friend to get into Guildford for a shoppin' & gossip session so I thought I'd visit Guildford Cathedral seeing as I've been living in the area for six years now and have not got around to visiting! I didn't expect to like it as the outside facade does not look graceful and welcoming at all:



I'm used to seeing this huge, brick building up on the hill above Guildford though, so it didn't put me off too much. It was nice to see the building open at seven in the morning. I'm getting too used to finding such buildings locked and closed at the times that I want to visit them.

The history and materials used to build the cathedral I won't go into as the details are on the linked website. I was rocked back on my heels when I entered the building. I don't know quite what I was expecting, but it was certainly not what I saw! It is really very lovely inside. The warm tones of the stone used seem to bounce the light around to create a very comforting and calming atmosphere.



The architecture is pure traditional. I found myself impressed that these types of building skills have survived into this age of pre-fab. The stone work is beautiful. Admittedly, the whole thing has a very "new" look - there obviously is not the carved initials and dates, deep grooves and worn corners that I am used to seeing in much older stone buildings. It does not have a raw feel though, not at all. I sat and mused and let my mind wander for some time. Very nice.



I thought I'd also take a wander outside to see the view from the hill - Stag Hill apparently. It would be very impressive on a day with nicer weather. It was very blowy up on the hill and very refreshing. Not being able to walk far away from the building on the same level makes it difficult to judge it's size from the outside though.



If you're in the area and you get a chance, well worth a visit. A very interesting place.

Jan and I intended to get together during my time off and do several things - bit of cycling perhaps, visit some local sites that I've not been to before, possibly even do some camping. But my time was cut so suddenly and unexpectedly short that we made a hurried decision to visit at least one place that was new to me before I joined the nine-to-five brigade again!

Jan chose a leisurely afternoon and early evening at Tilgate Park in Crawley. The weather was perfect - warm sun, blue sky, light cool breeze. I was wondering what to expect as I have a (probably incorrect) impression of Crawley as a sprawling dormitory town (should almost be a city really) which has grown and spread without rhyme, reason or control, and has a reputation for being a bit dangerous. I was wondering what I would find! I certainly did not expect this.



We had a nice lunch (including the sharing of a truly disgraceful dessert) and then sat outside drinking in this broad sweep of grassland and specimen trees sweeping down to a blue and tranquil-looking lake. The breeze ruffled our hair and the sun shone down as we chatted about lots of things - their business and (now) hilarious ongoing battle with a complete nutcase of a customer, my new job, and anything else that occurred to us.

Neil arrived after a while, and wanted to take a turn round the lake in his canoe, so we meandered down to the lake-side. Whilst we were there and Neil was revving up by scorching up and down the lake at improbable speeds, Jan told me that, just over the other side of the trees, lay the M23 motorway!!




I would never have dreamt it. If you listened really, really hard, you could hear a vague murmuring. Those trees make incredible sound barriers. It's a shame the technique is not used everywhere - the presence of the road certainly does not blight this area.

I tried some shots of Neil doing some technical moves on the water, (he's an Olympic hopeful, you know, already Division One I believe, and very talented) but I think canoeing will be as hard to photograph as horse-jumping. Still, it's nice to try!



Many thanks Jan for taking me to such a lovely place, for such a lovely day.

Having dropped my other half in Guildford this morning at 7.15am, I had a few hours to kill as I was collecting a number of pictures that I've had framed at KD Fine Art. I bought a bottle of water and some shortbread and, with a loaded iPod and a copy of Emma, I headed to the Chapel through the lych gate. On the other side was a very old, very vocal and very friendly ginger and white cat who proceeded to ask me who I was, ask where his food-provider was, complain about the cold, and offer to accompany me up the hill if I would slow down a bit. (All in cat-lingo, of course. I mean, of course!)

So up we went, and as the Chapel was locked, I sat and listened to a number of podcasts whilst this ginger cat made free with my lap, fleece, shortbread corners and Volvic. After a while he decided he'd had enough of this and curled up nearby for a nap.



I continued to listen to various articles until the Watts Cat awoke and demanded more fuss. Partway into this, the chap turned up who unlocks the Chapel. Mog and I went to investigate. It is an amazing place. I thoroughly recommend a visit. The colours and the imagery and the sheer atmosphere are breathtaking. It's not the kind of thing that you would dream of finding a stone's throw away from the A3.



I then wandered down to where Watt's Gallery is after spending some time in the Chapel and collected my pictures. I would like to recommend KD Fine Art if you ever have any framing needs - Guy is an ace framer (he's won awards) and the knick-knack quality in their shop is very high!

All that remained was to have tea and toast and then get on with the rest of the day!

I like to photograph my food. It makes my other half raise his eyebrows and shake his head. I must admit, in all the times I've eaten out (and trust me, I've eaten out a lot over the years) I've yet to see anyone else whip out a camera and take a snap of their well-laden plate. If it is a bad habit, I lay it at the door of two people.

The first of these guilty parties is Kath who was the one, believe it or not, who inspired me to start recording the minutae of my life with a small digital camera when she visited me some years ago now. We visited Silent Pool which is just over the hills from where I live, during a nice thunderstorm that came with a lot of rain. We sat in the "boathouse" watching the rain on the perternaturally clear and blue water for some time. Kath recorded it on a tiny digital camera that had been found on a beach. Click here to view that little video in a new window. It may not seem like much, but I was enthralled at this little slice of time. To people who don't use a camera for recording anything other than their lives and the lives of their families, this is a total no-brainer. But to me, who had been taking photographs to sell or with which to win competitions or gain qualifications, it was revolutionary!

A while afterwards, I decided to stop smoking, and on the sixth month of this Ian decided to get me a Canon Powershot S60 digital camera. One of the first shots I took with it is below:



Good little camera, eh? I was impressed. But it seems to have started a trend. I'll only post a couple more as there are many, many to choose from.......



And more recently:



So, do I need help? Are there other snack-snappers out there? Would any other husbands take issue with their wives whipping out a camera and recording for posterity any particularly well-presented or delicious dish?

I'm odd. I know it.

I lived in and around the Southampton area until I was nineteen and thought I knew it extremely well. I've walked and driven and cycled over the Itchen Bridge on my way to visit people and never bothered to explore the river itself as it had an unsavoury reputation. There's a local poem, inevitably; "Go In Itchen, Come Out Scratchen'" so I'd not spent any time on (or in) it.

My mate Kath lives in a flat with her boyfriend Dave right on the bank and last weekend we went for a nice long wander along the (very) well looked after bank with some bread to feed the swans and ducks. Swans and ducks!! I was amazed.



The bank has been fantasically well developed, with a broad segregated path for cycles, skaters and pedestrians which apparently carries on all the way into Winchester. I'm going to be exploring that as soon as I can.

We looked down from the bridge and saw some enormous fish - we think they're most likely sea-trout or salmon escaped from the fishery upstream.

The weather was just perfect - I wanted to stay there for hours but unfortuntely had to start the long drive home way before I wanted to. How lucky you are Kath to live next to such a lovely river!