Arab Baths

 

It wasn't crowded

down the road a bit

 

Somehow my health has been playing up a bit so have not been up to much but here's a snap from a recent car trip to Harris. A lovely day despite our preferred cafe being shut

??

 

yes, digi ir. sorry about that.

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Vic

 

Sad to say our great pal Victor Posse died yesterday.

Think this picture sums Vic up - always up for a challenge here riding a tandem criterium race with Evelyn some years back. 

A fine fellow, he will be missed by everyone not least his wife Gwyneth and the rest of his family.

Rest in Peace Sir

Loom

 

We went to the picture houde the others  to see a talkie. Very nice at was too, lots of good actors and all that.

While we were there we bumped into all manner of local minor celebs taking in the opening of a LooM retrospective. Was lovely to see a few familiar faces again. We have not been to an art opening in ages. Well, not for a month anyway. One of the pieces on display was based on our brutalist bus stops we have here , like this one in our village below a brutalist church building.

normal service has resumed

 Normal as in wind and rain over the village here. 

Been out but better indoors.

binscapes

 Perhaps I will rerun to a fav of mine - binscapes

conflicted

 

We got off the bus because it looked like it might be an interesting place. It wasn't that interesting to be honest so we sat on the pavement till the next bus appeared; then we got off by a harbour full of gin palaces and yahoo Henriettas and a welcome cafe - once we had negotiated the extensive road works. such are the delights of the last day abroad place when you have run out of energy and drive. I mean, me on a tourist bus? I'm from Bath-Spa and quite the better class of snob don't you know.

It's peeing with rain atm. Tis cold and windy. I did enjoy a short stroll to the crofters this morning to take some greens for the wee animules of which they have plenty.

Now, as I write this on wednesday I am trying to decide whether to go to indoor bowls in Stormoway or  else stay home and watch the many bike races that are happening and being broadcast. Mmm, now what to do?

bikists

 

Lots of them, in every cafe we passed and on the road as well. Looked lovely and I so wanted it to be me.

can't resist

 

I think this is an Oooof

 

There you are, the very next snap on the film is lovely. {obvs I shan't show you all the failures] but this is why I continue to make these snaps. For the moment.

ATM, the weather has gone very cold. Bitter in fact. I back in my winter garb,

Poor thing

 

I hate seeing these horse carriages especially in warm weather. At least I saw the driver man hosing the poor beast down while they awaited more tourists.

Not sure why I do this type of snap now since I probably have done it to death. My only reasoning is that something 'new' will reveal itself. And anyway, I still have Polypan-f film :-) Lots of it as it happens.

 

back in the old country

 

What a  marvelous stroll we had along the waters of Leith that day. Before the rain and me falling over that is.

We had been to the Museum of contemporary Arts before that. [nice cup of tea thanks]. Twas lovely till it wasn't.

What?

 

No idea since you ask. 

Saw it and had to snap it. 

That's the sort of excitement I have on holiday.

bin on hols

 Did I mention we been on hols. I'm recovering well since you ask. In fact I went out for a leetle island photo jaunt with me pal Toots the other day. Sunshine and everything. It was a digital trip so I won't show it here but we had a lovely coffee and kake in a cafe. made it all worthwhile.

I still have a couple of films from me hols to develop. Somehow I don't seem to be 'on it' quite so quickly these days. I mean there's an unscanned film right in front of me as I type. Obviously full of masterpieces but perhaps they need to mature before I look at them.

scootering

Told you they were everywhere. whizzing this way and that - all ages aboard and not an obvious problem anywhere. 

Got the bike Eve is going to use for a forthcoming retro bike ride down from the loft. A lovely campag equipped Euroba - race owned by a good pal Vic Posse. The freewheel is being super-efficient as I write, freewheeling in both directions which it shouldn't. I have let loose on the wd40 and hope that will do the trick.

Bear with me while go out to the darkroom to develop a film. Will not be long.

 

Birthday

 

It was Eve's significant birthday recently so, as it happens, once we had paid our carbon offset took the nightmare that is traveling by plane to a warm place. Lots of bikes and electric scooters all over the place. Cafes here and there and all places;  blimin cars everywhere too. 

We have just about recovered from this trip. Not sure I'll do it again. 

dark forces

 

I'm loving this snap. taken with the little olympus xa and polypan-f film. No idea where it was or who but who cares. 

Have I said how wonderful it is to be home on the Rock in our little mouse house? No? Well it it is wonderful.

The sun is shing as I write. Eve is out on her bike and I have another film to develop. you know, back to usual really.

and then it rained

 

It was nice . Bach concert and everything. I fell over though. Rolled around in the busy road like a drunk on a night out. Bruised me up, grazed my hand, soaked me to the skin and worst of all hurt my pride. 

The concert was lovely courtesy of pal Masha.

Just have to say how comfortable to be at home again. Makes me wonder why  we go away at all. So much hassle, tiredness and expense.

we went through here

The wind was cool but the air dry then. On the bus we rattled down the roads, this voyage uninterrupted by vehicular breakdowns. And yes I had a little camera with me.
 

Loverly

 Back home and how loverly that is.

The wind may be from the frozen north but we are just dandy in our little mouse house.

Been away to the big smoke for a few days taking in the galleries and the pollution as we traipsed around the galleries and met some pals from times past.

Another 500T

 

This time from a while back at the SamyeLing Buddhist centre. I have a great deal of time for the Buddhist way of life.

Yes, we have been off island. Back to some sort of normality soon.

Kodak 500T

 

This time Kodak 500T film which was a cinema emulsion that uses a different development protocol that the usual c41 film. I tried it because I could. I don't like it.

The snap was in the town hall in Stornoway at the Horticultural society show.

The village

 

Yes Harman again. And no it won't be a regular thing.

catching up

 

Another from the Harman colour film taken with the little Olympus  xa camera. Looks like The Crofters on Christmas day.

colour

 

I don't 'do' colour. It doesn't do much for me. having said that I thought I'd try some of the new Harman Phoenix film.

stones

 Another cemetery snap this time with the Hassie using up the film in it. Nice sky at the time.

hoping

 

Hoping this white stuff doesn't make an appearance here again in the near future. I mean, I like the look, but makes getting anywhere difficult especially off island as the mainland opposite usually cops it worse.

Art

 

The exhibition we went to visit had fine sandwiches and coffee. The snaps were great as were the paintings and poems. Best of all the peeps there were lovely.

We stopped here on the way back. Why not? It was just a momentary stop.

been a tad damp

 

The village has been a tad damp recently. The crofter's croft is a mud bath, the peat tracks are fine frog-spawning places.

Houses houses houses

 

There are new houses going up all over the village. This one one down on a croft all black and just so. I photographed here in the barn in foreground a year or two back as the local crofter wrestled sheeps - see here. 

How life moves on so quickly.

Opera

 

The Scottish opera came to Stormoway recently and we, that's Eve and I went along. Lovely evening though the story was hard to follow unless one had a babelfish stuck in one ear as it was variously in English, French, German and Russian. 

I suspect it was a take on local politics but who could tell?

We are off to an exhibition opening as I write over on the west side, the other side of this island. Snaps, writings and drawings - so lots to look forward too. I shall report back in good time.

Here's another

 

I can hardly believe that no-one mentioned much yesterday. I love that snap.

Another Ilford G3 print this time from a 6x6 I came upon in the pile that is my filing system. My system seems to have gone to pot since we bought a new settee. anyway, this was taken using an auxiliary close up lens I think. looks like it anyway. Nice shine on the print from the kitchen light too.

Ilford G3

 

I was in the darkroom yesterday and produced a couple of prints on some G3 Ilford paper I found. Did the job nicely unlike the scan here. Still a nice snap of someone going about their days. No idea where it was not that it matters.

Was taken on Polypan-f film which I really like and still have a fair amount of thank goodness. I shall be taking a few rolls of it with a suitable camera when we have a short sojourn in Edinburgh soonish on the day when Eve was born - a few years back.

the village brown bits

 

We have not got village green here. Grass is reluctant to grow well up here; Just ask the green keepers at the bowling club. Actually, just ask the Crofter who has to buy copious amounts of grassy allsorts for his many animals to feed on.

This above here is a croft just over the road from The Crofter's place. It doesn't have animals on it very often. And that is an island lamppost. We have them all over the shop.  I think they are there so we have to traipse down to Garry beach to see the Northern Lights properly.

a 20mm stroll

 It's the end of Feb already. At least the light is coming back after a few months of dullness. It was bitingly cold despite the sunshine but my stroll was lovely. Eve was having her toes tickled at the time - apparently it is a health thing. 

The lens is a bit glarey into the sun but still quite good. I was up near the main fank where I have not been for a while and as you can see twas still a bit damp. 

Is this a fair rendering of ther neg? No idea but that's the one you are getting.

Brutal

 

Designed by some geezer in the council some decades back I'm fairly reliably told these bus stops could withstand a nuclear winter. Maybe when we humans have made the earth totally unlivable for ourselves as we seem to be doing, this will be one of the few things left standing . The building higher up is one of the two brutalist and well used church buildings in the village.

The 20mm lens does have its uses.

20mm

 

Not sure I use the 20mm lens very well. It's a canon on a AE-1 that was gifted to me. It all performs well it's just that I don't work too well with it. This was from a morning stroll in the village and snapped on Fomapan 400 @ 200 sloshed in Rodinal [1;39]. 

Fun and games

 

Ah yes, the highland games events at the Gala day. looks like it might have been at Carloway show. All sorts of goings on at these occasions - as well as the veg growing, the baking and the animal [cow, sheeps] show there various flinging events. this was probably for the flinging of the hay bale of some such.

 My fav was the all comers high jump. Sadly covid saw many of these dwinding galas off.

This was a holga image.

just william

 

You may well have seen this before but since I like the snap so much it gets another showing.

Of course it is my pal William from a few years back. It's a paper darkroom print from a paper neg. I used an old soviet fkd camera - all gaffer tape and elastic bands - with a shutter which consisted of an air activated [i blew into a rubber tube] barn-door type thing that barely missed Bill's nose as it opened. Great fun. The shallow depth of field was caused by the close-up lens I'd taped in the camera without any other lens in front of it. Don't know why I didn't do this more often!

glass

 

I still have a pile of glass plates in odd sizes and a few decades out of date, I used to use them occasionally even though they are a right pain to use. 

This is an old snap on a very old glass plate of a local monument. It worked albeit poorly.

There are people still manufacturing glass plates for photography. I shan't be buying any.

yes I did this.

 

Back when I had a one old Voigtlander 6x9 rangefinder camera as my only medium format i snapped this in Bridlington. I was impressed by these sort of snaps back then.

not the best but lovely

 

Not the worlds best shot but a lovely snap of Eve racing a criterium with our great friend Vic Posse who is a tad unwell at the moment. We wish him all the very best for his recovery.

Back in the the day the racing club we ran promoted quite a few tandem races both on the track and on road circuits like here. Great fun but I did rather have my fingers crossed at time - tandem crashes are not fun. Having said that we never had one during all the promotions thank goodness.

Bowls

 

Did I tell you we play bowls? That's lawn bowls only at this time of year the lawns up here are less than ideal at this time of year so we play indoors. Here at the clubhouse where there are short mats top play on. I might add the bit of vinyl across the mats is taken off before we play.

Eve played here on Saturday and did well by all accounts - and Wednesday coming plays in the triples champs. I meanwhile will support Eve from the dentists chair,

There are bigger mats at the sports centre and elsewhere but they all have different "characteristics" [ie the floors are not all flat].

Eve [Evie, Evelyn, Mush etc]

 

Just an update. Eve is still very much here even if she doesn't appear on the blog very often. I do have to get permission to use the snaps.

As I write Eve is in the shed on her bike on the turbo [static bike thing] so i can quickly post this one.

Now, I have found this snap below taken with the wonderful but fragile KOWA 6 camera I used for a few years. From a trip to Belgium a few years back.

footie

 

Neither Toots or I are interested in football. However, the gates of Stormoway club are rather nice so we stopped to snap them up. Toots and I use d*g*tal for these strolls but I did have a this Minolta 505si / foma 400 with me as well.

I might even go to watch the football here or at Back football ground one day - the season starts in April I am told by the kind man who offered to show me around the above place the other day.

I have only been to football matches a few times. Bristol Rovers, Man City [free ticket] and some game in Chile. The spectators are great but get bored with the game - mainly consisting of falling over in the men's game it seems.