For her Gallery subject this week Tara has chosen another “mummy topic”: Back to School. So of course I’m struggling with it — well I would wouldn’t I, ‘cos despite my wrinklydom I’m not yet quite mummified; neither have I had a sex change, at least not when I last looked.

So about the best I can do by way of a contribution is this:

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I took this at London Zoo way back in June 2008 — blimey was it that long ago; it seems like last summer!

I’m not sure if these girls (and there was a whole gaggle of them) were part of a school trip or just locals who were able to take a short cut through the Zoo, but the former is more likely. Anyway despite the tiger masks these two were failing to blend in with the animals, and no doubt got carted off back to their penitentiary.

Just look at the ladders in those stockings/tights though! Surely only a schoolgirl would be seen dead in those!

Another instalment in my occasional series documenting some of the underbelly of Britain. Britain which we wouldn’t like visitors to see and which we wish wasn’t there. The trash, abused, decaying, destitute and otherwise buggered parts of our environment. Those parts which symbolise the current economic malaise; parts which, were the country flourishing, wouldn’t be there, would be better cared for, or made less inconvenient.

This garage area is at the back of one of the houses near us and opens onto the main road. Here it is just before last Christmas.

And this is the same area around Easter time.

Now I know I’m not the tidiest and most organised person in the world, but at least the rubbish at the bottom of my garden isn’t visible to the whole world.

This week over at Tara’s Gallery we’re being asked for photographs of sky.

Now there are boring, dull, flat grey skies and boring, wall-to-wall clear blue skies. But just about anything else is interesting: clouds, stars, the moon, sunset, sunrise, rainbows … the list is almost endless.

So here is a small selection of mine from across the years.

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Trees at dusk, taken one late winter evening as I left work

January sunrise seen through the birch tree in our garden

“Armco Sundown”, sunset on the A11 in Norfolk taken from the passenger seat
of the car one late February

This could be almost anywhere in England on a hot summer’s day; it’s actually in Norfolk, again taken from the passenger seat of the car

This week over at Tara’s Gallery we’re being asked to come up with photographs showing emotion. That’s not the easiest of challenges, nevertheless here are three I’ve culled from the archives.

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This young lady, taken at London Zoo in June 2008, spent quite a long time concentrating hard on the text messages on her phone. Watching the people at the Zoo was as good as seeing the animals!

Here are my former colleagues Steve and Peter concentrating hard on something on Peter’s laptop. Taken in the office way back in February 2008.

This young lady was clearly on her way for a lunchtime liaison with her lover on the slopes below Sacré Cœur in Paris (way back in June 2007). Lip smacking is a reflex reaction in response to sexual interest and anticipation.

This week’s theme for Tina’s Gallery is Sport.

Surprisingly, given my interest in, and playing of, cricket, hockey and squash in my youth I don’t have a lot of sporty photos. Well not having kids and having had to watch them play football/rugby means I haven’t had that excuse.

So here are a couple from the archives, neither of which was take by me, but I’m in both.

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This is University of York Cricket Club Tour, July 1971. This group photo was taken at Sidney Sussex College sports ground, Cambridge. As I recall we played there, at the Ley’s School, HMS Ganges (near Ipswich) and at Felixstowe. GOK what I was doing on the tour as I was the worst cricketer of the squad by a distance. I can’t remember many of the names now (although they are all on the original), but I’m third from the right in the back row, with glasses and an urgent need of a haircut.

And this second one is a couple of years earlier in summer 1969.

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This is my school (Cheshunt Grammar School) 1st XI vs Cheshunt Cricket Club, at Cheshunt Cricket Club. I think this was taken by the photographer of the local paper and there is an original copy in my files. Thanks to several contacts I’ve now managed to put names to everyone whose face is visible. I’m the guy in the white cap looking at the ground. The man at the rear in front of the white trellis is Roger Clark who was our games master — and a damn fine cricketer too.

Even if I was a crap cricketer (I was never really more than club 3rd XI standard) they were happy days and I greatly enjoyed both playing and umpiring. I do miss that, but I don’t miss the agro which came into club cricket in the 80s as a result of everyone having to play in some league or other — that’s when I got out.

Delicate. That’s the theme for Tara’s Gallery this week. So, I give you …

Frosted Roses

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This was one of the first really good digital photos I took. It is February and this is our large pink rose bush. Flowers still in February? Yes, that’s not so unusual as this rose is so prolific it just flowers and flowers and flowers — and it is unusual if it doesn’t have some blooms on Christmas Day.

And this image started a new tradition for us. We used it for our first home produced Christmas card in 2005. We now have our own Christmas cards printed, as large postcards, each year: it can be cheaper than commercial cards, people get something special (usually something I’ve taken that year) and there are no envelopes to fiddle with. Wins all round!

You can see our other Christmas card images on Flickr.