Oops! How time flies when you're having fun.

Canterbury cathedral

Luca's first experience with snow today....a rare occurrence for Timaru.

A view of the Dunstable Downs slightly compromised by a road sign

Here is a portait of my son David (satguru).

Glad to have inspired my mum to share her artwork here. I think portraits beat the people rule and I gave my consent as well.

A rainbow in Dunstable.

The beach at Ramsgate

Same place different view

Early August snow on farmland and hills in the Kakahu area of South Canterbury. Snow fell around August 5th & 6th, photo taken on August 8th.

There is an interesting little story that goes with this corbel which can be found between a pair of flying buttresses on the northern wall of Exeter Cathedral.

Over the near thousand years that this edifice has been standing, many of the original corbels and gargoyles have eroded to such a degree that many are unrecognisable from the original, have fallen off or been removed for safety purposes.

This one is known as the 'Dog and Pipe' and was carved by former cathedral stonemason Peter Dare some twenty years ago. Dare, who came from Exmouth, was the patron of an Exmouth public house and was familiar with 'Butch' a dog that would, daily, share a drink and a pipe of tobacco with his owner! When commissioned to produce a number of new corbels for the cathedral, Dare thought that the hound would make for a unique and amusing addition to the building's collection of grotesques.

Dane John Park in Canterbury

The incredibly hot weather we've been having for what seems like forever has made me very lazy about posting photos. Precious herself has not felt like doing much besides napping (until the middle of the night, of course, when she's up and about), so here she is in one of her comfy spots, wondering why I'm disturbing her.

Try out with the new Nikon

What is that? A fairground ride? Or a very tall matador flashing his cape?

What sort of Nikon is it?

And keep posting pics please!

That's a fairground ride on a long exposure, probably around a second so you can see the path of the lights.

Did somebody mention cats?

Hi Flopsy... That is a fairground ride here in Torquay. The camera is a Nikon D300 and the exposure time on that shot was around eight seconds.

I'm just getting back into photography after a break of around 35 years. Some of my recent pictures clearly reflect this!

You've seen my portrait of David in repose, now you see him playing the guitar.

Many of our few remaining public toilets in Britain have been converted to tardises, which would be fine except nearly all of them charge to use them. Luckily now many petrol stations have them and are free. This is my local one in Kingsbury.

Great artwork chorister!

Maynooth and I just had a couple of weeks's holiday. We took a trip on the Ghan, which is a train that crosses Australia from Darwin in the north, to Adelaide in the south. This photo was taken in Manguri (which is out in the middle of nowhere). I love how red the dirt is.

I decided to get a bit "artistic" by taking the photo with the wine glasses. Then I turned around and a number of other passengers were copying me and doing the same thing.

Imitation is the best form of flattery (or some such)!
I love that soil too. It is such a reminder of the English West Country , particularly Devon. Lovely.

Detail of the gate outside Canterbury Cathedral

Continuing the architectural theme, this picture is of a typical Norman door. This example is located at the base of the Norman south tower of Exeter Cathedral. The door itself is original and is almost one thousand years old; over time the wood has weathered and become so hard that it is almost like concrete.

And before anybody asks... No, the arc-light above the arch is not Norman!

A masked plover or masked lapwing - walking down the main street of Darwin (Northern Territory, Australia). They have learned the benefits of hanging around near McDonald's (he's got a piece of chip in his beak).

A nice glass building in Reading

Back to architecturals. This is the finest example of fan tracery in the world. Gloucester Cathedral