Early Risers.

[gordon s]

Welcome back Don. Glad to hear you had a well earned and relaxing holiday....

 

As you can see, we've been shunted off into the fiddle yard, so you did well to find us.

 

The first signs of an approaching summer were very short lived. Totally overcast...

[DonBradley]

I don't suppose you were allowed to shoot at the herds of elephants!

No! But full on frontal collisions did occur.

I actually enjoyed the presence of the children! They made a happy sound! No crying, or disputes. There were a varying number between 12 and 17 at all times although often they were so widespread around the grounds that there wasn't one within sight or sound.

Average number of adults in the dining room was 25 although 40 over the Easter weekend. My room has it's own patio where I spend a great deal of time and there too, I was for the most part not aware of othe guests

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all, and welcome back Don!

 

Jam - hope this doesn't happen to you! From BBC News website - learner flips car

 

Don - I promised a Jamie update, but thought I'd wait until you were back. On Sunday she took her first solo stagger without support (managed about 2 steps before falling over!), but she can now stand unsupported for a few seconds at a time.

 

Not sure why Jamie appears sideways here, she's the right way up on my computer!!

[SouthernRegionSteam]

Sounds like you had a fantastic time Don! Nice to have you back.

As Gordon says, summer has now disappeared, overcast, cold but i'll wait to see what the day brings.

On the agenda for today is coursework and food shopping!

 

Edit: Mike, Tony_S sent me that link last night as well I've promised to avoid all gateposts!

[DDolfelin]

"not aware of othe guests"

That's good.

One of the perils of holidays, I find, is the strange people who latch onto one.

... and SWMBO is well known for collecting lame ducks.

[DDolfelin]

That's one cute kid, SixOh.

[SouthernRegionSteam]

I tell you what, it's a good job I use my nickname on forums, otherwise I'd be getting quite confused by now Mike

[sixoh8sixoh]

Thanks Dd! And just to confuse things further, Jam, I went down to the RMweb members' day with Jamie of this forum in 2008 before my Jamie was born!

[skipepsi]

Morning all light on to see the keyboard=gloomy day. Good to see you are back Don having enjoyed your holiday.

[SouthernRegionSteam]

Probably a good thing your Jamie wasn't born at the time, and I couldn't make the trek down there (or up)!

[DonBradley]

Thanks Mike,

As Dd said, What a cute kid.

I thought of you on the holiday. There was a 17month old who still propelled himself on his bottom, but was able to stand whilst holding onto something at the right height. He was very gregarious and enjoyed playing ball with me.

So thanks for the update on Jamie.

[Tony_S]

Hello.

 

Welcome back Don, glad you had a good time.

 

Mike, Nice picture of Jamie. The "car seat" one you posted on (was that on your Twitter photo link?) had a wonderful "oh do get on with it" expression that children have when being told to look at the camera.

 

What am doing today? I don't know apart from the usual cooking meals and taking the dog for a walk. I don't have to go into the loft as the books on cryoturbation (not a spelling mistake although Google Chrome suggests it is) my wife suggested for Matthew's geography revision are not in the loft. She doesn't know where they are but is certain they are not in the loft.

 

Weather is dull here and it looks as if it could rain.

 

Tony

[NGT6 1315]

Earlier this morning I had to get out Albert from the gap between the enclosure and the wall. I figure this can be only about five to six centimetres wide, so I was puzzled as to how he may have got in there!

 

Mike - you do have a cute kid!

[JohnDMJ]

Morning all,

 

Welcome back, Don, glad to hear you had a good time hunting herds of elephants!!!!!

 

Full set of oktas here but none leaking (yet!).

 

She doesn't know where they are but is certain they are not in the loft.

 

Enjoy your trip to the loft, Tony, because with a statement like that, that's where they're 110% likely to be!

[eldavo]

Morning All, Full set of oktas. I can only imagine their presence is my fault as I was driving around yesterday in glorious sunshine with the car roof down. Almost guaranteed to change the weather. Sounds like a very nice holiday Don. Avoiding meeting others while on holiday tends to be one of my priorities. SWMBO says it's not just while on holiday!

 

Cheers

Dave

[Tony_S]

I must have been lucky on our holiday travels, we usually seem to meet interesting people to chat to. though we have met a few who fit the description of "travel narrows the mind".

 

Tony

[skipepsi]

It is not just SWMBO, youngest daughter said the libary books tidied away for christmas were not in her room but on Good friday clean up there they were just like magic. Only £11.10 in fines and guess who had to pay!

[Robert]

Afternoon All,

 

I'm checking in a little later today. I got up at the same time - but had to drive back from Karlsruhe and didn't get a chance to log on before I left the hotel this morning.

 

The weather has brightened up from what it was first thing. I left Karlsruhe in fog, gloom and decidedly showery. Up here, the sun is shining.

 

Have a good afternoon everyone :icon_wave:

[45156]

Afternoon - late checkin for me as well, as I didn't have time before 9 or in my morning break.

 

Managed to be stuck in the office at about 9.30 this morning, when Tornado ran past about 250 yards away (20 minutes late from a start at Crewe - surprise) and couldn't wangle time out of the office.

 

Lovely bright day here, but chilly - about two oktas uop there - Daily Wail "science correspondent" is predicting temperatures of down to minus seven this weekend in the North - odd that the same newspaper's weather forecast for the same period is predicting daytime temperatures in double figures and met office not being too sure - possible snow showers on higher ground and perhaps at lower heights in the North East. We shall see, but inevitably as I've got the builder booked and the week off and hotels etc all lined up, the weather will turn worse - thus has it always been!

 

Don - sounds as if you had a cracking time - shame about the camera - one of the reasons that I still keep an old film camera is that it doesn't seem anywhere near as temperamental as these computer driven gadgets, and it makes a very handy backup.

 

Regards to all

Stewqrt

[Tony_S]

Our digital cameras have survived better than our film ones but I suspect if I did look for my ancient Soviet Russian era Zenit-E it would still work. It seemed very robust.

 

Tony

[45156]

Our digital cameras have survived better than our film ones but I suspect if I did look for my ancient Soviet Russian era Zenit-E it would still work. It seemed very robust.

 

Indeed, Tony - I had one for many years, and it was built like a photgraphic tank - it had few shortcomings apart from its weight and the smell of the case which never went and the fact that the early models did not have an automatic diaphragm for the aperture, and you had to set it using a separate ring - finally cured on the EM model - the lens was good, (every bit as good as most modern lenses and an optical expert told me it was better than the then legendary Zeiss Tessar) and it was a Pentax thread, so took most standard long and wide angle lenses. I took mine everywhere with me when I was a student, including many trips up Scottish mountains, and it survived manys the knock - some quite severe, and after about ten years of maltreatment, I took it to a repair shop where I had the shutter checked for speed accuracy, and it was still within 5% of the indicated speeds on all settings - you can't say better than that.

 

I gave it to my nephew about fifteen years ago, and his dad told me he is still using it.

[Tony_S]

I always wondered what sort of beast the leather case was made from. My Zenit /Zenith didn't have the automatic diaphragm. After many years the Zenit was replaced by what seemed like a very sophisticated Canon AE-1, though I wasn't too impressed that the battery (tiny 6V ? thing) failed as soon as I got it home from the shop. I've now become idle and have a camera I usually just leave on auto everything that also fits in a coat pocket.

 

Tony

[BoD]

Agreed about the Zenit. Damn fine beast. I also had the Russian made enlarger that packed into its own case - another cheap piece of equipment that produced more than acceptable results. I still have and occasionally use their lightmeter too.

[DDolfelin]

Me too! Me too!

 

At least i had the camera.

Used to take good pics.

Sturdy as well.

 

I wonder what happened to mine?

[JohnDMJ]

Never had the Zenith camera but still have their enlarger. Fantastic bit of kit which packs away into its own brief case when done. 32 years old and still behaving perfectly!Built like the proverbial brick whatsit!