Andrew Skelton:

Banded Demoiselle, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

HaHaHaHaHa… HaHaHaHa…. ….. …..HaHaHaHa…. the BBC really do have a fantastic sense of humour. After my rather derogatory blog about journalists (I’m only jealous as they’re paid to write!(of course I do this for the love)) recently they seem to have taken it personally and are taunting me. The Beeb website ran a story today warning walkers to “stay away from adders” mentioning that over 200 people have been bitten by the UK’s only venomous snake over the last two years (I told you that didn’t I, Dear Reader?!?) . Stay away… STAY AWAY.. I wish I had to seriously consider avoiding these snakes rather than my current situation, where I’m desperate to see one. To add insult to injury, the interviewer when presented with two live snakes, one grass snake, the other an adder said “They’re hard to tell apart”…. HARD TO TELL APART… perhaps if you lack the ability to see (and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemies (not that I have any)) then they might be but they are clearly different. CLEARLY! Oh and apparently, now should be a good time to see female snakes as they will be rather sluggish as they will be pregnant. Actually, more than seeing a wild Adder, I’d dearly love to see new born adders as I bet they look incredibly cute (as mentioned before rather than laying eggs as the majority of reptiles do, adders give birth to live young).

I’m feeling rather smug at the moment, whilst listening to one of my favourite radio plays I inadvertently got roped into a game of Trivial Pursuit.. I wasn’t invited but as the actors read out each questions to one another, I couldn’t help joining in. The first question, a literary one, was “for a cheese”… Jean Paul Sartre said “Hell is….”* With my first “wedge” under my belt I started answering any and all questions, the next one was probably easier**.. “Name the Bizet opera that featured the toreador song”***. If they hadn’t have stopped when they did, I’d have had more cheese than the fermented curd counter in Waitrose (or that bass playing bloke from Blur’s farm).

*Starter for ten.. did you get it? Sartre said “Hell is other people”.. well, actually he said “L’enfer, c’est les autres” but then he would… he was French!#
** My mum was an opera buff and so I’ve grown up listening various Arias blasting out on a Sunday morning as chores were done around the house.
***Carmen
# and if you’re a regular to this blog you might remember I’ve mentioned this phrase before. I remember reading Sartre’s Iron In The Soul as well as Nausea – now I’m lucky if I can read the gas meter.

Flower, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

Today has been a rather spectacular day, in that I witnessed a spectacle that I’ve not seen before. Visiting the same nature reserve I’ve mentioned before when previously out hunting for snakes, however being realistic I decided that today wasn’t a day to go hunting adders, but to take in the wonders of the natural world and see what I could photograph. Actually I was hoping that there would be an abundance of wildflowers for me to photograph, and whilst there certainly was a wide variety of blooms in the pastures and surrounding woodland it’s not what had me all excited. Part of my route took me past the River Thames and having seen a great number of Blue Tailed Damselfly flitting too and fro around the waters edge and amongst the reed, I happened to spot a Beautiful Demoiselle, another time of Damselfly which really lives up to its name. I tried, in vain, to snap a few of them but they were moving too fast but only 20ft further along I spotted a Banded Demoiselle which are even more striking, getting their name from the distinct dark band across their wings and which are just as colourful as the Beautiful variant, in my opinion anyway. Luckily the one I’d spotted had landed on some tall grass in the meadow that ran alongside the waterside and I inched closer to try and get a photo of the resting insect. When I then looked around I noticed that this wasn’t the only Demoiselle resting atop a seed head, there must have been two dozen individuals all sitting atop the grass seed head, wings folded back along their abdomen (this is the way to tell a damselfly/demoiselle from a dragonfly). I managed to take a few images I’m really pleased with; they’re not close up photos, neither do they show the abundance of demoiselles that were perched atop the grasses but the images (again in my (humble) opinion or IMHO as some may say) do have a nice appealing look to them.

I’ve started to get really excited, Dear Reader, about tomorrow. Yes, I know all the platitudes about “tomorrow is another day”, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”, “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” and not forgetting “Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow, you’re only a day away” (perhaps we should try and forget that last one). Anyway, tomorrow Dear Reader I’m going to see Half Man Half Biscuit play live in Oxford. I’ve been to the venue many many times over the last twenty years, in fact I’ve danced on stage there for the whole of one set (and I have written about it for those who can remember.. for those who can’t, well.. I leave it up to your imagination). It’s a great venue, the sound is excellent and it has real atmosphere (in other words, your shoes stick to the floor as you walk across the “dance” floor)  in fact the last band I saw play there were Cardiacs. I did then see Cardiacs play in London a week later and that was the last concert they were to ever play due to Tim Smith (who IS the Cardiacs) having a massive heart attack. Having already seen HMHB play this year, let’s hope I’m not some sort of jinx and Nigel Blackwell retains his good health (and I wish him much wealth as well as happiness!)

*Today’s image looks very similar (in my eyes anyway) to the cover of the aforementioned Cardiacs album… you see, it’s not all thrown together but carefully planned… okay.. it’s all thrown together!

Flower, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

Ooh that’s new… oh,sorry Dear Reader, you can’t see what I can see, can you? What… you can? I hope you’ve not been hacking my machine (I didn’t realise you used to be a Journalist!). As mentioned before, I use Google Docs (now renamed Google Drive) in place of a traditional word processor and file server allowing me access from anywhere and everywhere I can get an internet connection (the middle of the Masai Mara might be interesting to try… in less than three weeks time!). As with any of Google’s services, it’s continually upgraded and expanded, and today a new research tool option has appeared on one side of the screen integrating their standard search facility straight into the word process so you don’t have to switch tabs. This is a huge improvement for me as I always have multiple tabs/web pages open as I’m writing my blog, whether it be to check a spelling, look up a fact, or use a thesaurus – not having to leave the page means not loosing that train of thought which is so often derailed when swapping between pages (it doesn’t take much – the wrong type of leaves, snow, in fact anything can derail me).

I bemoaned the fact in a previous blog how the number of accounts I have on the wide number of websites I inhabit have become untenable without the aid of some password management solution, and that ideally a cloud based X500 or LDAP solution would be just the job to have one identity to rule them all (and in the darkness bind them). Reading the computer press today (well, it beats reading about the antics of various overpaid (and over here) soccer stars) it looks like Microsoft are going to be providing just such a service, Windows Azure Active Directory. At the moment this solution is only used by three of their own services but it’s a start and it’s also available to third-party developers allowing them centralised Single Sign-On (login in once, access many) for their own cloud based services. Huzzah!

There have been numerous articles on the TV and radio about the increase in the cultivation of Oilseed Rape (or Brassica napus) by farmers throughout the UK (for non-UK people it’s similar to Canola, which is a slightly different cultivar). Fields of the crop add dramatic colour to the landscape, with their luminescent yellow flowers seemingly providing any daylight needed, should the inclement weather transcend upon us at this time of year. That’s not what caught my attention, neither was it the fiscal information how it can provide a modest profit for farmers should they grow it – it was how the journalist referred to the plant. We’re used to all the similes, metaphors and hyperbole however I found today’s a little exasperating; the interviewer, having picked part of the plant to show the flowers said that they looked like buttercups only in clumps. Granted, unlike the buttercup, the plants’ flowers are gathered together in groups but there the comparison ends.. anyone can easily see there are five petals on a buttercup and only four on one of the oilseed rape flowers! Tsk… journalists!

Flower (as seen on Explore), originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

It just goes to show that I’m not the person I was 10 years ago; a decade ago, within 5 minutes or possibly 10 (at a push) of meeting someone I would have found out what that person had in their record collection, their favourite bands, songs and best gig they’d been to (if I talked really quickly!). Having been on the school run, this evening, a chance comment by one of the other parents who we know quite well led to the most bizarre conversations. Discussing what we were all planning to do with our impending long weekends, the lady in question mentioned she was going to go and see Coldplay in concert. After a brief discussion about Coldplay, their music and how their live events are actually costing them money at the moment* I glibly mentioned that I was going to see Half Man Half Biscuit play this week. People normally glaze over at this point (no comments, please, how this is a normal occurrence!), however this Mum became all animated and mentioned how she loved HMHB, and started reeling off a number of the bands song titles. I’m not sure whether my jaw was on the floor at this point, the fact that someone else was a fan of the band, if it weren’t it was when I then mentioned my favourite band Cardiacs. She loved Cardiacs, had their flower logo on the back of a coat and a t-shirt with their iconic “A little man, a house and the whole world window” graphics. As I’ve mentioned, I don’t like cliches but to use the modern vernacular…. “Who knew“**

If I’m sitting in front of my laptop working, I like to have something to listen to. Whilst you may think I spend my time listening to MP3s on my machine, or even my iPod, it’s actually the BBC’s website that provides most of my listening. Rather than music, I prefer to listen to Radio 4 comedy shows, and sometimes plays, that are available via iPlayer. As well as shows that have been aired over the last week or so, they also feature a number of classic series (and some which should have been) such as Dad’s Army, Hancock’s Half Hour, Round the Horne and I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue (no, that’s a show… not a note of self-expression!). I do scour the site to see whether there are any episodes of my favorite show, Old Harry’s Game*** and one that I’ve recently discovered and is now a close second “Cabin Pressure”****.

Having exhausted all episodes from the Beeb, I had a quick scout around their website to see what else might be available and discovered an absolute treasure chest that will keep me occupied for weeks if not months – Desert Island Discs. First devised by Roy Plumly, the first program was aired in January 1942, featuring the popular Viennese comedian, actor and musician, Vic Oliver; over the years most of the “great and good”***** have appeared on the program and there are now some 2895 episodes available online, half of which are available to download. With so many available I was a bit like a kid in a candy store.. though presented with a search box, I was taken aback for a minute of so, whilst I tried to think who I’d want to listen to if they had been on the show and it was available to listen to. With music being such an integral part of who I am, I’m interested to see what other people choose (more marketing of course Dear Reader, as these people will be conscious that the songs they choose will reflect who they are as well as how people will judge them) and I’m not really interested in musicians either, I can guess a lot of their influences. However, there is of course one person associated with the music industry who I do want to hear and whom you will have guessed already, the late great John Peel. I’ve downloaded the program and look forward to listening to it tomorrow… I’m sure I’ll get some Teenage Kicks^ out of it.

*They’re giving out bracelets which light up at specific points of the night, and which uses some rather cool technology (and as we know, cutting edge technology always comes at a price).
** I absolutely hate this phrase, along with “literally”, “yay me”, “whatever”,”Legend”, “for the win” and top of the list “genius”. If and when I do use these phrases on here, Dear Reader, it is with a heavy heavy dose of irony (or aluminiumy or any other metally that is available).
*** Written by the incomparable Andy Hamilton, it stars Andy in the part of Satan and his interaction with demons and “customers” alike… very very funny stuff.
**** I first picked up on this show as it stars Benedict Cumberbatch who has risen to stardom through his portrayal of the modern Sherlock Holmes which I’m a huge fan of (I’m actually a huge fan of the original Conan Doyle stories, as I’ve mentioned before, though I’m not blind to bad portrayals of the detective genius)
***** Another dreadful phrase… “great and good” at what… and how judges as such. To me, most of it looks like just good marketing (this is a phrase we use at home all the time, everything boils down to marketing whether corporate or personal (cynical mode switched to OFF)).
^ As mentioned before, Teenage Kicks by the Undertones was John Peel’s favourite single.

Flower, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

I was half expecting, following on from yesterday’s blog, that the general public would vote for Greece’s entry in the Eurovision Contest what with their money problems at the moment which would have been exacerbated by hosting the contest in 2013 if they had won. They didn’t, which I’m sure they’re relieved about – instead Sweden’s Loreen won the competition, a song that has been number 1 in a number of European countries already. It seems odd to me that they’ve allowed a song that has had a great deal of commercial success already to even enter the competition – perhaps next year we should let Blur or Oasis enter!

As you can see, I’ve been out with the camera today – though it was more of an accompaniment rather than the main focus of the day. There were a couple of things that we needs to go out and buy today to enable us to work on a few things that needed doing. One thing was we needed with some urgency was more Ro water (it’s like distilled water) for our aquarium as a percentage of the water needs to be changed each week to remove impurities. It just so happens that the shop where we purchased the aquarium in the first place is based in a garden centre with lots of flowers… lots of flower to photograph. There are some incredibly beautiful flowers on display, luckily for me, and with the bright sun I couldn’t help but get some wonderful photos.

Gerbera, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

It’s wrong I know.. I really shouldn’t.. in fact I shouldn’t even be discussing it with anyone, but then Dear Reader, you’re not just anyone are you… we’ve been through so much over the last 17 months of daily blogging so I feel I can trust you. Are you sitting down as I have a rather major admittance? I’m watching… E..e..eu… give me a minute and I should be able to say it… I’m watching the Eurovision Song Contest. For many years I wouldn’t give the songs, the show, in fact the very idea of the Song Contest the time of day, until watching the 2006 contest, a Finnish Heavy Metal shock-rock band bedecked in outfits that looked like they’d walked straight out of Mordor won the contest. This one band, for me, had subverted and ridiculed a contest that seemed to have taken itself too serious for many years and from that point onwards I’ve started to enjoy the spectacle… waiting for another Lordi (the band in question) to stick two fingers up to a competition where the songs all tend to sound the same (Russia are on at the moment, and they aren’t falling into the latter category (though they’re no heavy metal band) it’s a 8 old ladies singing a bit of a eurobeat song… daft, but it’s making me smile!).

Iceland are on at the moment and for one second I was actually quite scared! A male and female act, I’d not heard of the female but the man’s name sent a shiver down my spine… Jonsi. Now that might not mean much to you, but I was seriously concerned that it was Jonsi of Sigur Ros fame, a band I’ve mentioned many times and just the thought of one of their songs has me welling up now – I’ve mentioned the song enough, but I’ll say it again Hoppipolla. Of course, I should have known a serious artist like Jonsi wouldn’t enter such a contest any more than someone like Tom Jones or Engelbert Humperdinck would, and one look at the chap singing put my mind at rest that it wasn’t the man who’s written some of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard (up there with the Cocteau Twins).

I’m not sure when England’s entrant will be on, but it’s suddenly struck me we should enter New Order one year (as long as Hookie joins in of course). They have the type of sound that would fit right in and yet retain some sort of coolness about them. Taking it one step further, I’d actually like to have seen the earlier incarnation of New Order play.. Joy Division. The spectacle of the late Ian Curtis “dancing”** – if you’ve never witness him dance… well… let’s just say there never has been and never will be anyone like Curtis, he’s up there with Hendrix, Joplin, Morrisson, Elvis, Lennon, White to name but a few. One of the best versions I’ve seen of the “Keep Calm and Carry On” paraphrases was an homage to Curtis – “Keep Calm and Dance Like Ian Curtis”. You’ll understand the irony of that once you see this video.

Photography? Oh yes, I took over 800 photos for my son’s football team today as they were playing in a competition against a local team. Having reviewed the photos over 500 are “keepers” which is a pretty good hit rate – and I actually deleted the ones I wasn’t happy with. When I say keepers, I’m not just referring to the ones that are not as sharp as I’d like but ones that I don’t think are very “artistic”.

Right, they’re about to go to speak to Englands entry who was on first, and which I missed, it’s oh… damn… it’s Engelbert Humperdinck!

* First title is Humperdinck’s song, the second Joy Division!

** This isn’t actually Ian Curtis, it’s from the film about him, but it’s an uncanny resemblance.

Rook, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

Today has been so warm that the wireless temperature sensor that is fixed to the playhouse out in the middle of the back garden and relays back to a base station in our kitchen decided it would stop doing it’s job, open a tinnie and kick back for a while instead of sending temperature readings for us to see. When it finally decided to do some work, instead of lounging about, drinking and generally being unhelpful – it reported that outside was 27C which is pretty good for 6pm in the UK, in May but I suspect the sensor was lying, Dear Reader, and instead of actually sensing.. it made up what it thought was a reasonable temperature reading, one that us non-meteorologically trained laymen would accept. Actually, 27C does sound about right (you see it’s planned worked).

Whilst in the kitchen, at one point today, I saw just how intelligent crows (other Corvids are available and as bright) can be. With the warm weather upon us, any moist foodstuffs put out for the birds can soon become fairly desiccated with such an intense heat upon it; Crows et al., whilst having a strong enough beak to deal with the comestibles put out for them have enough nous about them to find an available water source, such as the dish we put out throughout the year, and then submerge their plunder until it’s more palatable. Clever.

Constrictor, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

Well, what an evening that was, and one we won’t forget in a good while. The team my son plays for were entered into a football tournament that was held on the local football teams pitch. The local team just happen to be Reading FC who were promoted to the premiership league this season, and the local pitch is a 26,000 seater stadium – not exactly small time! There were 16 teams playing, with 4 games being played simultaneously on pitches a quarter the size of a standard playing field. Needless to say, the tournament was very competitive… but this was mostly from the parents who were screaming and shouting from the stand almost as if they were watching a Premiership match! Our team got through to the playoffs which is highly commendable especially as a number of teams were a head taller and seemed at least two years older. Having arrived at around 5pm (and my son having played an hour of football at an after school club beforehand) it’s no wonder all the players were completely shattered by 9pm when they walked off the pitch. Of course I took plenty of photos, nearly 32Gb worth, none of which will find their way onto Flickr for obvious reasons but there was a professional player at half time whose image just might once I’ve reviewed them.

I read an interesting article on the web today, apparently Wales is the hotspot in the UK when it comes to being bitten by an adder! Between 2009 and 2011, 23 people were bitten in Wales out of a total of 196 cases recorded throughout England, Scotland and Wales. It’s obvious why isn’t it, Dear Reader, all the Adders from the nature reserves I’ve been visiting have obviously relocated to these sanctuaries. If you’re wondering the venomous bite, whilst not fatal (in most cases) would not be a nice experience (don’t try this at home, would be my advice, or anywhere else for that matter) causing localised pain, tenderness, swelling and bruising – and that’s only from the medical bill (obviously this jokes works better abroad where you have to pay for such care – in the UK, treatment (on the National Health) would be free).

Bogbean, originally uploaded by http://andrewskelton.net.

The first butterfly of the season gently flitted and fluttered over the garden as we were out in the back garden, and what a great start, a Common Blue – aptly named as it is blue and… yes, it’s common! Of course, my camera was nowhere to hand, but as I’ve said, sometimes it’s good to just enjoy the wildlife rather than trying to get a good photo and miss the spectacle. It’s a good start, and I’m ever hopeful that the Hummingbird Moth will make an appearance when the lavender is out, which won’t be too far off now.

I’ve been researching reversing rings for macro photography today. Similar to a filter that sits on the front of the lens it allows the lens to either be mounted to another lens or directly on the camera. These rings are generally inexpensive and may well allow me to achieve similar magnification to that of Canon’s MP-E 65mm which is in effect a reversed lens anyway but probably not the same quality. I’m still unsure whether the aforementioned combination would provide better results than using the extension tubes I own with my macro lens. Extension tubes are just that, hollow tubes that fit between the lens and the camera body and allow you to get closer to the subject and at the same time increase the magnification of the lens. The added advantage of the tubes is that they have connectors from lens to body that allow autofocus, aperture control etc to work. I’m going to have to compare results with these tubes to that using a reversing ring to see which is better. Hmm, I wonder if there’s a ring for my 600mm, that could be interesting!