Is my poltergeist turning nasty???

 

 I've talked about my poltergeist quite a few times here, while it's a bit of a pain playing silly buggers it's never shown any signs of being nasty or dangerous.  That may be changing.

 The other day I was leaving my house and on my front door you have to hold the handle down as you close the door,, as the door was closing I felt the handle wrenched all the up to lock position, this actually hurt a bit as I obviously wasn't expecting it and hod pressure downward on the handle.

 I assumed my son was trying to lock the door from inside (for locking you have to pull the handle all the way up and it takes a bit of force to close all the lock pins) So I pushed to door open to have a word in his shell like (tell him off) and theres nobody there, in fact he was still in the bath where he'd been when I said "see you later" just beofre leaving.

 Now he's quick on feet but no way did he get back upstairs and close the bathroom door before I bashed the door back open to shout WTF!   Besides he'd have just said sorry and was just locking the door or something similar, he wouldn't have tried to hide, thats not him.

 So what are we left with, if it wasn't him and it cetrainly wasn't me that leaves nobody, my other sons away at the moment.  Would a poltergeist do that, why?  was it trying to stop me leaving? if thats the case jam the door locked would have worked better.  Maybe it's just me imagining it all, maybe the spring in the door handle just got stronger... Buggered if I know.  It only did it the once.  Maybe time will tell???

It's stupid silly so and so's time again!

 

 Yes it's that wonderful time of year here in the UK where the whole country plays silly bastards moving the clocks forward for no logical reason.

 Yes in the wisdom of our wonderfull but totally insane leaders everybody has to reset every watch, clock and timer, millions of them!  For what you ask?  Well frankly theres no answer to that question, apart from the "we've always done it" which isn't true either.

 Originally brought in in 1916 to make better use of the daylight hours and help war production it's more or less been around since then.

 Sadly it seems to have escaped our leaders attention that it in reality achieves the sum total of fuck all, you see in the modern world we all have electric and the streets are mostly lit at night. Coupled to the fact that changing the clock has NO effect on the number of hours actuall daylight, at the moment around 13 hours of "official" daylight every day.  You can call it daylight saving, summertime, or paint a cat red time, it wont make bugger all difference to how long it's light or dark.

 In a recent survey over 80% said they want to stop changing the clocks... maybe it's time someone listened...

One tree three views... plus odd tree and water

 

 This is one tree but three different versions, all done very quickly as I'm shattered and running about like two headless chickens... or maybe one chicken with two heads?  Whatever!  Not even used photoshop just a quick resize in ACDSee  (which incidently has a better shadow/highlight than photoshop, not that I needed it here) And a few odd branches with a water background.

The yellow leaf, flowers and black and white

 

 A few more pics until I can get out shooting properly... looking like soon from what I'm hearing so fingers crossed.  All shot on the compact.

My house is really weird!

 I've mentioned the poltergiest a few times but my house is weird in other ways.  I've got doors that wont stay shut, and doors that wont stay open... except every now and then the ones that wont stay shut open by themselves, and the ones that wont stay open close by themselves.

 Now I know the normal reason doors fall open or shut is how the hinges are put on, and I know drafts can blow things about but if a door is hinged to fall shut it's shouldn't open without some other input, and my house isn't drafty.

 Now don't get me wrong I'm not flapping about this, it is what it is.  But I'm getting a bit pissed off with having to close doors that should be open or vise verser. It;s a PITA.

 I really must get some ghost hunting kit and see what happens, EMP meter, maybe a trifield and an IR camera and light.  Heck I could end up being Wales answer to Ghostbusters.... "who ya gonna call... Wayne! "   Ahhh maybe not.

Bolts and stick...

  I feel theres a picture here somewhere but I'm struggling to make it work.

 Shot on the compact again.

Nebo Big Larry 2 long term review.

 Well I've har the Big Larry worklight for some time and it's had a fair bit of use. So whats it like to use?

 The first issue I picked up on is the switch, unlike the old big larry with the top switch this one has the switch under the COB light and like the Tino it's ever so slightly proud which in the real world means you can turn it on by accident all to easily. The second problem with the switch is it's right under the COB led on the front, this means you'll naturally pick the torch up with the button up and the odds are you'll blind yourself cycling through the modes, it's a pitty Nebo didn't give the option of a seperate button for the torch part as opposed to the one button doing the torch and worklight.

 The second isseue is the magnetic base, yes it does stick to say the fridge, although it doesn't feel terribly safe, the real problem is is sticks to everything else.  Bung it in your pocket and your change will come out with the torch, same with nails or screws in a tool box. Frankly I do wonder just how many people actually stick a torch to a metal surface, less that you might imagine I suspect.  Also strong magnets and not great for your mobile pnone or credit cards... Good luck there!

 Perhaps offer the torch with a removable magnetic base?

 In use.  The worklight part 500lm works very well, although I can't see any real difference between the larry 2 and the original in real life comparrisons.  The red light now has the option of staying on as well as warning flashing, again not sure how many people will use that function.  It's fine for lighting up a room, or changing a tyre.

 The torch part works very well, alough listed as 200lm it seems a lot brighter than that to me, it throws a good beam a long way and has a wide enough spread to be a good walk around torch.  You can really scan the trail ahead or search for someone with this light, and you have the worklight to light up the scene if theres a casualty or something (or as a backup if the torch part breaks)

 Incedently Big Larry isn't small, around 8 inchs long (20 cm) and fairly hefty, it also has a pocket or more likely belt clip, something the original larry didn't have.

 

Primroses, shadows lines and texture (some black and white) pics

 

 A few more random shots from my walk. All shot on the compact.

 

 

Nitecore TIKI (torch review)

  

 The Nitecore TIKI is a small torch designed to be carried everyday on your keyring or clipped to a handbag.  The TIKI is near enough the same size as a double A battery and weighs less.

 It's IPX 66 waterproof and 1m drop resistant (ipx66 means Water projected in powerful jets (12.5 mm nozzle) against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects) in tests I've seen this torch dropped into shallow water and still work, although I dont recomend you do this.

 The TIKI is rechargable and uses an Osram P8 led.  It has 4 power settings.

 Ultra low 1lm 40 hours.  This is fine for say looking in a bag or checking a map.

 Low 15lm 4 hours. This is ok for walking around at night, but dont expect to light up the path a long way ahead, but it is useable for walking.

 Medium. 60lm 1 hour, this is plenty of light for walking at night, the path ahead is well lit, you'll have no worries at night with this level.

 High. 300lm 30 minutes. Frankly this much light from a torch the size of a double A battery is bonkers, Nitecore claim a 70m throw, I can believe it, this lights up the path a long way ahead, it really is bright!

 As well as the main led the TIKI has a UV led .5w 45 minutes run time, ok for checking money but it's not very bright in daylight, indeed it's hard to see if it's on.  And a high CRI led (so well color corrected) this is 22lm with a 90 minute runtime, this is fine as say a light in a small tent or a power cut, it's more a lantern effect as the whole torch body lights up, bight enough in a room so you can see what your doing.  This is also a becon and flashes around once a second, again usefully bright to be seen a good way away in the dark as a marker or for distress.

 Nitecore also do a TIKI LE which has blue and red leds in place of the UV and high cri, these flash in whats called "police" mode and should attract attention.  Then theres a TIKI GITD which glows green in the dark making it easier to find, although I dont know how long the glow lasts.

 Priced around £23 at time of writing these offer a lot of light in a small package. It it worth the money?  Well I'm impressed with it, the only issue I have is the rechargable part, I like to be able to swop out batteries so I can carry spare, thats a personal thing though.

 The Tiki compared to a double A battery

Torch power!

 

 I'm Wayne and I'm a torchaholic...  Ok joking aside I do like a torch or ten... But being serious for a bit the power of modern torches is very impressive.

 Not that many years ago I used to use the army issue right angle torch, they were never fantastic and I soon switched to the mini maglite (2 double A battery) this was brighter, smaller and lighter, plus you could "zoom" the beam to check out stuff in the distance.  For more power the bigger 3D cell maglite was popular, though a bit heavy.  

 Fast forward a few years and a three watt led came out, wow these were way brighter and not much bigger than the mini maglite.  Indeed I remember being blown away by the light output compared to the same size maglite.

 Fast forward to today and by heck things have moved on, the power of a modern pocket torch is silly, I have one in my trouser pocket that gives my car headlights a run for their money, it's beam goes nearly 400 yards, it's easily as bright as those great big Dragon lanps the police used to carry.  The tiny one on my keys about the size of a double A battery is a lot brighter than the old 3W and lights up getting on for the lenght of a football field.

 It seems the power is about doubling every year or so, so by the end of this decade the torch in your pocket will make the floodlights at Manchester uniteds ground look dim... I want one... No by hell, I want two!

Sunsets and shells

 

 Just a few more sunsets from the other night, all shot on the compact. Colours as shot, no photoshop at all.

 

 

George Formby vs the Sweeny!

  Ok heres a question for you.  What have the Sweeney  tv series (flying squad) got in common with George Formby?  More than you might think.

 You see in 1940 Formby made a film called spare a copper, playing a policeman called... wait for it... George Carter.  This George wants to join the flying squad.  Fast forward to 1975 and we have a George Carter in the Sweeney tv series, played by Dennis Waterman by the way.  How courious is that connection?

 Sweeney Tood = Flying squad in Cockney rhyming slang.

 Look up my similar odd connection with the man from uncle in march 21 2015 post

Bloody poltergeist!

 I'm going to murder my poltergeist if I ever get my hands on it.  The Y shaped video bracket has vanished again! Last time I only found it after buying another one (sadly a different size) they were both in a large ziplock bag together, now ones gone.  I know I haven't used it, I haven't done any video for ages and it was in the bag last week when I was tidying up my gear.  

 Not only that an Israeli bandage had dissapeared from my trauma pack, there were two in there now theres only one ( an Israeli bandage is a sort of super army field dressing, it's a cross between a large dressing, a tourniquet and a pressure bandage and can be used for any of those applications)  it's normally in a pack with a proper tourniquet, airways, chest seals, wound packing and other emergency medical stuff.  For some reason it went walkabout.  I did manage to find that eventually, but again theres no reason it would have been removed from the pack in the first place.  Plus my bloody video light is still missing, thats gone I've given up looking for that  now. This is a PITA.

Noises and new jacket update.

 

 The noises I mentioned recently have stopped, well except the birds, the other odd noise must have been something in my jacket or pockets, whatever it's seems to have stopped.

 The new jacket is fine.... Except it just hasn't got the same number of pockets my coat of many feathers had (see noises post) Now this is an issue as I like to be well equiped when I go walkabout, and frankly I just can't cram in all the goodies I want. Now there are options for fixing this.

 I could just carry a bag, but thats a pain, or I could "add" pockets.  Now adding them to the jacket might be tricky, on the outside they'll look crap, and on the inside they'll take up space thats needed for my body.  So a problem.

  Next idea is to wear a waistcoat over the jacket.  Now I do have a military load carrying vest, and it's got LOADS of lovely pockets.   Except it's got three main issues.  One it's on the heavy side being made from heavy duty material and having about three million pockets and pouches.  Two it's not really ideal.  It's designed for soldiers to carry magizines and grenades, now as I don't have a gun I dont need spare mags, and funnily enough I'm all out of grenades, and the pouches are a bit of a faff for other stuff.  

 Three, by far it's biggest issue is it looks like something a suicide bomber would wear to Paris fashion week, wear it to town and I suspect someone would get worried and I'd get the police making a social call at three AM with a Glock in each hand.

 Now I do have a photographers waistcoat, this looks harmless enough, trouble is I bought it when I was twenty something and running up mountains every day, supprise supprise it doesn't fit any more, I've put on a few pounts since then.

 I have found another fishing type waistcoat but again while it does fit, it wont fit over the jacket, so either some minor ajustments are needed or I'll need to buy a bigger size.... Hmmmm

 

The lost glove and wheeltrim...

 

 The lost glove and wheeltrim... No it's not the name of my local pub (and they are shut anyway) nor is it Danny Dyres latest movie... No it's the things I find to photograph on a walk.

 Now these might seem odd things to shoot, but you have to keep in mind I'm stuck for locations and want to keep my shutter finger exercisied, so it is what it is!

 Again both shot on the compact camera.

A few random pictures and a knackered Wayne

 I'm shattered.... Totally knackered to be honest!  The meals on wheels, shopping for family and my bad back, coupled with lack of sleep has worn me out (the bad back doesn't help a good night sleep) so I'm a grumpy old git at the moment.

 The pictures, a random selection of whatever I could find on my local walk, not exactly exhibition stuff but with the whole world gone to hell in a handbasket it's the best I can do.  All shot on the compact camera.

Few pic and a bad back

 

  Regular visitors to the blog will probably know I have a back problem, it goes back to an old injury donkeys years ago.  Every now and then it's gets bad enough to make life hard work, thats what it's doing now. Ideally I should probably rest it up for a few weeks, but me being me, I'll try walking it off, and by heck it hurts like hell.

 Anyway as I wont give in I went for a good long walk, ok I'm suffering now after but it ain't the boss of me, and it's only pain... it stops when we die, so heck I have that to look forward too. Plus they say whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger....    Yeah right!

 Anyway onto the pics, got these on the walk, all shot on the 35mm prime lens on the old camera.

Some sunsets

 Managed to get out for a walk and got a few sunsets. All shot on the old camera and the colours are as they came off camera, no photoshop added colour, just resized and a bit of sharpening.

 

Sad news

  Sadly dear old Billy the dog has passed away on the 27th. At the age of 14.  Hed been ill for the last few months and it was a lot worse than the vet suspected, that evening he was so poorly and in a lot of pain that we had to have him put to sleep.

 Thats never an easy decision to make but in this case with the poor old thing suffering a lot of pain it just had to be done.  The was nothing really a vet could do long term to help him.

 Billy was one of those dogs that just made your life brighter.  No matter how down you felt he's cheer you up, if you were ill he's be at your side making you feel better.  Part westie, part poodle and part cat (we thought so anyway) he was a real character and a great companion, indeed really another member of the family.

 This is hard to write, so many happy memories over the years I've known him, he's taken a part of my heart with him.

 God bless Billy, you are greatly missed.