A Pleasant Surprise

Yesterday I got a text message from our son Edward.
Hi Dad are you free tonight? I would like to take you and "GTB" for dinner,where would you like to go? "I dunno" sez I, "but I know of a very good Italian Restaurant in Woodstock that I quite fancy". "Fair enough" he said "I will give them a ring, pick you both up at 7pm."

We had an excellent meal at "La Galleria" Dishes that suited all our palettes,  Edward being a vegetarian was well catered for. Genny the superb cook that she is can be critical of much of the provender on offer in many of the surrounding establishments, on this occasion she had nothing but praise for the food, for myself I found the whole experience most satisfying.

I am not trying to critique the establishment, I can recommend it to anyone interested in giving it a go.

The main reason for this post is to point out, its those spur of the moment treats that makes us remember what great Kids we are blessed with.

Afterwards in a somnolent posture thinking Hmmm didn't do such a bad a job after all.

Just my Luck

Yesterday Sat 17th GTB and I took a trip to the River Thames visiting one of our favourite places for a picnic, ( no I am not telling where it is ) Genny chose a spot with a perfect view, on the bank in the sun. It was a bit of a distance from the car "I'll go back for the camera later I thought". "I am going to sit here and soak up some rays".

I had a good laugh watching some excitable Mallards getting annoyed by a female who on being chased off amongst great noise would fly in a circle and land near them only to start teasing again, until the guys had enough and off they went again, ah the joys of courtship!

So there I was sitting quietly at the waters edge watching the birds, the boats and the river when a swan decided to come take a look at us, it climbed out the water and waddled up to us, standing no more than a few inches away from me I could see every feather still with beads of river water on them running down his neck like drops on a window. Seated we were pretty much at eye level I have never been this close to such a beautiful creature, he decided I was no threat, not edible, no problem, then set about cropping the grass in front of me, "camera Camera CAMERA" I was screaming to myself, of course it was in the bag in the car I didn't even have my phone. A good five minutes he stayed with us until his partner swam by, he looked at me as if to say "I'll be leaving you now" then it was back to the water. As they moved to the centre of the river turning to face each other their bodies beaks and necks formed a perfect heart, another missed photo opp, turning downstream shaking a tail feather they majestically swam away. I thought "thats something I wont forget in a hurry. Wish I had my camera". Just My Luck.

Web Update

I am still working on the Web Gallery page so from time too time it could well look a mess. I was trying to work out how to make the thumbnails clickable, so far not really had a satisfactory result so for now have settled for an icon at the top right of the picture.

As a matter of interest I am putting some of the Galleries in a non flash format this means that they will be viewable on an iPhone or iPad as well as a computer. These will probably be in the Portfolio Gallery.

Thats it for now, had an interesting shoot on the quayside in Teignmouth yesterday the Gulls were having a feast of crabs caught just offshore smashing them on the rocks or in the car park to open them, fascinating.

I Bin and Gonnan Dunnit!

I have been trying for months to find away of presenting photos on this Blog. Blogger doesn't make it easy primarily because I could not understand how to use an FTP programme to upload specialised stuff. Thats now in the past I bit the bullet and registered a new Domain with a hosting service and all the bells and whistles I need.

However it's been an interesting time trying to construct the site, I despair sometime at the help given on the forums connected to these programmes, nearly all of them assume you have a good knowledge of how to write to them, there's been and still is much I would like to do but have no idea how, I am still waiting for replies from some of them.
Having said that I have learnt a huge amount and as more info come in so I can improve the look of things.

Now thats off me chest I want to thank the guy who's instructive video tutorials at Kelby training have been so easy to follow a fantastic instructor and all round good guy "RC" Concepcion. Thanks Dude

Right then what you going to see if you go take a look? Primarily its stuff I am interested in hopefully a diversity of themes and categories, An ongoing thing I am always taking pictures so I hope there will be something new to look at fairly regularly.

Click the link to the left of this post Johns Photo Gallery or http://johnlarge.me

My Top Ten iPhone Apps

My most used apps. These get used every day.

1 Skype
2 Safari
3 iPod
4 Twitter
5 Notes
6 2 across Crosswords
7 Google Maps
8 Navigon British Isles
9 Camera Genius or Gorillacam
10 AccuWeather

Here are a few more in regular use Telegraph, BBC News, BA Flights, Flight Status, National Rail, eReader and Weightbot.

How on earth did I manage before without them? Surely I must have better things to do than scrobble about on a phone?

In Memoriam

Feet of snow and freezing blooming cold, “Oh how I hate this month”.

Here we are end of February, what a stinking lousy month it has been; always was a bad one my brother and father both died around this time. Now my best friend and my cousin both passed on.

First my friend Phil a great loyal and trusted mate, we had many fine times together in the 20 odd years I new him we have been through thick and thin times always having a good laugh at the quirks and foibles of life. He had a healthy cynicism of the world which somewhat coloured his humour but he loved the Simpsons.

When I started u my Private Hire business it was Phil who called me up and asked if their was anything he could do to help “What! ‘I said ‘mate you would be more than welcome” We worked on computer programmes together drove cars all over the UK and competed to see who could wear the most outrageous of ties, I insisted that a smart dress code was the order of the day.
Soon pressure of work and family ties made it more difficult for him to spend so much time helping me, but the Loyalty and friendship was always there if I had a problem he was the first one to offer help He never let me down.

Phil would stand no nonsense from anyone I admired him so much for the way he fought to keep his two girls when things went wrong for him. His fight with bureaucracy, the establishment and anybody else who tried to take them from him, his dogged determination and shear bloody mindedness finally won through, he has had the girls for only a relatively short time but what a Fantastic job he has done.
Phil was is and always will be a wonderful Dad

Goodbye old friend.


Gordon, had recently retired from teaching he was respected and loved by his pupils,
He loved walking and photography, and was of huge support to my cousin Jane with her endeavours within the guide movement and her troop in particular.

The time I spent with him was always special, if infrequent. I remember him for his dry sense of humour and his willingness to listen.

I will never forget how nothing was to much trouble for him. His kindness to my mother, he would never let her sit alone he would make sure that he had a good conversation with her he made her feel special, she in return loved him and was so proud of the pair of them.

As was his wont on retirement he started to put something back into the community driving the Mini Bus taking older folks to their appointments etc and had started working for the National Trust.

He always seemed to be so fit, so it was an enormous shock to learn of his heart attack

RIP Gordon 2010

Winter Draws On

Loads of snow deep and crisp and even average temp -7 thaw not yet set in so walking on it is not unpleasant, sea is frozen. interestingly the city has not ground to a halt, couple of dodgy days but for example the refuse lorries were working 24/7 to clear the backlog after the Hols, I saw them twice outside the flat at 2 and 3 in the am on a Sunday no less.

Yesterday had to go out for something. There were on one road gangs of 30 or so workers breaking up the impacted snow clearing the pavements.Trams buses and trains all have kept running, snow and bad weather doesn't appear to be a big deal here. A slight inconvenience maybe, of course I can only speak of what I see in the city how things are further inland I don't know But, from scenes on the telly people just get on with it. I do know the cold has brought problems folks do freeze to death gas main do fracture the incidents of traffic accidents does increase, but then there are stupid carless drivers in UK too.

Verhovina, Chernivtsi and Home

Yesterday was a quiet one for Genny and I, we spent it exploring Verhovina, the rest of the party went skiing again. It's an interesting place nestled in the mountains, a large partially frozen river cuts through it, not so deep but very wide fast running. This is an ideal place for summer activities hikers,walkers,trekkers love the mountains and woods, Kayak and canoeist find the river challenging.
Close to Polish border this town has very close ties to that country both in dress and customs, a visit to the museum showed a rich culture going back many centuries, the exhibits give a very good feel what life must have been like, my one abiding memory was this sink hewn and hollowed from a single log, it was used for everything from bathing the newborn,to bread making,washing clothes and so forth,also to see the way a hollowed branch was used to provide accurate measure for flour or sugar, filled to level it produced 1 kg of either, scales at the time having not been invented.

The following day we travel to Chernivtsi to get the train home. A Dodgy journey some 3hours in length we departed early, slipped and slid our way out of the valley, following the river back to our destination. A good driver got us there with time to spare, so it was decided to have a guided tour. An interesting very old town, we visited the usual churches and squares but then arrived at the university. This building was over 300 years old having been designed by an Italian architect. The area had been for a long time under Austrian rule, so the building was very influenced by them, in fact a brick factory was set up to produce the finest brickwork and tiles, the best craftsmen were employed in its construction.
For the next 250 years it was without parallel, that ended with the retreat of the Germans in the war who set fire to the library, some of the most beautiful wooden ceilings were destroyed. However the towns folk came in their hundreds to save as much of the artifices and building as they could, this they did thanks to the attention to detail in its construction the fabric withstood pretty much intact.

The bishop had removed a lot of the fine art before the war and managed to get it to America with the promise to return it when it was safe. This he did,but by now the country was under Russian rule,the artefacts ended up in a museum in Moscow, "That's a surprise" I said to the guide "will the ever return here?" "Ah!" she said with a knowing look "we have an understanding with Russia."
Sympathetically restored where needed The building is set to be a world heritage site in the near future. I think a very good decision.

And so we returned home some 18hours on the train. No sooner were we settled than the food and drink was produced

Bukovel

So off we go again, this time to the ski slopes at Bukovel, 1hours drive away, “Very!” convenient. “Ha!” Kids have gone to the slopes, it's a decent enough day but there are snow blowers everywhere, lots of ski and snowboard runs. I do my usual thing sit and watch; Genny and I find a small cafe. As I write this we are drinking good espresso and excellent brandy, I wonder how long we can stay here before we have to order food? “Well!” We have not been worried, no odd looks, so we sit a bit more.
Sometime later we go for a mooch round,look at souvenirs, go and take in the scenery, and take a few pictures.

It’s a shame the slopes are just to inaccessible to me, I would have liked some photos of the children skiing. But I can't have everything; anyway they will have taken many themselves so we should not miss out. Poor old Tolik fell over and broke a ski,he didn't have as long as some of the others and was doing well, he says “Tomorrow is another day I can try again”; sensible lad.
4pm we are all piled into the bus,feet,face,and fingers glowing, tired and pretty happy I would say. The cameras are out and many giggles heard as photos are checked.

A long drive back,the driver puts on the film Avatar,no idea how he got hold of a copy so soon,OK so it was in Russian no matter it’s very visual therefore easy enough to follow.

A tasty dinner is soon on the table when eventually we return. Afterwards we sit around chatting drinking good coffee and vodka. “Now!”bed.

Winter Break In Verhovina

Here I am on a train bound for Chernivitsi we left Odessa on time, a 14 coach train. Phew! I am in our compartment, “Ira” has spread out a feast on the table and 2 large thermos flasks I thought coffee? But No! wine, or vodka. Always! be prepared. Soon other folk arrive we are sharing our fayre with them. Now waiting for tea boy to arrive, I am full and steadily warming up after our wait on the platform in Odessa. -3, the family determined we would not be late. Well fed and watered we have about an 18 Hour journey ahead. Great!

We arrive at the stationing in Chernivitsi, it's snowing hard, no worries; there’s the mini bus. soon be warm in hotel, “Big” mistake!. 3.5 hours later after sliding, bumping, and at breakneck speed, we debus in Verhovina, very cold and stiff, I had sat with my knees up under my chin that's how cramped it was, But hey! This is Ukraine what do you expect? Here's the thing, the scenery is stunningly beautiful, this is, the Carpathian Mountains. The Hotel? isn’t, it's a large Chalet all pine wood panels etc but well appointed and clean, I settle in for a sleep not having done much on The train. No. That’s not going to happen we are called to lunch.

Absolutely smashing, all food is locally produced and much more, the meat is raised and cured by mine host, it tastes so good. After lunch the youngsters opt for a walk, not me. I like the idea of forty winks, just an hour will do, ah! bliss!! Time for exploration and skiing tomorrow.