I managed to make it into the nveiling of Vodafone Mclarem Mercedes F1 car!

Right place, right time!

I managed to get tickets into the Mclaren Mercedes F1 car unveiling. Amazing experience!

Most amazing was just how down to earth and genuinely nice Jenson and Button came across.

Thanks to Jo and Bry for making it happen!

I didn’t do any updates in November, it was a bit of a crazy month, however we are now in the calm after the storm.

I had a back operation on the 17th and it has been like a miracle cure. All of the pain in my legs has just gone completely, so now its just the long slow recovery process from the operation.

We also now have a beautiful cat named Pixel… oh so cute.

I have a slipped disc in my back, so I’m flat on my back at the moment with a cocktail of pain relief to keep me moving.

Today isn’t a good day, it’s all I can do to keep my chin up.

I’ve just got to keep doing what I can, step by step at a time.

Not sure why I’m posting this, but even writing it helps a little in keeping positive.

Winter is well on it’s way here in the UK.

I am amazed at how the seasons just change over night here. It leads to 4 very defined and distinct seasons. I always thought I knew what autumn was, but 2 years living here as taught me what mother nature is really talking about when it comes to seasons.

It’s been a stressful week… but I now have two days leave.

And a 4 day weekend!!! It’s been far to long since I had any time off, and I’m well overdue for a recharge.

Tomorrow a good friend gets married, I can’t wait!!!

Congrats Jo!

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From my daily photo…

Yesterday I was back at the Chiropractor and she asked if I had been under stress

Things were bad…

Its been a stressful week in a fight with HR at work (which is not doing my back any good), so, today… well, I got over it.

Although despite getting over the cause, I still wasnt over what the chiropractor did yesterday!

I spent 2 hours at work lying flat out on my back, conference calls and reading documents on the floor in the corner…

I got home tonight, took one look at the couch and realised I couldnt afford to sit down.

So I turned heals, and headed down to my favourite tree…

Hmmm, that sounds strange. Everyone has a favourite tree, right?
Its OK, right?
anyway, I digress,

So I set up the tripod and the wireless shutter release

Then lay back in the long grass with my head resting on a padded camera bag

Occasionally, clicking the shutter remote. Glancing up at the results to see if the light was right…

In the silence, the bats appeared and played around me

And then they were gone as the owls came out, glided a few feet over my head and off out to hunt

the rustle of rabbits, or foxes, or monsters in the grass kept coming closer

planes rumbling over head in between the silence

I just lay there

An hour passed around me

I couldnt for the life of me remember what has had me so stressed… it suddenly wasnt important any more.

Sarah dragged me shopping… again.

Something about needing a dress for an up coming wedding.

So anyway, I popped into a camera store (she left me unattended so I took the chance) to get some shots printed.

1 hour later I picked up 30 glossy prints. But not just any prints, massive 8×6 prints!

You see, they were a lot cheaper than I remember (40p each) so I thought I’d give it a go as an experiment.

They looked amazing so large!

We then took them over to Jo and Bry’s as a gift. Handing over such large prints had an amazing impact – they were over the moon and couldn’t put them down.

Having seen the wonderful reactions, I’ve realised I have no excuse for not getting more printed…

Gone are the days of handing over a CD to people with photos of them, from here on I’ll be making an effort to print them.

After all that way I get to share in their smiles as they first see them, and that’s 1/2 of what photography is all about for me.

I’ve never really seen bats in the wild before…

actually, thats a lie. I saw a forest full of giant black bats screaming and screeching in Malaysia – they scared the bejesus out of me.

Although this time couldn’t have been more different.

It was silent and still

and fluttering in front of me like a floating leaf on fastforward were these small, difficult to distinguish, shapes.

They were amazing in their haphazard gracefulness.

I could have watched them for hours, although soon then sun had completely gone and we were plunged into complete darkness and silence.

I’ve lived here for 2 years and had no idea there were so many of them around here.

Nature can be so surprising!