A macro shot

 

 Took this macro shot today in the rain, didin't have time to go anywhere, so it's my garden. 

  I tried getting out yesterday, but the place I went was crammed with people and my heart wasnt in it I gave up and went home after a chat in my local camera shop.

 Last night I was very down again, not for long a little thing reminded me of Mum and I had a little cry. 

 Thats the problem I think, I'm just not alone enough to actually sit down and have a good cry in peace.  These days it's nearly impossible to be totally alone (I like my own space anyway) but of late I'm not getting much if any time to sit and reflect, and have that release of emotions I need to help me get over this.

 Sorry to be depressing, onto the pic

 Shot on the 105mm macro at 800 iso, the light was crap.

Seriously down

 The last six weeks has been a really difficult.  Mum became ill and died, then there was a hassle of getting the house cleared, not helped by dopy Swansea councils new policy of giving you a month after the death to clear the house.

They obviously are too dumb to realise it can take a month to get a funeral date.  Then expecting the bereaved family to clear the house AND organise a funeral at the same time is just plain stupid.  

The time a funeral takes up is silly.  You have the undertakers to meet and sort out, flowers, half a day alone just talking to the vicar, thats without the legal stuff.  A solictors meeting, the registrar of deaths, two fucking days on the phone alone just to talk to the dept of work and pensions (what bloody work, the bastards dont answer the phone) then theres the insurance etc etc etc.  

All takes time, oh yes and the munchkins in Swansea council are panicing the whole time "is it empty yet?" Not so bloody quick to do repairs were you!  Nor are you quick when I aked how much rent my Mum owed, in fact you dont fucking know do you morons!  Great job of being a rent office if you dont know what a tennent owes.

So all in all it's been a bitch, and frankly while I coped well with dealing with it all, truth be told I'm struggling now the bulk is over.  I've not had time to grieve properly, I hardly have any time alone to think, never mind grieve.  Thats the problem I think.

AI generated image

 

In between trying to empty a house and sleep (all I've had time for recently) I decided to have a five minute play with AI generated images... well one image if I'm honest.  Using the keywords Tardis and Beach it came up with this.  Not a bad first effort.

 

 

Well Funerals over.

 

 My Mothers funeral is over.  The weather in true funeral style was terrible, wind and rain.  Drspite that the funeral went off without a hitch... well without a major hitch.  

 One thing  I'd overlooked was what to do with the flowers after the service, first plan was to have the undertakers take them back, then we reailsed that just made things harder as someone (me) would have to go over and get them, then what do I do with them?  So we left them there.   £495 of flowers  left rotting after an hour of use.

 A Huge thank you to all those that gave up their time to come and pay their respects, your support meant a lot to us, and to Mum.  Thank you all.  Even those who went to margam crem by mistake, it's the thought that counts.

 A bit thank you to Gwyn Jones Funeral Directors from Llansamlet, and Lousie especially, for all the help and advice (and reminding us of all the things we missed) and for putting up with me ringing with daft questions at all hours.  Well impressed.  I want you for my funeral.  Hows that for a recomdation!

 I'll give the Flower Box in port talbot a mention for the flowers, they looked lovely, and this is the second time I've used them now, so your my regular florest, ok they are not cheap (none are) but their prices are fair compared to other florests and they do a good job, so why change.  It's just a shame the flowers are wasted after just a short funeral, but sadly thats the way it is.

 One again, thank you all for the support, this last month has been really tough. Special mention to Sam, Robert, Cameron and Thomas for the hospital bedside vigils and Rob especially for all the running around and distance you've covered.  Sarah for the free legal advice, Neil for the record keeping software.  Shirley and Sam for putting up with me in my fried brain state most of all.

 Thanks for being there all of you.  It made a big difference.

Few more photos

 A few more shots from my wander a few days ago.

A few pictures.

 

 I know I've not posted much recently, but with a funeral to organise, and the millions of things that go with it, I've not had time to sneeze hardly until this weekend.

 Managed to get out for a few hours the other day, needed a break for funeral related stuff, truth be told I was too tired to bother taking more than a few pics, I ended up dozing off on a bench.

Heres a few shots, I'll post more after the funerals over.  All shot on a Sigma 17-50mm 2.8

 

Britains Emergency Alert system test.

 

 Britain is introducing it's new emergency alert system this month, on the 23rd of this month at 3pm there will be a test.

 The real question is why?  WTF do we need it for?  I'm just the right side of 70 and I've never needed an emergency alert.  Then theres the problems with it.

 First off it'll take over your phone and sound a loud siren, even if your phones on silent, then before you can use YOUR phone you  have to click an accept button to show you got the message (it sounds for 10 seconds) So tough shit if you were trying to ring for an ambulance or let the police know your being stabbed.

 Then theres the what if your driving?  Your on the motorway doing 69MPH listening to radio 4 and loud siren blaring,. inside your car. Scared shitless is putting it mildly, plus legally you cant look at or clear the message without breaking the law if your driving.  Thats without the fact that 50% of the motorists around you are in the same situation, the other 50% are now reading the message on their phone and not looking where they are going.

 That also leaves the law abiding motorist is a dilema, are you driving away from a crisis or towards it?  without checking your phone you cant tell, not that you can turn around on the motorway anyway.

 And God help if your a victim of domestic abuse and have a secret phone for calling for help, when the siren goes off your going to get a kicking if your unlucky.

 Then theres the what the fucks it for?  A school shooting? everybody in the school already knows, you dont want people outside alerted and going in to make more casualties.  A flood?  Well maybe, but for the most part locals know when flooding is likely.  A tidal wave, well yes, but this being Britain the warning will come after it's been on facebook and twiter and the waters over your house.

 Lets be honest, this is the UK we're talking about, the emergency services are the last people to know.  Any warning is going to be too little and too late, everybody in the local area will know hours before plod arrives.

 Then theres the nanny state.  It wont be just used for tidal waves or earthquakes, it'll be used every other bloody day, telling us a cat is missing 5 miles away, or drive with care theres a light drizzle in Norway 1.326 miles away.  Bullshit like that.

 Me I'm turning the bastard off, I'd rather take my chance with the terrorist than the government, the terrorist is more honest!

 And by the way thats the good news, you can turn it off in your phones settings.

Trustfire mini 3 torch review

 

 Trustfire mini 3 review.

 I spotted this while browsing ebay and thought I'd give it a try.

 Size wise it's small, about 6cm or  2 and a quarter inch long, maybe 15mm or half inch ish wide, easy key ring size no bother.

 Modes, well you could say two, on and off,  yes simple.  Twist the head tight for on and a quarter turn loose for off.  Easily done one handed too.

 Battery wise it comes with a 10440 3.7v rechargable battery, but also works fine with a standart triple A.  Output wise the 10440 is a claimed 350lm for 25 minutes, and a triple A around 100lm for 60 minutes.  Now I'm going to disagree with Trustfire here, I compared the torch with 2 130lm torches and the trustfire is brighter, I'd be guessing and say mine is more like 150-180lm? with a triple A.  Thats not a complaint though.

 For it's size and price it's a little cracker, a shed load of light for a torch this size, and around a tenner with a battery!  

 Two points to consider though.  It comes with a rechargable battery but no way of charging it.  No charger or cable, theres also no pocket clip, although as a keyring light it could be argued it doesnt need one.  It would be handy though as you pop it on the bill of your cap as a headlight, it weighs bugger all even with the battery.

 It does come with a split ring, and spare rubber o-ring (waterproof to IPX8) so a quick dip shouldnt hurt it, and drop resistant to 1 mtr.

 Value for money.  Really good IMHO, it's small light, cheap and able to use triple A or 10440 batteries (cheap enough) yes you'd need a charger, but they are cheap enough too.  For an EDC it's a ton of light, small and light to carry on your keys, and all the light you need to find your car in the dark, or find something in the boot, or walk the dog. Well worth the money.

Shown here with a AA battery for scale (note the torch take the smaller AAA size)

Funeral costs!

 

 Having to sort out a funeral, I've discovered a few things about the costs.  Wehn they say on the telly an average funeral costs 7k, they may not be far wrong.... But!  It's not quite that simple.

 I've seen adverts for things like pure cermationsand things like that, saving you a ton of money, ahh not quite it seems.  A friend looked into this a few months ago (before I needed to organise a funeral) and it turns out the costs are not quite as cheap as it sounds.

 You see they add in all the extras and you end up paying the same as an undertaker would have charged in the first place.  I just phoned around a few undertakers and booked the one I liked, so far I cant say I'm dissapointed, they've done a load of stuff, and helped me a lot with things I'd overlooked.

 Now the costs, it's the "hidden" things that bump up the price, not taking undertaker here, things like flowers, £495 (thats a MUM a NANNA and a wreath) two suits, shirts and ties cost me over £500.  Now to be fair I had a black suit, as did my son, his was a mix and match of jacket and trousres, mine was a real cheapo suit.  Sorry thats not good enough for mums funeral so off to the shop for new.

 Then theres death certificates £11 each, and you need a few to send off to various people, house clearence (haven't sorted that yet but it's going to be a few hundred) and all the phone calls, two days of phoning to get through to the DWP  FFS!

 As for the funeral itself, around £4k upwards depending on your requirments, I suspect that'll vary with places like London being dearer..

 Well now I'm off to see the Rev Clive (the vicar for the funeral) I've met him before and I want him for my funeral, he's great (I told him that last time we met)  

Then all I have left to do is sort out the music, check the order of service, clear the house, get  the wheelchair back to the disabled services people, get her chair back to whoever supplied that, sort out a wake, pay off any bills she has left.... I think thats it??? I hope....

Everyday carry? and lack of posts

 

 First the lact of recent posts.  With my mother dying recently my time to play on the internet has vanished.  Trying to sort out the million and one things than have to be delt with just eats up time, it's hours a day easily, just letting family know which florest, funeral time etc etc. 

 So sorry for lack of posts, I'll try and get back to "normal" when this mess is all sorted out, a few weeks at least I suspect.

 Now onto everyday carry, while swopping my kit from one pair of trousres to another (I have a lot of identical pairs) it occured to me I haven't gone through a "pocket dump" in ages, if at all?  Now I haven't time today to do it, but as soon as I get a chance I'll go through my pockets and my normal everyday carry for you.  

Ok some of the items may seem odd to many, but as someone who likes to be prepared, they may make more sense.

Iphone 14 pro max?

 

Anyone just bought an Iphone 14 pro max?   If so good news, the Iphone 15 pro max has just been anounced (or is that bad news?)  

And thats why I dont have an Iphone.  I dont want my brand new phone out of date by the time I get it out of the box and buy a case for it!

The other thing bringing out a new model every 9 minutes says to me is the old one was so shit we had to make a better one right away.  If it was any good we wouldnt need a better one would we.