Logs

Blean Woods is managed by coppicing; and has been for a couple of thousand years. This shot shows one of the piles of logs recently cut. There are some other shots of the piles in the Blean Woods set on Flickr.

In the nip

Kit, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Focus

Street Theatre, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Valentine's Day

A tradition now - enjoy Monday :-)

Buttermarket

Des

Rugby

Part of a set I took at Maidstone rugby club yesterday. Grief but it was cold! Maidstone, in red, were beaten by East Grinstead.

A question or two

I think Andy Gray's comments were crass and have no place in any professional working environment. I think the decision about whether to continue with his employment or not rests entirely with his employers; Sky. But what I don't understand is why these videos are being released to the press. It seems possible, but unlikely, that the snippets which have been used by the broadcast media are isolated incidents or that his behaviour has suddenly changed; Sky must have known that he was acting in an inappropriate manner but they only take action after they have released this evidence. Do they need the public opprobrium to support their decision? Have they released the footage in order to test the public to see how they, Sky, should respond? Is this a "Stars in their eyes" style sacking? I've been puzzling over that on the way home.

Loose Valley

Loose Valley, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Self portrait

WTF?

WTF?, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

I'm really struggling to understand the point. Haggis is a specific dish; it's offal and onion and oats and herbs and stuff. The distinctive ingredients are sheep's heart and lungs and liver. I recognise that the sensibilities of someone from Vegetaria or its smaller neighbour Vega mean that they won't eat such stuff and I respect their choice but a vegetarian haggis is an oxymoron - if it don't got the internals of a lamb it isn't a haggis; end of. By the way - it doesn't go the other way necessarily, something with the internals of a lamb isn't always a haggis - it might be a lamb.

The Salford Quays set

Sic transit gloria mundi

This image is one of a set I took around Salford Quays while waiting for Jemma on Sunday evening. When I was a young man at catering college Manchester Liners still sailed between Manchester and Canada and they were often suggested as a suitable employer for newly trained chefs. I didn't join them, Manchester Liners went bust and the docks fell into disuse and then disrepair - coincidence? In some ways the reason that the docks survived physically is that the river Irwell, which flows through the centre of Manchester and forms the border between the cities of Salford and Manchester, flows into the docks; the buildings might be bulldozed but the water will still need to go somewhere. 

This shot is looking west, downstream, from beside The Lowry; the Imperial War Museum is out of shot on the left. While I might have fleetingly considered a life on the ocean wave my father would have been seasick looking at this photo.

3 - 1

It's a very popular score isn't it? For those who don't know the second image is from the Stevenage Vs Newcastle game.

Ssssssswan

Ssssssswan, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

All fingers and thumbs

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone - I wish you all you wish yourself and I hope we get what we want rather than what some of us deserve :-)

2011? Bring it on!

Table manners

IMG_7592, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Winter morning

IMG_7502, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Winter scene

IMG_7371, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

30

30, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Brrrr!

IMG_7247, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Thought of the day

Penguins at Edinburgh Zoo

Three swans

IMG_7118, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Sunset over the Elmley Marshes

IMG_7125, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

For all my Australian friends

Just watching yesterday's rugby game

'Ned Kelly! Sir Howard Florey! Sir Donald Bradman! Shane Warne! Joan Sutherland! Ned Kelly!  Skippy - can you hear me, Skippy? Your boys took one hell of a beating! Your boys took one hell of a beating!'
(With thanks to Bjorge Lillelien)

East Malling

An act of Rememberence

When I was a teenager I was a member of a scout troop attached to a church in south Manchester. On Rememberence Sunday the scouts would parade to church and proudly carry the flag and solemnly set it next to the altar for the service. During the service an old(er) man, Frank, we all knew as rather grumpy would move to the front of the church and read the names in the Book of Rememberence; it was the only time we'd see the book out of its glass case. It listed the names of men from the church and scout troop who had given their lives during the second world war and as he read this big man would have tears rolling down his ruddy cheeks - he'd known all of them through the church or scouts and fought alongside a couple of them.

That's one of the things I think about during the silence at the  eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
As an aside; Frank passed away gently, of a heart attack, in his seat in the main stand at Maine Road watching his beloved Manchester City.

The image is one of mine from a set of poppies from June, 2009. 

The sea

IMG_6778, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Sun on the sea

IMG_6746, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Quick query

I've just enjoyed a lamb casserole with suet dumplings. I made it with vegetable stock so is it suitable for vegetarians?

Flowers

IMG_6708, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

I bought these when I went shopping - need some brightness in a cold and gloomy day

Thinks

I've just posted on Blipfoto what would otherwise have been the posting here. Not a big deal because most of the folk who read here read there too but I got me thinking about all the boundaries we pretend about the technologies. Is Blipfoto a microblogging site? Is it something else? How do we differentiate? Is it important or do we need to think about who we talk to in each of these places?

Rainy days and Mondays

IMG_6528, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Colours of autumn

IMG_6526, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Laybourne Lake

Laybourne Lake - click to see it in Flickr

I really don't care about the mobile phone company who funded this

I think this is wonderful

1205 photographs taken in 21 countries over 40 days, as one film. Featuring 'Turn' by Travis. Brought to you by Blipfoto.com - the daily photo journal, with the support of New Media Scotland's Alt-w fund.

Visit http://www.blipfoto.com/lifeturns to find out more about the project.

The only card I need......

House

House, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Across the stream from the churchyard

Rev Richard Boys

In July last year I mentioned that the Reverend Richard Boys was buried in Loose churchyard because he was the vicar here. That was after he'd been chaplain of St Helena during Napoleon's enforced stay there. Well today I found his grave.

It isn't as one might imagine, the larger of the two in the first shot. That stone is a memorial to two of his daughters and his wife Agnes. It does feature a good deal about him too. His stone is the smaller one in the foreground.

There is a shot of the smaller stone on Flickr

Serene

IMG_6248, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Rootes Building, Maidstone

Rootes Building, Maidstone, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Rose

IMG_6070, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

An afternoon watching rugby

Ballet

Ballet, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Tutorial venue today

The chimney at Littlebrook Power Station

The chimney at Littlebrook Power Station, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Boating

Boating, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Waiting

Ritin

There isn't enough writing on this blog any more. It's not that I'm writing elsewhere - I'm not. It's just that I'm not writing much and that's not good. I'm also not picking up on comments here - that's not exactly down to me, the comment thingy isn't letting me know as it should but it's still not good. What I am doing - you've already noticed I'm sure - is using this as a place for images and videos and it seems to work for that but it's not where I started and while it's cool to morph it would still be nice to have a voice on here too. As it goes I'm sure people pick up vibes and messages on here but I seem to be doing different things since this all started; not enough wurds!

And - just so you know - this posting equals the number of postings made last year.......

Classic

Bamboo at sunrise

IMG_5683, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

(Arty pretentious titles R us)

Morning

It's a pink and misty morning this morning.

Trees and flag

Trees and flag, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

You get what you give

Roselyn

roselyn, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

St Margaret's, Barming

IMG_5492, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Battle of Britain memorial

Battle of Britain memorial, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Risotto

Risotto, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

White rose

White rose, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.