Some stars we lost in 2020.

A list of just some of the stars we lost this year. Hugh Keays-Bryne (mad max). Barbara Windsor. Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna. John Ectasy Fletcher (whodini). John Le Carre. Rebecca Luker. Tony Scannell (the bill). Jill Gascoine. Michael Angelis (Auf Wiedersehen, Pet). Lyle Waggoner. Tim Brooke-Taylor. Diego, Maradona. Sean Connery. Billy Joe Shaver. Derek Fowlds. Christopher Beeny. Kirk Douglas. Nicholas Parsons. Dame Vera Lynn. Irrfan Khan. Roy Hudd. Sean Arnold (Bergerac). Derek Acorah. Caroline Flack. Terry Jones. Max von Sydow. Stuart Whitman. Kenny Rogers. Brian Dennehy. Ian Holm. Peter Green (fleetwood mac). Dame Diana Rigg. Margaret Nolan (goldfinger girl). Eddie Van Halen. Bobby Ball. Des O’Connor. Dave Prowse. Eileen Pollock (bread). Jerry Jeff Walker. Thank you and God bless.

Quick update

Since my last post things have been tricky. My dear Mother had a fall Christmas eve, and on the 27th she had to go into hospital, by then I was starting to feel rough, this is either covid or a proper flu, I've had the waking up soaked in sweat and shivering an shanking, pus not eating for about 4 days. I've started eating a bit but still not hungry, and I'm still feeling the cold, but last night I didn't wake up soaked in sweat, so thats a plus. I probably should have booked a test, but after the messing about last time only to find out it was negative, and that nearly at the end of my isolation anyway there seems little point, all I'm doing is taking a test away from someone who needs it. And anyway by the time the new year shutdown sorts itself out my 10 days will be pretty much up.

Oh joy, more problems.

My tale of woe keeps on giving, it seems my sons car now needs a new gearbox... trouble is it costs three grand and they are hard to get. FFS! £3k for a bloody gearbox.

I want some peace, and covid update.

I've spent the last few months stressed out. My two phones and on the go all the time, we blunder from one drama to another. It seems I'm the only person in the world who can sort anything out. So far in the last few months I've had to sort out three washing machine crisis, a tv, two or three computers, a fridge freezer that was fucking fine in the first place that still had to be replaced. Now I've got a gearbox dead on a car they are apparently custom built for, my own car has just had some work for the mot due soon. I've got a turky crisis going on... no not a shortage, where to put another fucker. As for the covid my test sort of came back negative, I say sort of because it didn't come back at all. After 7 days waiting for the result I rang them (remember I'd been isolating) they couldn't find me, so they gave me another number, I rang them and they couldn't find me either, eventually after about an hour on the phone and waiting wile they rang a maganger and head office, the woman asked how I was feeling, I said fine except for the cough, thats all I've had all along to be honest, she asked how long I'd had the cough and I told her when it had started (by now I was finished iolating anyway) she then said oh your negative then. Have a nice Christmas. Now I don't know for sure she fould my result or took a guess. The cough I had was the classic covid cough, but I never had any other symptons... I'll never know for sure. I thought I had it anyway. Well I'd better get cracking, theres a ship sinking somewhere and I need to rescue the passengers, after that theres a famin I need to sort out... yes I'm taking the piss but it's starting to feel like I'm bloody superman, I might as well wear my pants over my trousers....

Welcome to the age of digital communications.... joke right?

WTF! is wrong with everything? Business, those who actually have telephone don't answer them, paying a simple bill online requires the latest version of software and 83 passwords, shoe sizes and your cats DNA sample to complete the transaction, then half the time it wont bloody work. Leaving you wondering if it's taken the money or not. They want us to go cashless, thet's not going to work with systems like they are now. We'd be better off going bloody cardless and back to the way it was in the 1940's, at least that worked!

New computer now working

Well after having a bloody new copy of windows hand delivered and a new hard drive my sons new liquid cooled computer is up and running... thank fuck! So now we just have to figure out which of the boxfull of SSD drives work and which dont for spares...

I've been thinking... being serious for five minutes

I've been thinking, yes I hear people saying thats a first or about time but for once I'm being serious here, this isn't for laughs. Every year the family gathers at my mums house for a good old fashioned family Christmas, quite a crowd in fact. Now for me it's always a pain in the arse as I have to do the shopping and the cooking, somethimes with a little help from my sons or brother, but the bulk I do. Yes I whinge and moan but I do enjoy the family gathering. We as a family only tend to gather at birthdays and Christmas, this year we've done neither, pretty much all of the birthdays happend in lockdons, so we haven't seen much of any of us. So the Christmas looked like being our best chance. Now here in Wales Christmas is locked down with just one person visiting, this will ruin Christmas for many. Yes if your young it's no big deal, but for older people it might be their last Christmas, and many wont see their familes now while they can. I realise covid is rising, hardly a supprise with pubs and clubs open and no bugger wearing masks in the shops, and lockdown to save lives makes sense.... except it's not really that much about saving lives it's to take pressure off the NHS, the underfunding of which for decades has left it unable to cope with a normal Saturday night never mind a pandemic. Anyone who went to casualty before covid can tell you that. Maybe people should be allowed Christmas, remember it might be our last... and Drakeford remember we vote too.

Merry Christmas everyone

Just wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May next year be better for us all.

I've had a guts full!

Sorry but it's rant time again. FFS all I seem to do is end up with dramas. We've already got two dead computers, we get another water cooled monster and it's dead within 5 minutes of pluging the bastard in! Then I have to download a repair package for the windows, that worked up to the point I ran out of of hard drive space on another computer and bloody nearly killed that one. My mothers washing maching in buggered, so I'll have to sort that out next week, thats after getting a fucking plumber to answer the phone. My mothers tv and cooker are also on the blink and I've got a mechanic booked to sort out some bloody turbo pipes or something on the car (it doesn't affect it driving just gives an error message) so all in all a few grands worth needs sorting out and of cousre Wales is going to bloody shut down again next bastard week! If it wasn't for a stiff drink I'd be nailing mums washing machine repair mans head to his coffee table.... Not that I had a temper you understand... like hell I don't... what was it the hulk used to say... " you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" Just off to get a hammer and 6 inch nails.... fuck it they get turky dinner in prison dont they?

That first cuppa of the day!

I don't know if your like me but that first cuppa of the day always tastes better than the others. I don't know what it is but it just tastes amazing. Over the years I've tried to work out why it tastes better, one thought was the water standing in the kettle. Thats not it most morning I have to fill the kettle to make a cuppa (note when I lived alone the kettle was always left full, then if the water went off you had a cuppa without having to dig out water) So it's not that, do I leave it brew longer! No I don't think so. As a tea drinker I'll often leave the bag "steep" fr ages if I'm doing something. Best guess is I'm thirsty and that hot sweet nectar of the gods hits the right spot.... oh bugger it I'm off for my second cuppa!

Covid update 2

WellI had the covid test on Monday and I'm still waiting for the results (it's Friday as I write this) at this rate I'll be out of isolation before I get the result! Now I don't think theres any doubt that I have got it, so far I seem to have been lucky and got off mildly with just the cough, thats about the only realy sympton I've had, and that comes and goes. It's not so bad for me, I've got a stockpile of food and I don't mind my own company, but if I was working not knowing could be a problem if you need to work to pay bills.

Expedition X FFS!

Well a Discover channel series Expedition x is one of those awful series they make where you'll learn bugger all and is full of fake drama. The latest episode the American lake monster reached a new low. The fake drama I'll come to later. WE have our intrepid (insipid more like) presenters walking about in 6 inches of water looking for a huge 30 foot lake monster, frankly if you cant find a 30 foot fucking monster in 6 inchs of water your in the wrong job. Then they find a huge mud slide and to document it they photograph it in bloody green light, why FFS! use white light, then take a sample of the mud for contact DNA. To make matters worse they look for a possible 30 foot reptile with a thermal camera.... Errr reptiles are cold blooded fuckwits, they don't show up on thermal, I could have told them that when I was 10 years old. Seriously Discovery what kind of mororns are you employing? Is there a special kind for tv use or do you shake the trees and one falls out!.. The fake drama. All the way through we get a clip of the presenters looking at a screen going "oh my god it's huge" over and over "oh my god it's huge" yes it is, but it's not the monster is it dickheads, it's the bloody shipwreck you've found. The show is packed full of fake drama. Now if your tv program is so bloody boring and crap you need to add fake drama why bother making that shit in the first place? Admit it, your shows are rubbish.

Covid update 1

Well I had a covid test Monday but still haven't had a result (it was very busy) but I think it's a safe bet I have it. The cough started as a niggly back of the throat tickle and develoved into a proper cough. That said it isn't a constant cough (yet) and hasn't been more than mildly annoying. It also seems to come and go, yesterday it more or less died out, this morning it's back Otherwise so far I feel fine, I don't seem to have much else symptom wise, my taste and smell still work ok. I'm guessing some time today my results will come through. According to the info they gave me at the test centre it's 10 days isolation from first signs of covid, that means baring getting any worse I should be back out early next week-ish, but obviously I'll be playing it safe, I dont want to pass it around.

Covid test today

Went for a covid test today after getting a cough. What a proformance! Not so much the booking as the chaos at the test centre. To be fair it wasn't actually the testing centre that was the problem, that was well organised. The problem was the large queue of cars outside. Now I've been past the place a few times and it's never been like this so either demand is up a LOT or there was some technical hitch somewhere, anyway long story short the cars waiting blocked a house drive. The house owner returned and just drove down the outside of the line and then just turned across a car waiting, no signals or anything. The car queuing assumed it was a queue jumper and cut her off. She then got a bit abusive and security had to step in. Frankly a few cones and a keep clear of drive sign would fix it easily. Oh well it's wait for test results now.....

Jack the Ripper finally unmasked

Well it looks like the identity of Jack the Ripper has finally been solved. It looks like Aaron Kosminsky a Polish barber (and suspect at the time) may have been the killer. This comes from DNA evidence found on a shawl that belonged to Catherine Eddows one of the Rippers victims. Now this isn't ttally the last word as the type of DNA used is limited, but it's a pretty good indication that Kosminsky was the Killer.

Yet another paranormal investigation

I watched a long paranormal investigation today as I'm stuck in with the plague. While to be fair this bloke tried to do it properly it was still a bit of a shambles. No I'm not going to name the program because the people behind it really do try to investigate things and unlike many other shows use realy ghost hunting kit (you can actually buy fake believe it or not) The real problem was he was working alone in an outside location in a not very safe place. First off he got a bit nervous at every sound, then he got his gun out (there are bears where he was filming) but he had the gun so tight over his back it took hims a good minute to get it off, not much help if Mr Bear turns up. The other problem was bugger all happened. No to be fair thats a LOT better than having fake crap happening to liven things up. But it doesn't mkae gripping viewing. But then your between a rock and a hard place, fake or real boring or exciting. I'll take real every day of the week.

Poking your tongue at the photographer... Charming!

Cheeky hors!

Horses eye black and white

It was suggested the horses eye I posted recently might work in black and white, well here it is.

Predictions!

On Nov the 20th (I think) I predicted I'd be buying another new washing machine.. well that looks like coming true. So here's my prediction for next year...... "More shit" Thats what I predict....

Another ace day!!!!

I spent an hour trying to sort the car lights out, but I had to wait for the flood in the back garden to go anyway before I could unblock the drain. That was after trying to fix both hoovers, managed to get one working... Now it looks like I'm going to be buying yet another washing machine, this time for my mother, hers is leaking now!... Jeez, theres not enough hours in a day to sort out all the crap.

Klarus E1 almost perfect EDC torch.

It's been a while since a torch review so here's one. The Klarus E1 the almost perfect EDC torch (EDC every day carry). I've spent a lot of time and money over the years looking for the perfect torch to carry everyday, this is probably about as close as I'm ever going to get. The Klarus E1 is a shade over 4 inches long (about 110mm) and about 3/4 of an inch at the widest point (around 20mm) this little torch packs a punch well above it's size and weight (about 50g). Now we get to the interesting bit it has 4 power settings, high 1000 lm (90 mins), med 400lm(220 mins), low 100lm(14 hours) and moonlight 2 lm (430 hours). Now for once the moonlight is actually useful. All too often they are .5 of a lm and useless, 2lm on the other hand is bright enough to see what your doing. The torch also has two modes, one the default is a normal torch the other is a tactical mode, in this mode the large tailcap butten is full power and the tailcap "paddle" is full power strobe. It also has an SOS mode for emergencies. The beam is a hotspot with a good spread, ideal for day to day use and a max distance of a 190mt. It's also waterproof to 2 mt and drop resistant to 1 mt.... Now I said nearly perfect and for me it is... Nearly. You see the fly in the ointment is the battery. It's an 18650, but their own brand and the torch cant use a normal 18650. This is the one thing that lets it down, if you want to carry a spare battery you have to get one from Klarus. Here it is compared to a standard 18650 battery

The vicar of Dibley and oh god I have to go shopping!

The vicar of Dibley started in 1994 and with a few years gap ended in 2007. Now the BBC always full of daft ideas has brought it back. I say daft because most of the main cast are dead, even with unlimited licence fee money to waste the Beeb cant bring back the dead.... and it shows! With the best will in the world the new series is crap! The problem is the original series worked because of the comedy between the main charatcers​, Gereldine, Jim, David, Owen, Frank, Hugo, Letita and Alice. It was the interaction between them that was funny. Just having the vicar talking to a screen and a brief glimps of Hugo doesn't cut it. I know it's sad when something good falls over and dies but sometimes it's better left dead and buried. Digging it up isn't ever a good thing. Maybe Dawn French needs the money or the dopy Beeb think it pulled in 12 million views for the Christmas specialin 2006 it's do it again... Bet it wont....

Shopping, oh God I'm back to shopping for three households again, but my God you should see the shopping list I have! 4 turkey crowns and gammon joints, backon, lamb, pork about 9 bottles of milk, veg and spuds ect ect the lists are massive and thats without the Christmas food shop and the sweets, this is a few hundred quids worth easy. Oh joy. And I've got to get the proper turkey and the rest of my present shopping FFS! when?

Talking of horses....!

Ok I know we weren't talking of horses... well at least you weren't but I sort of was and ... oh never mind.. Anyway talking of horses. You know if you wake up with a horses head on the pillow next to you, you've either pissed off the Godfather, or that was one hell of a party last night! Talking of horses I haven't had a lasagne for a while.... I'll get my coat...

Horses eye

Took some shots of horses today and got this.....

Gull and building

Bit of an odd selection but it was all I got when I went into my nearest big town to buy a new jacket yesterday.

Night and mist part two

The last of the other nights pics pff my phone.

Night and mist part one

Some shots of night and mist... shot on the phone.

More criminal masterminds...

I watched a few more murder programs last week, honestly I'm amazed by just how dumb some people are. One killer a mechanic used a spanner to kill his victims, fine except he had all his tools along the wall with the shape drawn around them to see what went where and what was missing. After the murders he threw the spanner away. Police turned up to interview his as he'd had a row with the victims shortly before the murder and noticed the gap in his tool line up. Knowing the victims had spanner shaped dents in their heads gave police the thought he just might be the suspect.... No need to call in Sherlock Holmes or Poirot here then. Another criminal mastermind buried the victim under his own house under the crawlspace. All fine and dandy if he'd bothered to actually bury the body properly but he left the feet sticking up (no honestly he really did shoes and all) then sold the house.... Dohhh! New owners move in look under the floor and find... yes you guessed it a pair of feet sticking up. The police arrive and fairly quickly realise if the new owners didn't do it then it must be the old owner. So a word of warning if your going to murder someone and you have an IQ in single figures and need help tying your own shoes.... don't, your bound to get caught, probably becuse your a moron and you'll leave your wallet there or something. I actually heard of a bloke who left his dog at a burglary, police put a lead on it and it took them home to the burglar who had forgotten where he left it.

Paranormal caught on camera....

Paranormal caught on camera... ghosts, cryptids, aliens, ufo, bigfoot etc etc all caught on camera. Amazing... or at least it would be if any of the clips (borrowed from youtube?) were real. It's actually very funny to watch just how bad some of the fake videos are. We're not even talking Chinese 50p CGI, that's like star wars compared to some of this stuff. The only paranormal thing going on here is what was going through the producers mind when he/she watched the videos and believed them... Frankly he/she either knows most are fake and put's them up to get viewers (my guess) or he/she has the IQ of an egg shell.

Sunsets

A few from last night

Evening light

A few evening shots... tomorrow sunsets...

Oil painting style flowers

Yes I'm back to flowers, been a bit of a killer week so haven't been out shooting yet, also have doctors and hospital visits until sundan. So it is what it is.

Criminal mastermind!

I watched a documentary today about a murder, the killer dumped the victims body in a suitcase in the river... The mastermaind did however leave his family name and address tag on the suitcase.... Doh! You couldn't make it up could you.

What a week!

Well it's been a hell of a week. My cars having electrial issues yet again. I've bought fridges, washing machines and a new dash camera to replace items that have died... well the fridge was fine but thats a very long story and involved throwing out a prefectly good working fridge freezer... but hey ho! I've had little sleep, I've had the police around and been over casualty (my street looked like a scene from CSI Miami when I came home one night, another long story). I've been in the bloody shops more than the manager despite trying to only go shopping once a week to minimise risk to my aging body.... (I've got the body of a greek god! it was in that topsoil I bought from Fred West.... too soon? Oh well) Lastly bloody blooger has altered the format so theres no spacing, thats why theres no paragraphs anymore! Lets hope next week gets back to what passes for normal... that said I suspect I'll be buying a cooker, another washing machine and God knows what else. I dont thnk I've seen the last of the drama yet.... wonder if they managed to get my bath mat out of the old washing machine?

The day just keeps on giving!!!

Great went out shopping after bugger all sleep got home to find my washing still swimming in the machine. So eventually I drained the water out and got the door open and it's kippered. So roll on two hours and I got a new one installed. Job done!

Oh joy!

Oh joy! sitting outside casualty in the cold for three hours... Still it could have been worse, I could have been the one injured.

Stressfull week

I haven't had an easy week. Bit of a family drama and a lot of running about trying to sort stuff out so haven't been shooting and probably wont till next week. Hopefully things will calm down by then. I've bought a new watch... didn't have much choice as the other one was stuck an hour out and it was driving me loopy! I pushed the boat out and spent more than I've ever spent on a watch... a whopping £22 bloody hell.. I'll be buying tyres with tread next...

Sort of cartoon style?

A few played with shots....

Classic tv series that were bigger than they really were.

Some classic tv series ended up bigger and better remembered than they actually were. Take the classic Fwalty Towers.. everybody of a certain age remembers the series and everybody has a favorite quote or episode (mine is the kipper and the corpse) However the series ran to just 12 episodes. Other series like the Sweeny and Professionals are both well remembered and frequently shown on tv, again both of these had a little over 50 episodes each. Incidently if you watch the Sweeny watch how little night shooting takes place, it was due to costs. The professionals on the other had had car trouble, starting the BL cars they quickly switched to Fords are reliability issues with BL (well known to any BL owner) plus the stunt driving caused a few headaches with damaged vehicles.

Some pics for today

Took these a while back and missed posting them I think.

TV programs are driving me insane!

Yes TV programs are driving me to the point of murder! Why cant tv companies make a program that doesn't repeat the last part of the program every time theres an advert break? If the bloody viewers can't remember what happened 4 minutes ago what make you think they'll remember it this time, my God who is the program aimed at? Alzheimers sufferers? retrograde amnesia patients? of the mayfly tv association? Seriously how fucking dumb do people need to be to forget what happened before the bloody adverts? I just watched a program and they repeated the story 5 fucking times (after each ad break) I gave up in the end, I was never going to find out what happened in the end. People are dying of old age before the program gets to the point. Boring and slow dont come close. And another thing. When your making a program about a murder follow the bloody murder story! I dont want the towns history, or the victims school grades and a list of their jobs since college... it's got fuck all to do with the murder. I want to know who died, how they died and who did it!. Not what famous people went to their school, and what coffee they drink.. Think about it, the court didn't hear this crap for a reason... IT'S NOT THE MURDER! Lastly ghost hunting programs (I've mentioned these before)Calling a place the haunted house of horror and filming a dopy fat bloke in the dark is hardly gripping tv. Not helped by the moron fronting the program saying things like did you hear a faint voice.... NO I bloody didn't! and with a tv crew and hangers on even if I did hear a voice it's probably one of them. Why are you filming in the pitch dark? Don't ghost like the light... Funny then how most sightings are in the fucking daytime.

Two night shots and a question?

Heres two night shots and the question. Why do camera makers make a camera with three long exposure modes, night mode with flash high iso, night mode long exposure tripod no flash and fireworks... long exposure no flash, yet have flash enabled by default on all three? Whats the point of long exposure tripod no flash if the bloody flash still fires? Twats! theres two ways of disabling it (well three if you count a hammer) you can turn off the flash in the menu and that works until the battery goes flat and it resets defaults.. or you can duct tape over the flash... guess which option I took....

A few pics for today

Heres todays offering.