Rabbit Thought of the Day

Welcome to the last day of May, bit of an indifferent month weather wise, the first bank holiday was hot and sunny and last wet and cold (well for those of us in the south), it seems to have flown by.

Have been out this morning spending my hard earned money (if you believe that you will believe anything), and I had my haircut (was beginning to look like a shaggy dog). If the weather stays this good I will take a walk down the park later, sit in the sun and watch the ducks swimming around.

God it’s a morgue in here today, nobody seems around am thinking of eating my lunch and disappearing home. Very little is going on and I have more or less finished what need to done and must admit I am become a little bored. Maybe I should go home!

Following my report on yesterday’s chaos on the rail services into Liverpool Street, the full details have become apparent. The bridge at the centre of the incident was being worked on by Transport for London (TfL) and will form the extension on the East London Line into Shoreditch.

The 1300 ton bridge was being supported by hydraulic jacks when one of the jacks failed the bridge fell 8”, causing debris to fall on the main track below.

According to reports Network are less than impressed and are calling for heads to roll. They have imposed a ban on TfL and will not let work to restart until TfL give assurances that this will not happen again. TfL argue that Network Rail were fully informed about the work and agreed the program for the installation of the bridge. However, Network Rail and passenger groups want to know why work was being called on the bridge while trains were passing underneath.

A full investigation is underway, and a statement from the rail unions said that a tragedy was narrowly adverted.

Should we negotiate with a-Qaeda? The Government has rejected suggestions that it should; the Foreign Office stated that the Government would not talk to any group actively promoting it aims through violence.  

So if that’s the case were do go from here, over the years it has been proven that terrorism can be not beaten through policing alone, in the middle east Palestinian organisation are still attacking Israel, in Spain the Basque are still actively using a bombing campaign to gain independence for themselves.

However, in Northern Ireland it has been proven that if you talk to the so called terrorist organisations it can help in the peace process and eventually bring peace and stop the bombings and killings.

Violence begets violence, so let’s talk, if it helps then great if it doesn’t then what have we lost. It could help to save thousands of lives and money, we all live on this small planet, if we cannot resolve our problems through negotiation then what hope is there for man kind.  

So in my mind then the answer is a resounding yes, we should start talks with al-Qaeda

Friday the last day of a short week, am doing nothing  this weekend, I have nothing planned just  relax and put my feet up, definitely no driving I did enough last weekend.

Yesterday afternoon finished on damp note as the fire alarm went off at just before 4 O’clock, we all had to venture outside in the pouring rain. It was  really good fun, in fact I think we should do it every time it rains, character building we used to call in the army. Anyway when the all clear was given I jumped in the car and headed home. Bloody, right too I was soaked.

Very quiet at the moment, my work seems to have come to a sudden halt, I am waiting on a few people to email tender documents so that I can review them, was supposed to have them first thing this morning. Now I am sat about twiddling my thumbs waiting for them to arrive.

It appears that the bridge at Liverpool Street Station did not suffer a partial collapse as early reported in the news. However, scaffolding used for overnight engineering work collapsed on to the track. Network rail said in statement that they hoped normal service would resume by 14:00.

This is quite a serious incident, if the scaffold collapsed as packed commuter train was passing it could have dire consequences, yes the bridge is ok (thankfully), but the health and safety implications are very serious. Network Rail or whoever was undertaking the work are in serious breach of their own procedures and who was in charge should be dismissed.

Over the Christmas period Liverpool Street station in London was closed by engineering works to allow for the demolition and installation of a new bridge on the approach to the station.  The work took longer than expected and when the holiday was over the station was still closed because of the overrunning work, the same happened at Easter when engineering work once again over ran.

Today the station is once again closed because of a partial collapse of the new bridge and structural engineers are on site to ascertain the damage. The line operated by National Express East Anglia (formerly One Great Eastern) is known as the miserly line and the customers believe its the worst in the country.

As I drive to work if they are any break downs on public transport or late running trains it is normally this line that’s at fault.

But the latest situation just shows how bad our rail network as become, we know the network is bad but just how bad is it. Under funding by successive Governments has lead to the worlds rail network. Do we have any great engineers such Isambard Kingdom Brunel any more?

Once again I am the first in the office and I have even sorted out my emails and now know which ones I have to address, which this morning is the grand total of one, (maybe I could go home after that).

That should take only a couple of minutes it only involves saving the attachments in a folder and checking a drawing. Maybe I can get on with some proper work today, it took me most of yesterday to sort out the last batch of emails. Mind you I have an idea to stop them, just mark the people who send the most as junk, then you don’t even get them they are deleted before they get in the inbox or I could block them. Somehow though I don’t think that would go down to well, oh well I suppose I will have to continue what I am doing.

One of the places we visited during our stay in Yorkshire was Hebden Bridge, a quaint little market town set in the picturesque Calderdale Valley. We always visit here when we venture to Yorkshire; it has some great little shops and Cafes.

It’s only about 8 miles from Haworth the home of Bronte’s, both are well worth a visit if you are in the area.

If you click on the image, you can see it at a better size.

I took about 75 pictures over the weekend, some need a little editing some are ok as they are, I will try and sort a few out later to be uploaded and posted on here.  

Considering I only took one extra day off, I was surprised to find that nearly everybody in the world decided to send me an email, well it appears that way my inbox is full, I have even got a email telling me that my inbox is over its limit, well I have 25 of them, and another 127 relating to work.

After I go through them and sort the wheat from chaff I will probably have about 30 or less that will need to actioned. The rest will be crap and will sent to the archive box (I don’t delete anything).

The good thing is no one has put anything in my diary, so I have a clear week, no useless meetings to attend, where normally nothing is ever achieved but everyone gets loads of action points to address.

Am still the only one in the office, which is usual for this time of day most people tend to arrive at 07:30 or a little after. Am gradually whittling the emails down, while typing this blog, why do people forward you emails when you are already on the distribution list for the original, probably because they don’t read them properly.

Back at my desk worse luck, I think I would rather be home in bed, alas the holiday is over and I have returned to work (crying into my coffee). Still it was a nice break and totally relaxing despite the amount of driving I did. Fortunately I never got stuck in traffic once the roads were clear all the way to Yorkshire and all the way back.

The roads this morning were very quiet as well, although there were signs of heavy rain last night with some flooding this morning. The radio did mention the storm last night, but I never heard a thing, I will check to see if Rosemary heard anything last night (I left her asleep in bed, lucky thing).

I wish I was still in Yorkshire, although I am not in work today I am struggling to find any enthusiasm, its 11:30 and am still sat here in my dressing gown.  I have down a few things, i.e. I done the weekly shopping online, I have renewed my car tax online, and I have down loaded the pictures I took over the weekend from my camera.  

The only thing that remains to done is process the picture, clean up the flat and do the washing but I just can’t be bothered am I just a lazy git or am I suffering from the holiday blues. 

Am back in wet and windy Essex after a glorious weekend away, it was a little windy up in Yorkshire but it was warm and sunny. However, the weather in the south of England was dreadful am glad I missed it.

More to follow, I need to get my act together, need to do a few jobs around the house and get ready for work (sorry about the swearing ----work)

The bags are packed and I am showered and dressed, the bags are packed and am ready to go. Unfortunately the lady of the house in not quite ready, although I would say another 15 minutes and she will be.

Then it will be up the Great North road into Yorkshire and then a short trip across the M62 to arrive at the destination. Sounds so simple when put like that, hopefully all will go well.

Have a great weekend everybody.

Well that’s it I’ve finished no more work until Wednesday, I about to pack up clear my desk and disappear out of the door, for well deserved break. It appears that every one as the same idea as the office is deserted. Hoe you all have a great weekend, I doubt think I will get much chance to blog, but will try my best.

KNOW YOUR SUBJECT  

Photographing animals, whether your cat at home or a fox in the great outdoors, requires patience, perseverance and an understanding of animal behaviour so you can predict how they will be likely to act or react, and anticipate the moment for a good photograph.

If you consider an animal's character in the same way you do when photographing people, and try to capture it on film, you won't go far wrong. Make sure you know what you want your images to say about the animal before you start clicking away, and then put your knowledge of composition, lighting and angles to work to get the pictures you want.

No shot is worth risking your safety when dealing with animals. Stay in the car if there is a bear or a buffalo on the road. A wild animal's reaction to your presence is unpredictable and even if they look so docile you feel you could walk up and pet them, remember, they can hurt and even kill you. Don't ever follow a dangerous animal (not too much of a problem in this country).

After the word "safety," the next three important words that govern animal photography are patience, patience and patience. Photography is like fishing in this regard. You often have to wait a long time in the right place to catch the best ones.

Patience applies equally when photographing pets and domestic animals. They sometimes seem to have a knack for being uncooperative when you bring out your camera. Keeping calm and taking things one step at a time often helps the animal to relax.

The zoo is an ideal place, because you will find animals there that we in Britain won’t see in the wild.  No zoo nearby? Visit a farm and take some pictures of the animals there. It may sound silly if you live in the country, but for someone with absolutely no experience with large animals, a farm is a good place to get your feet wet.

A car dealership in the United States is offering a free handgun with every vehicle sold. Max Motors in Butler, Missouri, says sales have quadrupled since the start of the offer.

Customers can choose between a gun or a $250 (£125) gas card, but most so far have chosen the gun. Owner Mark Muller said "we're just damn glad to live in a free country where you can have a gun if you want to".

The dealership sells new and old vehicles, including General Motors and Ford cars and trucks, and its logo shows a cowboy holding a pistol. It has sold over 30 cars and trucks in the past three days, an increase which the owners put down to their promotional offer.

Mr Muller said that every buyer so far "except one guy from Canada and one old guy" chose the gun, rather than the gas card. He recommends a Kel-Tec .380 pistol, which he describes as "a nice little handgun that fits in your pocket".

He added that the promotion was inspired by recent comments from one of the Democratic nominees for the presidential election, saying: "We did it because of Barack Obama.

"He said all those people in the Midwest, you've got to have compassion for them because they're clinging to their guns and their Bibles. I found that quite offensive. We all go to church on Sunday and we all carry guns."

The website advertisement for the offer, which continues until the end of the month, mentions that an approved background check on gun ownership is required.

"He said all those people in the Midwest, you've got to have compassion for them because they're clinging to their guns and their Bibles. I found that quite offensive. We all go to church on Sunday and we all carry guns."

ONLY IN AMERICA!

We should have the same promotion in the UK, except of course we would only give out water pistols, which of course would be very useful when stuck in a traffic jam in hot weather and could be used for the following.

• Shooting people in convertibles.
• Good for a drink, when stuck
• Cleaning your windscreen in an emergency
• Shooting people in convertibles

Source BBC News webpage

Fuel Tax
Fuel tax is an imposed sales tax put on the sale of fuel. Frequently, fuel tax is looked upon as a source of general revenue, with some being put towards the maintenance of roads and highways.

Fuel Tax in the UK

Fuel tax in the UK is constantly changing and has risen steadily over the last 15 years. Between 1993 and 1999 there was a rapid increase with duties on fuel increasing by 3% above inflation. This was due to a major change in petrol taxation in 1993 when the Conservatives introduced the Fuel Price 'escalator'. This was a way of the government making money and also to help protect the environment by discouraging people from using their cars. 

Fuel Escalator Forces Prices Up

This fuel escalator forced prices up from one of the lowest in Europe to now one of the most expensive. When it was first added, fuel prices rose by 3 pence a litre and tax contributed to 72.8% of the total cost. By 1997 the escalator had added 11.1p to the cost of unleaded petrol and was at 75%. It didn't get any better when the conservatives left office and Gordon Brown took over, as the escalator increased and 3 pence was added per litre. This took tax up to an incredible 81.5% of the total price of fuel.Fuel

Tax and the 2000 Fuel Protests

Despite the fuel escalator being abandoned in 1999, fuel prices did continue to rise rapidly, with a 2 pence a litre rise after the 2000 budget, contributing to the fuel protest. These rises were however argued by the government to be as a result of increasing oil costs rather than tax increases. This argument does hold some truth when we look at the graph above, showing that although the overall price of fuel has risen, the percentage of tax has stayed relatively constant and even dropped slightly this year.

Duty on fuel in the UK increased again on 1 October 2007, with an increase of 2.00 pence a litre on unleaded and diesel and an even greater increase on LPG and natural gas. See the fuel duty for all fuels below:

2007 Fuel Tax Figures

2007 fuel duty (as of 1 October 2007) in the United Kingdom is:

• 50.35 pence per litre for ultra-low sulphur unleaded petrol/diesel
• 53.65 pence per litre for conventional unleaded petrol
• 56.94 pence per litre for conventional diesel
• 30.35 pence per litre for bio-diesel and bio ethanol
• 16.49 pence per kg for gas other than natural gas (LPG)
• 13.70 pence per kg for natural gas used as road fuel.
• 9.69 pence per litre for rebated gas oil (red diesel)
• 9.29 pence per litre for rebated fuel oil

The bank holiday starts tonight and no doubt there will a rush to get away, either to the seaside (however the weather is not looking good for the south of England) to foreign parts where you are guaranteed warm and sunny weather. Or you might want to stay at home at home and do some DiY.

But before you pack the kids into the car and head down the beach, you might want to consider a report issued by the Marine Conservation Society, in its annual report ‘The Good Beach Guide’ it shows the number of beaches with excellent water quality has fallen by 10% since last year. The society blamed last year’s heavy rain for the decline and that the storms washed up more sewage onto the beaches.

I am lucky in that I only live about ¼ mile from the beach at Southend. I like to walk down the beach when the opportunity arises, but am disappointed at not only the quality of water but  the amount of rubbish on the beach and on the seafront. The council has provided a vast amount of large wheelie bins on the seafront for rubbish (about the only good thing the council has done in the last 5 years though), but the people of Essex don’t seem to have grasped the idea that you put rubbish in bins and not on the ground or on the beach.

One of my work colleagues who lives in Kent commented on the amount of rubbish on the beach and in particular the amount of cigarette butts on the beach, in fact he his so disgusted that he longer goes to Southend. One case I know, but it does make you think if the beach and seafront were cleaner then this would attract more visitors. I would say that this would be the same not only for Southend but for other seaside towns and villages in the UK.

If any council member reads this, just think you have been elected to help the community, do something to help!

Friday is here at last; god this week seems to have dragged. Only a few more hours and it’s a long weekend, tomorrow will travel to God’s County (Yorkshire) and not am coming back until late Monday or might even wait until Tuesday (I have booked Tuesday off).  

Rosemary is a little worried, as Caz does not to come with us, (she is sitting her ‘A’ Levels) so she is staying at home. This will be the first that she has stayed over at home over such a long period. I keep saying to Rosemary, “Looks she 17 nows, time to cut the apron strings”.  “She is a sensible girl and won’t be throwing wild parties (I hope)”.

I am sure she will be phoning her very 5 minutes to see if every thing is ok, I have no doubt though that every thing will be fine.

Time to go home (well nearly), after a very slow and mistake ridden start, it as turned out to be a good, day, I have achieved far more than I expected too, considering  the state I was this morning.

The traffic seems to be flowing quite well so I should be alright getting home, tomorrow may be different, but will face that then and won’t worry about it at the moment.

I have just been reading a report on the political donations made to the 3 main parties, Labour received £3m, the conservatives £4.2 m and the Liberal Democrats a miserable £470,000 (aw the poor Lib Dems), between January and March of this year.

Now I can understand why people give to the political parties, they hope to gain something from their support (I thought that was classed as bribery). What I can’t understand is why we allow it, each party should be allocated a sum of money from public funds, say £1m a year, this should pay for staff and campaign funds and this is all the money they should be allowed, perhaps then with all the parties on a equal footing we might get some decent and serious debate and we would see the parties for their true worth (Labour about £5, the Conservatives about £7.50 and the Liberal Democrats about 1.5p…lol).

What I do find somewhat difficult to understand, is how much debt the political parties are in, Labour £17.8m, the Tories £12m and Liberal Democrats £1.1m. What would happen if the banks decided enough was enough we want our money bank, does that mean that they would have to close down, and stop (trading) i.e. have no MP’s (some hope), but what would happen if they had to go bankrupt.

Interesting!

Oh on a  more serious point why give to political parties when you could give to a more worthwhile cause, Cancer Research or Alzheimer’s or something like that.

Because of my earlier lack of concentration I missed a couple of things that should have been included in a document  I was putting together, fortunately I have finally come around and my little grey cells (Hercule Poiriot) are now fully functional and I managed to spot the mistakes before I sent the said document out.

I have now amended the document, its been sent out and every thing is now looking great, thank god!

Have just applied for more training courses, there is one that I need to do because of new legislation that as come into force and there is one I would like to do, it would benefit the company but it would also be great benefit to me, in case I ever leave my current employment (always look to the future).

I am now fully in bank holiday made, despite still having a couple of days left till the end of the week; I really want to get away now. Perhaps, I’m a little tired from watching last nights game, I don’t know but I am struggling to concentrate on the job in hand.

Am not taking a lot away, we are travelling light, as long as I remember the most important thing, my camera equipment I will be happy. Ah the simple things in life!

Congratulations to Chelsea, oh sorry you lost didn't you gloat, gloat.

I don't know why I'm gloating I follow Liverpool....lol

Siberian Tiger(Canon 350D f5.6 @ 1/1000sec 100 – 400mm Canon IS zoom lens)

As a wildlife enthusiast I tend to shot in AV mode, I can set the required aperture and the shutter speed is therefore set automatically, this gives me control over the depth of field. I generally use a long lens (50 - 500mm) which helps me get in close to the subject I am after, and with the aperture set to say f5.6 the subject will be in focus while the background will be thrown out of focus.  

If you require to freeze the action then TV mode is the setting to be used, it sets the speed of the shutter to be used and alters the aperture accordingly. I used to use manual all the time found it difficult to control if I wanted to take a picture very quickly, and I ended up either missing the shot or it wasn’t exposed correctly.

Most cameras produced these days have varying forms of automation.  There are Full Auto mode, Program (P) mode, Aperture Priority (AV) mode, Shutter Priority (TV) mode, Manual (M) mode and some cameras have a multitude of special Program modes like Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Action, etc. 

The method of using apertures/shutter speeds outlined above is generally suitable for cameras with the Manual (M) mode.  In other modes, any change in either the aperture (in AV mode) or the shutter speed (TV mode) will be compensated for by the camera’s internal computer.  For example, if you have your camera set to AV mode, and has decided that you want lots of depth of field in your image, and you have set your aperture to f/11 (aperture priority), the camera will select a shutter speed to give what it computes to be the correct exposure.  Likewise, if you have your camera set to TV mode, and have decided that you want a shutter speed of 1/250 second (shutter priority) to freeze movement, again the camera will set an aperture to give what it computes to be the correct exposure. 

In Program (P) mode, most cameras set both the aperture and shutter speed for what it computes to be optimum exposure.  However, most cameras also have what is called “Program Shift” which is a facility whereby if you change one of the settings, say the aperture setting, the camera will automatically compensate by changing the other setting for you.  This is very useful and could be seen to be an alternative method to using AV or TV modes. 

In the other modes, i.e. Full Auto and special Program modes, there is not usually any adjustment to the camera settings possible. 

Finally, whilst all settings may be changed as outlined above, be aware that the camera will not be able to make settings outside the capability of the lens or camera.  For example, if you wanted to use a higher shutter speed than suggested, and the resulting aperture was outside the range of the lens, lights would flash in the viewfinder to warn you of the fact.  Likewise, if you wanted a large aperture and the resulting shutter speed was out of the camera’s range, you would also be warned.

On this in 1927 Charles Lindberg made the first solo non stop flight of the Atlantic in Spirit of St Louis.

Lindbergh's feat gained him immediate, international fame. The press named him "Lucky Lindy" and the "Lone Eagle." Americans and Europeans idolized the shy, slim young man and showered him with honours.

Plans for a super-database containing the details of all phone calls and e-mails sent in the UK have been heavily criticised by experts. The government is considering the changes as part of its ongoing fight against serious crime and terrorism.  

Assistant Information Commissioner Jonathan Bamford has warned that the UK could be "sleepwalking into a surveillance society". Others have questioned how such a database could be made secure.  

Soon nothing will be sacred, with the number of CCTV cameras set to increase and now this new Government scheme, it seems very soon every aspect of our life will be monitored, recorded and checked, what will be next? 

Advances in technology have made life much easier for many of us. Computers, mobile phones and many other gadgets have made us dependent on that very technology. It is also brings us closer to losing all the freedom that we have come to expect. At this rate every aspect of our life from the moment we are the day we die will governed by some bureaucrat.   

MP’s rejected a bill to reduce the time limit of abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks, this was defeated by 332 to 192 A second proposal to reduce the limit to 22 weeks was also defeated by 304 votes to 233.   While only a small proportion of abortions are carried after 20 week, experts believe that the foetus can feel pain at that stage.

Edward Leigh a former minster and father of six had campaigned for a 12 week limit, which he stated would bring us into line with the rest of Europe. He said

"In modern Britain the most dangerous place to be is in your mother's womb. It should be a place of sanctity, 98% of abortions are social - only 1.3% are for foetuses which are handicapped, 0.4% are for risk to mother's life" and added: "It is a bleak picture of modern Britain ...I believe we should give that silent child a voice."

On a personal point I do believe that 24 weeks is too long unless there is a serious medical condition that makes an abortion necessary. The limit could safely be lowered to 18 weeks, but I didn’t know that the limit in Europe was only 12 weeks.

Good morning all! It Wednesday half way through the week and only a few days to go before another bank holiday, I can hardly wait. Have just checked the weather for the south of England and it not something to write home about, Saturday is cloudy with some sunny periods, while Sunday’s forecast is for rain. I did mention some time ago that this weekend is Southend air show and it always rains for that. However, for Yorkshire (where I’m heading) it going to be sunny, yippee (the sun always shines on the righteous).

Fingers crossed it looking good for us this weekend.!

The Golden Section Rule: It has been found that certain points in a picture's composition automatically attract the viewer's attention. Similarly, many natural or man-made objects and scenes with certain proportions (whether by chance or by design) automatically please us. Leonardo da Vinci investigated the principle that underlies our notions of beauty and harmony and called it the Golden Section. Long before Leonardo, however, Babylonian, Egyptian, and ancient Greek masters also applied the Golden Section proportion in architecture and art.

To get a clearer sense of these special "Golden" composition points, imagine a picture divided into nine unequal parts with four lines. Each line is drawn so that the width of the resulting small part of the image relates to that of the big part exactly as the width of the whole image relates to the width of the big part. Points where the lines intersect are the "golden" points of the picture:

The modern camera is capable of many things. It can focus for you; work out exposure for you; select a suitable shutter speed or aperture along with a multitude of other functions. However useful you may find these functions the one thing a camera can't do is compose your picture for you. It has no idea what it is pointing at and it has no idea what you are trying to achieve so you are on your own.

If you are using an 'auto-everything' camera like a digital compact or program SLR then your main area of control is going to be in the composition of your photographs. Sadly nobody can tell you how to take a great picture as to some degree it comes down to your ability to 'see' a picture or the potential to create a picture. Having said that; there are a load of 'rules' and techniques you can use to improve the final look of your photographs. We will look at a few of the popular, effective and easy to implement techniques that you will be able to start using right away. 

MPs are to vote on the emotive issue of cutting the abortion time limit on the second day of debates on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.  An amendment to the government's bill has been put forward to reduce the upper time limit on abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or less.  

Health Minister Dawn Primarolo insists there is no evidence requiring the abortion laws to be changed. She told BBC News: "There is no science that shows us that the survival rates have changed since we took the decision to have the time limit at 24 weeks."  

She also said the government wants to protect the right of women to choose. However, David Jones, a professor of bio-ethics, said research on the survival rates for extremely premature babies was "disputed".  

Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who put forward the amendment to change the abortion laws, said she believes the right of a woman to choose has its limits. She said: "If a baby feels pain as part of a barbaric abortion process - which is what happens post-20 weeks - and if we know that baby could live if it was allowed to be born, then there comes the point when that baby has rights which are of equal parity to the mother's."  

Previous attempts to force a vote on lowering the abortion limit have been defeated, but as there is a free vote on the issue, an unknown number of MPs may choose to stay away, or abstain. That increases the chances of those campaigning to lower the limit to 20 or 22 weeks, who claim to have the backing of 200 MPs.  

No matter how the vote goes it will go against some individual’s moral stance, some people are against abortion altogether, as for me, I feel that a 20 week limit is adequate, and therefore the limit should be lowered.

MP’s have voted to back hybrid embryo research in a sometimes heated debate the vote to ban research was defeated on a free vote by 336 to 176. I fully back this type of research if helps to find a cure for some of the genetic diseases then that must be a good thing. However, there must be strict controls. There will always be some mad scientist who will push the boundaries beyond that intended; I doubt we will have some animal/human hybrid walking around but some will try to see if it that is possible.

Before you show anyone those hundreds of holiday photos or the 2 hour slide show, edit your work. Take out all the doubles, all the duds, the out of focus and generally crap. Only show people the good stuff and your standing as a photographer immediately increases. Pro's can shoot a load of rubbish like anyone else; they just don't show it to anybody.

Have just completed my annual appraisal which went very well, at least I didn’t get the sack. Actually am very pleased most of the ticks were either in the good boxes with three or four in the excellent box, and a couple in ok boxes. The written assessment was good and I have no complaints, so I am now a happy bunny. 

On the down side my breathing is laboured once again and I feel my voice will pack in at any moment, at this rate I will be soon on the sick once again. I hope not I want to go to Yorkshire, visit my dad and do a bit of walking and lots of photography, I need to get over this fast, I still think my asthma playing up, Rosemary thinks it’s a chest infection (which am prone to as well). Which ever I just want to get over it!

Am really struggling this morning to get back into the swing of things, am finding it hard to concentrate and am lost at what to start first. The price you pay I suppose for being off sick over the last couple of days.

Roll on the weekend, can't wait to go to Yorkshire

Snow Leopard
(Canon 350D f5.6 @ 1/500sec: Canon 100 -400mm IS Zoom Lens) 

Exposure is the amount of light collected by the sensor in your camera during a single picture.  If the shot is exposed too long the photograph will be washed out.  If the shot is exposed too short the photograph will appear too dark.  Almost all cameras today have light meters which measure the light in the given shot and set an ideal exposure automatically.  Most people depend on the light meter which is fine, but if you know how to control your exposures you can get some creative and sometimes better pictures. 

The two primary controls your camera uses for exposure are shutter speed (the amount of time the sensor is exposed to light) and aperture (the size of the lens opening that lets light into the camera).  Shutter speeds are measured in seconds and more commonly fractions of a second. (1/2000 of a second is very fast and 8' seconds is extremely slow).  Apertures are measured in something called f/stops (a very wide aperture is f/2.8 and a very small aperture is f/19).

You might wonder why there is not just a constant shutter speed or a constant aperture so that you would only have to worry about one control.  The reason is that even though they both control the amount of light getting to the sensor they also control other aspects of the picture.  Shutter speed for example can be used to freeze subjects in midair with a fast speed or it can be used to blur water with a slow speed.  Aperture controls the depth-of-field which is what is in focus in the picture.  Aperture can be used to draw attention to one subject by blurring the background with a wide aperture (low f/stop).  Aperture can also be used to focus everything in a picture with a narrow aperture (high f/stop).  (The photo on the left is with Wide aperture (low f/stop) and corresponding shutter speed).          

On most digital SLR’s cameras today you can even change the sensitivity of the sensor when collecting light which is called the ISO speed.  The common span of ISO speed is 100 to 800.  The higher the ISO speed the faster the camera collects light but it also adds more noise to the photograph than the lower speeds.  For example if your trying to take pictures in dim light without a tripod you might want to raise the ISO speed in order to get a picture that's not blurry.  Most of the time you should keep it at a lower ISO speed if there is enough light, but it makes a big difference when there isn't. 

Source PictureCorrect.com

Monday morning and I’m back at work, I still don’t think I am 100% but I really can’t take any more time off work. So am sat at my desk and I will just have to be careful what I get up too.

Well its annual appraisal day hopefully it will go ok. I not really worried, what will be, will be no matter what I do now.

Have just checked the five day forecast for Yorkshire and it looks good until Friday, which is as far as it predicts and it looks good so hopefully we will have a great bank holiday. Am going Saturday morning and back on Tuesday, well that’s the plan so far.  

I learnt this while I was in the service and I did finish my career as a Sergeant Major

The General
Runs faster than a speeding bullet
Can walk on water
Is as strong as ten trains
Can leap tall buildings
Talks to God

The Major
Can run as fast as a speeding bullet
Can swim well in calm water
Is as strong as one  train
Can jump tall buildings in favourable winds
Is sometimes invited to talk to God

The Captain
Can Fire a speeding bullet from a gun
Can swim well with arm bands
Is as strong as a bus
Can find the entrance to tall buildings
Can talk to God only if request forms are filled out in triplicate

The Lieutenant
Is never given a loaded weapon
Drowns when placed near water
Say's "look Choo Choo"
Can tell what a tall building looks like 9 times out of 10
Has never heard of God

The Sergeant Major
Catches speeding bullets in his teeth and chews them
Freezes water with a single glance
Blows over 20 strains with one puff
Kicks aside tall buildings that get in his way
HE IS GOD

Robin
(Canon 350D F4.5 @ 1/500sec: Canon 90 – 300mm zoom lens) 

We have edited our pictures and we are happy with results now what do we do with them, how do you find one particular picture you need in six months time? Not an easy task if you just have not thought about storage or cataloguing them.  

One you have edited your pictures then the original should be stored separate, I learnt this the hard way, I had all my pictures stored in one folder, the computer crashed and I lost thousand of pictures that I no longer had copies of, years of pictures I had taken while I was in the army vanished in a split second.  

Has I previously have said I shot in RAW format, I convert these and edit the resulting image, the original file is stored on an external hard drive and only contains RAW files. If I need the original it’s a simple process to locate the particle file number.  

The edited image is stored in a folder and is named only by date that the picture was taken, this helps in locating a picture. The only problem I have is that I have lots of folders, but there are broken down into months and then into years, a lot I agree but is does help. I don’t rename the picture it just has the file number given to it by the camera when it was shot.  

I have invested in a photo catalogue, Adobe Photoshop Album, this is a god send, you can tag photos then when you require to find an image you just click on the tags you want and the picture is located, could be any simpler.  

The golden rule is to always back up your images, an external hard can cost as little as £50 for a 160GB this is able to store 10’s of thousands of images and gives you piece of mind, just remember to keep it safe and back up your pictures every time you have been out.

Fox
(Canon 350D F6 @ 1/500sec: Sigma 50 – 500mm zoom lens) 

Whatever, type of digital camera you own and no matter what type of images you photograph, those images must ultimately be processed through a series of software applications that get them to there intended audience, whether that be on paper or online.  

For the majority of people the process know as ‘Workflow’ is a simple and painless process, you connect the camera to the computer with the lead supplied switch on the camera and the images are transferred to the computer and that’s the end of the work, you just select the pictures you want print them off and send a picture of little Johnny to Grandma, who delights in the fact you have remembered her.  

For others the process is a little more complicated, many of us will have hundreds if not thousands (at the last count, I had a little over 20,000 images taken in the last 5 years). We need to catalogue these where we can easily find them again.  

Once we have down loaded the images we must go through each one and delete the ones we don’t want, the out of focus or the ones where we have managed to photo our own thumb.  

For the more advanced we next move on to editing, enhancing our pictures has never been easier and there are many software programs that we can use. Photoshop is the best on the market but at over £500 for a copy is well out of our price range unless you are professional. However, Adobe do make an abridged version, Photoshop Elements at under a £100 pounds it will do everything that the  most people need, there are of course others on the market priced about the same  that do the same job. Corel Paintshop Pro to name one.  

I have a copy of Photoshop and I have a few that I have down loaded from the web for free, these are good for simple fixes and are perfectly adequate and I do use them, two that you should try are Gimp and Photoscape, both are really very good.   

So we have editing our pictures what’s next on the agenda. This will be discussed in the next post.

Well Portsmouth won the FA for the first time since1939, lets hope its another 70 years before they get the chance again, in recent years the FA Cup and become boring with each team afraid of losing hence leading to a dull and uninteresting game.  

Yesterday game was like having teeth pulled, it was more exciting watching grass grow or paint dry.  It certainly wasn’t the spectacle expected, more like a game Sunday morning pub game. 

However, congratulations to Portsmouth, next season its Europe for you.

What  a beautiful start to the day, the sun as decided to put in an appreance once again, and the weaher forecast loks good for the rest of the week, not quite as warm as its been been but certainly bright and sunny. Fingers crossed it will contine into next weekend.

Rabbit

My cat as just brought us a most lovely present (I think not), a young fledgling starling, but bloody cats, she as been sat on the table for the last weeks watching and squeaking at the birds in the garden, today she got out and did what cats do, killed.

I will try and keep her in until the rest ahave flown the nest, but she gets out through the fan light window and with the weather being so warm I can't have the windows closed all the time. Oh and she does ahve a bell on her colllar, but but gets her prey.

Amur LeopardCanon 350D f5.6 @ 1/500sec 100-400mm Canon IS zoom lens

The perceived wisdom that if you’re after the best quality output from your digital files then you should be recording your images as RAW files. As I said in my previous post RAW is not an acronym but in fact is a good description of the file itself.  

It is a simply just what it says a RAW file has no parameters applied to it. These files have a huge amount of flexibility and when processing you can alter these parameters without losing the original data. If you shoot RAW you are recording a file with a huge amount of potential, whereas a JPEG has far less flexibility, unfortunately a RAW file must be processed.  

RAW files allow to change the parameters such as brightness, white balance, picture style, hue saturation and sharpness, while you can alter the individual red, green and blue colour channels.  

If your camera has the ability then I recommend that you shoot in RAW format, unfortunately these are larger files then JPEG so you are able to store less on your memory cards, but it is worth it. The cost of memory cards has drastically fallen over the last few years, so have a few spare in your bag.  

In the next article, I will explain the digital work flow.

Siberian Tiger
Canon 350D f5 @ 1/400sec: Canon 100 – 400mm IS zoom lens

This article will either be useful to you or be no benefit whatsoever. The taking of the picture is normally the easy part you point the camera at what you want to take a picture a picture off and press the button and you have a perfect image (we hope).

But have you ever considered the format of the file, probably not, that is unless you a more advanced photographer, many people are just concerned with talking the picture and seeing what results we have achieved when we down load it our computers.

However, there a number of formats that is available to us;

JPEG of JPG: Every one of us will be familiar with this format it what every camera and every piece of software recognises, developed by the Joint Photographic Experts Group hence the term JPEG. The format uses what is know as a ‘lossy’ compression method. Every time you open and save the image some information is lost. Don’t worry normal viewing will not degrade the image. However, if you keep editing the image eventually it will degrade to such an extent that that it will not able to be used.

Tagged Image File Format (TIFF): This is the most universally recognised image format, most the of big printing companies, magazines and stock agencies require their images in this format. It’s a lossless format in that no matter how times the file is worked it will not degrade. Unfortunately the file sizes are massive compared with JPEG, a 8megapixel shot in JPEG may be 2 or 3 MB depending on the compression, however the same image in TIFF could 25MB or larger a bit of difference don’t you think.

RAW: RAW doesn’t really stand for anything, it’s unique to each camera manufacturer and only the top end cameras will be able to operate this format, when you take a picture in JPEG the camera will apply some processing to the image i.e. white balance. However in RAW no processing takes place, when the image is down loaded it must be processed and then converted the manufacturer will provide the necessary software for this, or there are software packages on the market that will do this.

As I said at the beginning the majority of people do need to worry about these formats just keeping shooting in JPEG as you have always done. I actually shot in RAW format; in my next article I will explain

Cardiff and Portsmouth will contest the final of the FA Cup this afternoon. It a bit of a shock that these teams made it to the final (nothing against either Cardiff or Portsmouth), I would have thought that pubs and clubs would rather have one of the top teams in the final as they will bring in more punters.

I doubt very much that the local pubs around here will be full, however if one of the big four would have made then it would be different story. But that’s not the case so good luck to both teams; I’ll still be watching it’s about the only game I still watch any more.

Saturday, normally I would be getting ready to venture into town and have look around, this Saturday I don’t need a thing and after my asthma episode early in the week, I am making sure that I fully recovered before work on Monday.

Beside next week is Bank Holiday weekend and we are off to Yorkshire to visit my dad, hopefully it will be a nice weekend, I have my fingers crossed already.

As promised I will try and write a few articles on photography, but they might have to wait until tomorrow to be posted.

Rabbit

It's Friday evening and the weekend has begun, I haven't anything planned thius weekend, am just planning on resting this weekend and fully recover from my asthma so am ok to return to work on Monday.

Rabbit

Burma state TV has released more details on the cyclone that hit the country nearly two weeks ago, the offical death toll has now jumped to 78,000 with 56,000 still missing. The Red Cross and UN have estimated the death to be over 100,000.

Mean whle in China some 5 million people have been made homeless after the earth quake last week, the offical death toll is now at 22,000 but is expected to rise to over 50,000.

Scottish Wildcat
(Canon 350D – f5.6 @ 1/1600sec: Sigma 50 – 500mm zoom lens)    

I am intending to post more articles on photography, but it will take me a little time to draft them, hopefully you find interesting and informative and maybe you might even learn something.  They say photography is an art, I have never considered myself an artist, I just love photography and nature and the two come together so well. Along with the articles I will post some of favourite shots. If you enjoy photography and you are not already a member, please join the photography group, we have some great photographs posted there, you can gain tips and inspiration from other member.

If you haven’t already got a digital camera (where have you been- sorry couldn’t help that) or you are thinking of buying a new camera. You really need to decide what you intend to with the camera, if it’s just for taking on holiday or taking pictures of the kids playing in the garden then you won’t need a digital SLR, but what other options are available.

The first thing that the majority of people will look at is the resolution of the camera. This is the numbers of pixels on the sensor and will determine what size an image may be printed at. A senor with 3,027 x 2,048 will have a resolution of 6 megapixels. Printed at 300dpi this will produce a print of 10 x 6” (25 x 15cm), which for normal family pictures is perfectly adequate. However, if you are planning on selling your images then this may not be good enough; we will discuss this in a later post.

So we have decided that a resolution of 6 megapixels is fine, but what’s the next thing we need to consider. Do you want flexibility, by this I mean a camera that’s small light weight and can easily fit into your pocket? With a compact camera you don’t have to worry about shutter speed or aperture all you do is point and shot, the camera will take care of all the settings. If this what you require than a compact will be perfectly adequate, the cost of camera might range from around £30 upwards but the results are good enough to put in the family album and you can enjoy them for years to come.

However, you may want to go down the route of the semi pro camera, these are very much like the digital SLR but you don’t have to change the lens, which can be a good thing but it does limit the camera somewhat, however the results can be just as good as a digital SLR. You can alter some of the setting, shutter speed, aperture and even the ISO settings. So it does feel like a digital SLR.

A digital SLR is the choice of professional or dedicated amateurs more expensive than semi professional cameras but do generally produce better results, these have an interchangeable lens. The choice of lens will depend on what you intend to shot, wildlife need a longer zoom lens 400mm or 500mm focal length, while landscape will need a wide angle lens. Of course the semi pro cameras do have zooms and wide angle settings but these are limited and do not produce as good as result as a digital SLR. If your considering a digital SLR, you really do need to consider what you intend to shoot, lens are expensive, I own a Sigma 50 – 500mm zoom lens, it produces great results but is very expensive, at about £700 it’s a very big outlay, and it very heavy you don’t want to carry it around for very long.

There are numerous magazines on the market that will help you decide make of camera to buy, but for family shots and the like go for the compact, if you want more control over your pictures than a semi pro type camera will suffice. If you to do even more or sell your pictures then maybe you are looking at a digital SLR.

But what ever you opt for enjoy yourself; photography is great fun and the images you take will remind in years to come the joy and happiness you have had through the years. Remember the saying a picture paints a thousand words.

Digital technology has come in leaps and bounds over the last decade; this can dramatically be seen in photography. Sales of digital cameras have soared and few people would argue that photographers are living in dynamic and interesting times.

The first digital camera appeared in 1984, produced by Kodak it had a sensor that produced a 1.4 megapixel image, then in 1991 the first professional camera was produced a 1.3 megapixel sensor was housed in a Nikon camera body.

Since the mid 1990’s the manufacture and sale digital cameras started to increase, with Sony, Kodak and Casio all producing digital cameras. But the market was still lead by film. It was probably canon who did more than any other company to lead the way in the digital age, it produced EOS 1D, aimed at photojournalist it had a 4 megapixel camera. Then came the10D with a 6 megapixel senor, and then the 300D came on the market, it was the first DSLR to sell for under a $1000, a major break through in the digital age.

I bought my first digital camera in 1999, a SonyCyber shot, it had a sensor that produced an image of 2.1 megapixels, I still have it and it still produces reasonable images.

In this decade the sensors for camera have progressed at an unbelievable rate, my mobile phone has a sensor that will produce an image with a resolution of 5 megapixels.

Film camera are on there last legs, I do still shot on film. I picked up a Canon EOS500 for a fiver on Ebay and it producers great pictures, and I can even get the pictures scanned on to disc when they are developed. But in the main only professionals use film and then only in medium and large format cameras.

Cameras with sensors up to 12 megapixels are available with very little outlay, no matter what type of camera you use, a DSLR or a compact digital camera the quality of images that they can take are breathtaking.

In the next article we will consider the type of camera that best for the individual.

It has been reported that soldiers are supplying criminal gangs with guns and ammunition. Eighteen army servicemen have been dealt with either summarily or by army courts martial for theft of military equipment in the last three years, four of which involved the theft of firearms. Among them was marine John Hickman, jailed last year for seven-and-a-half years for stealing a Browning 9mm pistol from the naval base in Faslane, on the Clyde.

There is no evidence to suggest that any guns used in UK crimes were smuggled into the UK by HM Forces personnel from the operational theatres of Afghanistan and Iraq.

A statement issued by the MoD said "The MoD takes the loss of any service weapon very seriously. We work very closely with both the civil police and with HMRC to prevent the smuggling of weapons from operational theatres.

"Any allegations of this activity are investigated rigorously by the appropriate authorities and, should suspects be identified, they would be tried in a court of law and sentenced accordingly."

MoD records showed the number of weapons stolen from the services has risen from six in 2005 to 16 last year. The number lost rose from three to 21 in the same period.

What a difference between the two major disasters that have taken place in Asia over the last two weeks. The earthquake in China may have claimed the lives of up to 50,000 people. This once secretive society has now let in the worlds press and the whole world can see the rescue operation. China is a large a powerful nation and does not require aid; Britain has sent some specialist organisations that have fast experience in searching for survivors and bodies in earthquake struck areas.

On the other hand we have Burma, it been nearly two weeks now since the cyclone struck and very little information has come out, the Military Government has not let aid agencies into the area and very little food aid has been allowed in, what little food has been flown has been confiscated by the Government. The world does not know what is going on in Burma but from the sketchy reports that have come out it does not look good. We can only hope that the Government of Burma comes to its senses very quickly to prevent this disaster becoming very much worse.

Although I am feeling better am still not back to normal, so I remain off work and idoors at home, wish is not a bad thing looking outside at the weather. I think I will do a little reading, amd do a few posts on here.

Rabbit

Have just discovered that today is the first day of the Test Match between England and New Zealand, no wonder it's bloody cold and wet, if we banned cricket then the weather would be hot and sunny every day, it only rains because of the cricket.

Am at home on the sick, still feeling breathless and bloody cold to boot. The weather has taken a dramtic turn for the worse, am thinking about putting the heating on, am bloody freezing here.

Prehaps I should have stayed in bed, at least I would be warm.

An article in the paper this morning reports that Amy Winehouse will not face any criminal chargers for smoking crack cocaine. She was video smoking the substance and the video was then handed to police.

What message does this send to our children, this people are role models to our kids (but how anybody can see anything Amy Winehouse or Pete Doherty I just don't know). The law needs to come down heavy on these people, send them to prision for a minimum of 5 years with no parole, perhaps then the message will get through, drugs are dangerous and illegal 

I have manged to drag myself out of bed, I don't any better really, still feel breathless and quite weak, will doa few things on here then read on the sofa.

I feel my asthma is playing up again, feeling really breathless all the time, so have decided to take the day off and rest. Hopefully will feel better, have taken my ventolin which has helped a little, and have taken all the other stuff I'm on.

Rabbit

Am starving, I was a little pushed for time this morning, so my normal coffee and slice of toast was unfortunately missed, and am paying for it now, I could eat a horse, but only another half hour and I can eat my sandwiches.

The Government has released MoD Files relating to sighting of UFO’s in Britain and covers the period from 1978 to 1987. Please follow the links to read this article in full.

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7398108.stm

Do I believe in UFO’s not really? I believe that we are not alone in the universe but the distances are just to great for any alien’s to have visited us, and if UFO’s have visited this planet don’t you think they would have done more than scare farmers and drunks. Anybody who has the technology for space travel would surely make contact with other life forms in the universe.  

Well it appears am on my own today, everybody seems to have disappeared into London either on meetings or training course. Never mind at least it will be a quiet day here then.

I have loads of reading to do and I have to prepare for my annual appraisal on Monday, enough work in fact to keep occupied for the rest of the week without bursting a gut.

The picture above is Shoeburyness Common beach, it’s not a bad beach and never really too busy, even if the weather is good, the only problem is that jet skies are allowed there, which are a pain in the arse, the riders never stick to the rules, coming in too close to shore where swimmers are in the water and they just ruin the peace when revving their engines. Probably the worst invention every, I had a  go once after 10 minutes I was bored, all you do is ride and then ride back it a bit like watching paint dry.

THOUGHT I WOULD TRY THIS

 I normally use the old HTML editor, basically because am too lazy to change to the new one, or I forget, there seems to be a few more things on this one, I will always use it from now on , if I remember.

Rabbit

Wednesday, half way through week and there is a definite change in the weather, it was a little cooler this morning and there is no blue sky visible at all. The local radio was a making a joke this morning that summer is now over, and that we have had the sun we are going to get this year.

I am sure the next bank holiday will be a wet, how do I know? Well it's Southend airshow that weekenend and it always rains for that.

It’s nearly time to venture out on the long and winding road, more commonly know as the M25. Only another 30 minutes and I can suffer the frustration of trying to get through the Dartford Tunnel. Hopefully, fingers crossed it won’t be too bad, looking out of the window the traffic seems to flowing freely in both directions, and there are no incidents on the traffic report so I could be lucky.

Have just checked the weather forecast, looks like this lovely weather will shortly becoming to an end, according to BBC website rain is forecast for Friday and Saturday, shame I was really enjoying this hot and sunny weather.

A couple of articles taken from the BBC website

Former Premiership footballer Steve Claridge has been found guilty of dangerous driving. Coventry Crown Court heard he undertook cars at about 100mph in "treacherous" conditions on the M42 near Solihull, West Midlands, on 30 December 2006. Claridge, 42, who denied the charge, said he reached just above 70mph as he tried to exit the M42 to find a toilet.

He was pulled over by an unmarked police car on the southbound carriageway between junctions 4 and 3, the jury was told. Nigel Wilkins, prosecuting, accused Claridge of a "consistent piece of dangerous driving".

He said he drove at high speed on wet roads, repeatedly switching lanes, causing other motorists to "brake sharply in order to let him in".
The court heard that when he was pulled over, Claridge told police: "I was desperate for the toilet."

Pc Keith Dyson told the court: "As I started speaking to him, he started jumping up and down on the hard shoulder, holding his crotch and acting like a child who is desperate to go to the toilet." He added: "He continued to jump up and down in what I deemed to be an embarrassing action." Claridge told the court he was driving home from Blackpool after compiling a scouting report when he was pulled over in his silver Peugeot 307. He admitted undertaking two cars but denied driving dangerously. Speaking after the verdict, Claridge said: "I am really disappointed and shocked.

"It's going to affect my work, but I have got to accept the decision now and I have got to get on with it." He will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court in the week commencing 9 June.

In Another Incident

14-year-old old boy has been sentenced to youth detention for stealing a car and driving it at more than 110mph in a police pursuit. The child, who cannot be named, drove the VW Touran 30 miles from Hull to Scunthorpe chased by five police cars and a police helicopter.

Hull Magistrates' Court was told the boy, then aged 13, was arrested after he crashed into three parked cars.
He was sentenced to eight months in youth detention.

The youth was told at sentencing that he had endangered the lives of dozens of motorists and pedestrians. The court heard the boy stole the car from the Hull care home at which he was staying following an argument about his pocket money. He sped off from the city centre, weaving in and out of traffic on the Humber Bridge at more than 80mph. Then, pursued by the police cars, he drove past a roadblock and along the hard shoulder of the M180 at more than 110mph. When he reached Scunthorpe he crashed into the parked cars and fled on foot, before being arrested

A 20 year old man who dived from the pier at Southesea in a practice known as ‘tombstoning’ has broken his neck and may never walk again. This act of lunacy has ruined this young mans life. This is not the first instance of an accident like this. Most of them are fuelled by drink, I am sure that we will hear more instances like this during the summer.

Do I have any sympathy not in the slightest, you reap what you sow?

My asthma is playing up this morning am feeling a little breathless and my breathing is laboured, have just taken a couple of shots of ventolin and its becoming easier already. Thank god for the wonders of modern medicine.

I haven’t had a full blown asthma attack for ages. Saying that I did have one at the end of last year, I collapsed on the living floor really struggling for breath, Rosemary and Caz were really frightened, they had never seen anybody having attack before and don’t think they want to see one again.

I was watching a comedy on TV; in fact it was ‘My Family’ I was laughing so much that I stated coughing which triggered an asthma attack, talk about die laughing, thankfully I recovered after some medication and a good paramedic.

Have just received an email, informing me that I have an annual appraisal on Monday at 10:00, I have to go through the objectives I set on my last appraisal so see if I have met them. I also have to evaluate myself, and set new objectives before the meeting with my line manager on Monday.

My line manager has do the same exercise before our meeting on Monday, during the appraisal we have to agree the evaluation and my coming objectives for the next reporting period.

This is my first annual appraisal with this company, but I did have an appraisal after my probation period in January. Hopefully it should be ok, the annual bonus depends on the outcome of the annual appraisal, but because I have only been with this company since October am not expecting a bonus. Saying that I don’t think anybody in the company has received a bonus for the last two years, apart from the directors that is.

Can Boris really solve the problems on the streets of London, hopefully he can? We can not continue on the road we are travelling. On average a teenager was murdered last year every two weeks and we have started this year in the same vain.

But this is a not a problem that can be solved by one person alone, the police, politicians, community and probably the most important people to help solve this crime is the young people themselves.

The older generation like me, no longer know the minds of the youth today. Things are totally different now to when we grew up, the things that were important us are no longer relevant to the youth of today.

The vast majority of the youth today are far more intelligent than my generation. The teenagers that I have come into contact are on the whole polite and generally considerate of other people. The trouble is caused by only a small handful of kids, misguided into thinking that being a member of gang will bring them respect. Unfortunately this is not the case; in fact the reverse is true, these are the kids we need to educate.

Respect is earned through many things, hard work, dedication and honesty to name a few. The media have laid the blame on the parents of these kids and rightly they should share some of the blame, however society must take the majority of the blame we have a culture now have a culture of drug taking, binge drinking and having things straight away.

I doubt that gang culture, knife and gun crime will go away any time soon, we should prepare ourselves for more teenage deaths. Sad isn’t it?

It seems that a day does not go by; that we hear about another person who has been the victim of knife crime. In London it seems to have reached epidemic proportions. The latest, a 20 year old man was stabbed to death outside McDonalds, on Oxford Street yesterday evening in the rush hour.

On Saturday, Jimmy Mizen, a 16 year old boy was murdered because we wanted to avoid a fight.

Boris Johnson the new mayor of London has made a priority to reduce youth crime and the gang culture that goes with, I wish him luck, something has to done and quick. It unacceptable that we lose one life though knife crime, but the number of young people killed in the last 12 months is beyond believe.

My mother in law is fine after general anaesthetic; they were waiting for me by the main entrance when I got to the hospital. So it was a quite simple task, we got her home with no problems at all.

I don’t know what she had done exactly but it did involve sticking big needles into her hips and pelvis, sound quite painful to me, and at 83 years old must not be a pleasant experience.

Have only got 45 minutes left at work today, am leaving early this afternoon have to go to hospital and collect my mother in law. She has had an outpatient’s appointment today, having some type of injection into her hip; it must be quite painful because it has to be done under general anaesthetic. Hence the reason she needs a lift home. Am a good bunny!

Rabbit

Have got a really interesting task at the moment, am counting light fittings from a set of drawings, 2 drawings per floor and 17 floors. For those of you that are good at maths that’s 34 drawings, there are eight different types of fitting on each floor. It’s an easy job, but god is so boring. The joys of being an engineer, please god let me go to site and do some engineering.

Another great weekend, have taken one or two photographs and spent a lot of the weekend out in lovely sunshine, a very pleasant weekend I must say. On the down side Manchester United won the Premier League one a two more weeks to go then we can have rest from football for a couple of months, thank god.

Monday morning once again, and the start of a brand new working week, no doubt it will go the same way as the last one , apart from it’s a full 5 days this time. The great weather looks to continue though, that a bonus even though I am stuck in an office all week.

Oh well, we all have to work I suppose, we have mortgages to pay and all the other bills. Not look though before the next Bank Holiday.

The sensor cleaning kit was perfect, have cleaned the sensor and from the pictures I’ve taken there are no blemishes on any pictures I’ve taken. So it appears the little exercise was a great success.

See the picture above, this is Southchurch hall, not a blemish in sky or any where else, and the colour is good as well.

Rabbit

We are now back home after our trip out, as envisaged Southend is once packed to gunnels, it was a too warm for both us so we decided that we had enough.There are no parking spaces available on the sea front or in the town therefore, the day trippers are once again using the back streets. Thankfully I didn’t take my car out, (no point its only about 400m to the sea front from here) so nobody nicked my car parking space or parked in front of the drive.

Will down the pictures now see what they turn out like.

The flat is clean and I just finished cleaning my camera equipment, I even been out and got a couple of things from the local shop, am now ready to venture out to see what the world has to offer.

We are going to have a bit of a breakfast first, poached egg on toast (very nice). Rosemary is busy getting ready and from the traffic I can see from the window its pretty busy already.

Another half hour and we will be out of here.

Rabbit

The town and seafront will be packed once again as the day trippers flood into Southend on Sea. It's going to be a great day and all the shopkeepers and cafe owners will be rubbing their hands in glee.

It wasn't a great Easter this year damp and miserable and last summer wasn’t particularly good so it was probably difficult for them. But the last bank holiday was great and the weather is still good so they are probably making up for last year already. Long may it continue?

Oh if you are ready and coming to Southend, don’t park across the front of my drive, like the idiot yesterday otherwise I let your bloody tyres down.

I bought a sensor cleaning kit yesterday from Jessops (£29.99), I haven’t used it yet. Once I‘ve sorted out the flat I will give it a go before I go out. Check the pictures when I get it to see if its made a difference. Hopefully every thing will be ok, the instructions are easy to follow and it does seem very complicated.

So we will have to wait and what the results will be.

Another glorious day, the temperature is already approaching 20C and looks set to reach 26C or 27C. I have a few jobs to around the flat and then I’m off out to enjoy this great weather. I say enjoy while you can you never what it going to be like this summer. But the forecast is for more of the same all week, god I wish I was on holiday.

Another great day, shopping went ok, came home to drop everything then went out once again. Well sat in the in laws garden really nice but eventually it became to hot and had to go indoors.

Seems tomorrow will be much of the same, great!

I took this picture yesterday on the way home, I love the colour of Rape seed, and the smell delightfull.

Its the final day in the Premier football league today, we still have the FA Cup and Champions League final to go, and of course the lower league still have the play off’s to contend.

So we will have a summer free of football, well that entirely. Of course the European Championships are taking place but we failed to qualify so for it us a bit of rest and we can watch the best nations play. We might have the best and exciting league in the world, but are national team is in shambles in over words we are crap.

We have a small tripping to be made, not a lot required and it won’t take us very long I hope. One important item that I do require is a sensor cleaning kit for my camera. I have been meaning to get one for a ages.

At first I though and was told that the senor could be cleaned by an expert. (In this case it seems that an expert is – ex being an as been and xpert is a drip under pressure) sounds better that it looks).

It seems that all the camera manufacturers having been some economical with the truth, when cleaning the sensor you don’t actually touch the sensor it is covered by a piece of glass and that’s what needs cleaning. So according to article it is a easy but delicate operation.

Have just dragged my carcass out of bed, fed the cat and am now sat in front of the computer tapping away like crazy. Looking out of the window, it a little over cast at the moment, but we have been promised a hot a sunny day again.

I hope so; I went though my clothes that night to see what shorts still fit me, still have quite a few pairs so for the first time this it will shorts day.

Have just downloaded some photograph editing software on the internet, called ‘Photoscaoe’ from first look at appears very good, certainly better than spending quite a few on buying a commercial one.

It seems to have clouded over a little I hope it clears up, am planning on leaving early and want to take some pictures on the way home, the good thing is is still dry and warm.

Have found a few errors in the program of work I have been looking, it appears that someone has been changing durations of some tasks without asking, typical I suppose.

I think its going to be a very quiet day, only a couple of us in at the moment, I know its still early (08:15) but normally there are a lot more in than this. No meetings are planned for today at least not on my projects; I hope it stays that way, because I’m on a dress down day in other words am wearing jeans.

I probably get the chance to dress down once a month and only if I am not meeting any outside agencies. Because it’s Friday I will of course be knocking of early, well it is poets day, and I have already done the hours I am supposed to do.

Oh well I better crack on I still have a few jobs that need my attention.

Burma is still dominating the news; with up to 100,000 dead, Burmese officials are saying that they want aid and not and influx of foreigners aid is now arriving but UN Officials are concerned that the aid will not go to the people who require it.

In other news, Gordon Ramsay has said that restaurants should only serve seasonal vegetables and if they serve out should be fined if they serve out of season fruit and vegetables. He says it would cut carbon emissions, has they would not have to be transported. Am sure this will work (not), what about supermarkets whose imports are far greater than any restaurants.

But what about the farmers of these impoverished countries whose livelihood depends on export they fruit and vegetables to us. I agree something has to be done but I don’t think this will work.

Got a little side tracked in the last blog, moved way from the subject at hand and sarted on God's county (Yorkshire).

Moving back to the point or pointless discussion depending onh your point of few, the working week and the end of it. It's been a busy week but not overly demanding if get my meaning, acheived all I set out to and more. But the important thing it's Friday and the start of the weekend. Not a lot planned have to go out and but Caz a new watch becuase hers has finally bitten the dust and died. So she borrowed Rosemary's, becuase she doesn't like to be without a watch. Rosemary doesn't like to be without a watch either, so she borrowed mine, and I have been without a watch all week.

So tomorrow, I'll get my watch back, I hope!

Strange ttile you may say, but how many can remember the advert for Crunchie and that Friday feeling? Well it's Friday and I have that feeling, the last day of a short week and what a great week it's been, the weekend looks even better. Well for those of us in the south of England, those ofyou who live the nort will find cold, wet and windy, sorry.

The only good thing about living in the South is the weather, being a northerner, I love the north the dales and mountains probably the best place to live in the country, but the weather spoils it.

It will soon be time to head off home, only about an hour to go. I have a busy night though when I get in, Thursday is shopping night, I really look forward to that (not). But because Monday was a bank holiday tonight is also rubbish night.

Have to sort out the recycling and the rubbish for land fill, a really good job, god I hate it! I love shoot weeks, I just wish every week could be a four day week, but I prefer Friday off, I don’t know why it just appeals to me more.

A busy morning followed by a relatively quiet afternoon, have been through the program of work for one of our larger projects and made one or two comments. To be fair the program is more or less there whether, we stick it is anther story. It a long though and we are not due to finish the project until September 2010, a total of 125 weeks.

You may have guessed from my last blog and from pervious blogs, I am not particular fond of Kent, even though I work in Kent it’s my least favourite place. In fact I would go as far as saying that the best thing that could happen to Kent, would be if it was dragged into the middle of the North Sea and sunk.

An article on yesterday’s news, suggested that southern England should have a statue like the Angel of the North. Some observers believe that a stature strategically placed would give Southern England a new identity.

Five designs have already been shortlisted and a exhibition will gone on show at Bluewater shopping centre from the 27-May, the winner will be selected by a committee chaired by Lord Lieutenant of Kent, Allan Willett. It will be sited in Springhead Park, in the south-east corner of Ebbsfleet Valley, overlooking Ebbsfleet station and is expected to be complete in 2010.

One of the entries a white horse had been suggested by Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger. The white horse symbol of Kent dates from Anglo-Saxon times, when the area was settled by people whose leader is believed to have been called Horsa.

My suggestion is while we have the Angel of the North, perhaps we should have Satan of the South, and Kent would be the perfect place, hope you like my statue.

Another day in paradise, well maybe not. But the sun is once shinning and its going to be a great day. Even the weather for next five days us looking good, shame I’m in the office.

But I can look of the window and dream

Headley Court, the MoD’s rehabilitation centre based in Leatherhead, Surrey has received £24m from the Government to improve facilities at the centre, last nights City Salute was also raising funds for funds for the Centre to build a new swimming pool.

The centre does a great job in rehabilitating members of the armed forces who have been injured not only in combat but in other situations as well.

Going back a few years now, there was two centres Headley Court and RAF Chessington, Headley Court was for Officers and Chessington was for other ranks.

After a serious injury I spent several months there, the treatment and care I received was second to none. It was so good that sporting bodies sent some of their athletes there; it was considered the best in the country. The staff there deserve all the credit they get, they do a great job, any thing to make they job easier would be fully appreciated by them and by the patients they treat.

Finally we have something that makes our armed forces feel appreciated, for too long we have ignored these people who do a difficult and dangerous job in arduous conditions. Yes, nobody made them sign on and they know that they may be killed or seriously injured but that does not mean that we ignore them.

Royal Patrons: HRH Prince William of Wales and HRH Prince Henry of Wales.
The City of London paid thanks to British troops and their families for the sacrifices they make on our behalf, through an Appeal and a special Pageant.

The sunset pageant in front of St Paul’s Cathedral last night was a celebration of the qualities of our Servicemen and Women: their courage, modesty, toughness, and humour.

The event was a very personal tribute, organised by the men and women of the City to demonstrate their admiration for the Armed Forces - who are in many cases their friends and neighbours, or their own relations. City Salute is not about foreign policy – it's about people, about the members of our society who choose to serve and to go cheerfully and uncomplainingly wherever they are sent on our behalf; and about the families they leave behind here at home.

This event was no ordinary military pageant: it saw the Band of HM Royal Marines marching through Temple Bar; the ceremonial troops of the Household Cavalry; a fly past and aerial display by the RAF; along with some stunning moments of theatre, and a spectacular light show projected onto St Paul’s Cathedral.

Crowds around St Paul’s and in Paternoster Square witnessed this dramatic display, including a series of specially commissioned short films relayed onto giant screens.

Nearly time to go home only about 45 minutes to go, the traffic doesn’t look to bad, it seems very quiet out there, so it should be a good trip home. Fingers crossed.

Not been a bad days work, I achieved what I set out to do, so am a happy little bunny at the moment. The weather is good and seems set to remain warm and sunny right until Sunday at least, great news for all of us.

The only down side is I have a little headache, I don’t think I have drunk enough water and am a little dehydrated will have to drink more if this hot weather is to remain.

Rabbit

Is the age of cheap air travel coming to an end? Budget airline Easyjet has revealed that for the first six months to 31 March the firm made a loss of £57.5m.

Although passenger numbers have increased by 15% to 18.9million and has revenue increased by 24% to £892m over the same period. It said that fuel costs from April to September are set to increase by at least £45m pounds.

The price of jet fuel has risen 35% over the last three months and is now 80% higher than last year, said the airline's chief executive Andy Harrison.

However, he said this would impact more on competitors than Easyjet.
"Nobody knows how much of this increase is driven by short-term financial speculation and how much is a longer term sustainable increase," he added.

"What is certain is that if these fuel increases are maintained many of our weaker competitors will disappear or downsize and Easyjet will emerge even stronger reflecting the combination of our business model, our cost advantage, our new fuel efficient fleet and the strength of our network."

I find his statement hard to understand, how long can a compnay remain viable when it makes a loss of £57million, last year it made a loss of £17.1 million doesn't seem good business to me.

It is said that BAA is set to increase costs at Stansted Airport although Easyjest and rivals Ryanair are fighting this in the courts. If the rise goes ahead then this will further hurt the cheap air travel industry.

Which for the environment maybe not be a bad thing.

According to a survey carried for Norwich Union Healthcare, a third of employees have admitted to being at work with a hangover and more than one in ten admitted being drunk at work.

Some occupations are worse than others with regard to drinking and the workplace. Forty-one per cent of people working in media and creative jobs said they had been to work while still drunk - four times the average.
The number who admitted to have been drunk at work was also high in the construction industry (24%), professional and business services (23%), and information technology (15%).

Don Shenker, from Alcohol Concern, said that with so many people drinking at harmful levels, it was not surprising that it was having an effect on the workplace. "After-work or lunchtime drinks are the norm for many and in some cases this is promoted by companies as a way to build teams or just as the way to do business."

The company who I work with now and the ones where I previously worked, have had a drugs and alcohol policy and did not tolerate the abuse of drugs or being drunk at work. They had random testing any body under the influence of either drugs or alcohol would be dismissed, this may seem harsh, but I worked at Stansted Airport and on the underground which by they very nature are considered life critical and you wouldn’t want drunks involved at those areas.

Rabbit

Looking out of the office window it looks another great start to the day and he’s me sat at my desk just wishing I could be somewhere else any would be better than working. There are quite a number country park not too far from here it would be great to spend the day there. Alas, it can’t be done, unfortunately I have to work I don’t want to take any holiday just yet, am afraid I will have to grin and bear it.

It seems very quiet this morning, I know its still relatively early but normally we have a few people in at this time. There are a few a few early birds who like to start early, we seem to get more done even though I do come on first thing.

Despite what women think, most men can multi task, I can read my emails while blogging on here, have already been thorough my inbox (only 13 this morning), marked those that need to be followed up (six on this occasion).

My old company sent me on time management course, very useful it was too, I now only work on my emails a few times a day, I leave my phone on silent and have set times for making phone calls and answering messages that way I can concentrate on doing the work that needs to be done and don’t keep getting distracted all the time

Have just been outside for a little fresh air and a short walk during my lunch half hour, it may look ok out there, the sun is out and there’s barely a cloud in the sky. But the wind is a little chilly, its quite nice to sit in a sheltered spot but probably not good for sitting on a beach.

Thankfully I wasn’t planning on going down the beach today, am afraid I can’t fit it in, what with the work I have to do. Looking on the bright side of things we only have another 3 and half day days before the weekend once again.

Once again wishing my life away!

Big brother may be watching, but it’s not helping in the fight against crime. Well that’s the view of Detective Chief Inspector Mike Neville; despite having the most CCTV’s cameras in Europe no thought has gone into how to use them. He stated that the system was an utter fiasco and only 3% of street crime in London was solved by the use the CCTV.

We have 4.2 million cameras here in the UK and billions of pounds have been spent on the system but criminals do fear the CCTV camera because they believe that the cameras are not working.

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Neville who heads up the Met’s Visual Images Identification and Detections Office (Viiido) added CCTV operators also needed more feedback to ensure they felt "valued", he said.

The unit is now piloting a new database of CCTV images which police hope will help track and identify offenders and is also looking at ways of using software which can follow distinctive brand logos on the clothing of unidentified suspects.

In addition, from next month, his team will be putting images of suspects in muggings, rape and robbery cases on the internet.
"If criminals see that CCTV works they are less likely to commit crimes," Det Ch Insp Neville added.

‘Adventure Island’ enjoyed the best day of the year so far yesterday, I snapped a couple a pictures of the visitors enjoying themselves. Not really my idea of fun but each to their own, as they say.