More snow, more postponements

Saturdays multiple lorry shoot was postponed which slightly surprised me as the weather forecast hadn't predicted that the snow would be a problem as far south as north London. It was less of a surprise to be unable to do today's shoot in the Peak District as both the roads we had intended to use were still closed due to the snow.

The longest day

It has to be one of the longest day trips I've done in a long time, Peterborough to Bristol to pick up a car from Charles Ware's Morris Minor Centre, then down through Bath, Shepton Mallett, Castle Cary and the Cerne Abbass Giant to Weymouth before going back to Bristol via Yeovil to return the car and head back home. Left at 7am and got home at 10.30pm, well at least the weather was good for a change and as I've often been reminded, photography isn't a 9 to 5 job!

Breaking down

Attempted to do a touring shoot last Friday in a convertible MGB, but things didn't go too well. In hindsight we should probably never have started considering that the whole area where we were was shrouded in fog, then we nearly ran out of petrol and finally the car decided enough was enough and ground to a halt, leaving us stuck at the side of the A16 awaiting the arrival of the AA. Anyway, about an hour and a half later we were on our way again courtesy of an 89p rotor arm, the only problem was the fog wasn't clearing and it was getting darker, so after attempting to photograph the car in front of the Boston stump, the top of which was almost lost in the fog we decided to abandon the shoot and try again on Monday.

Well it's Monday and the fog has cleared, but now we've got snow, bitter cold and fierce winds, bearing in mind that this shoot is for publication in the summer there's no chance of a shoot today either, so we've had to call it off again.

Budding artist

My 11 year old daughter has always been good at drawing but just lately her 'manga' style drawings have started to become very good for one so young. I have quite a few so I might devote a page to them , for a while at least, so if you like this one look out for a new page of Sophie's art coming soon.

Dog flight

I was at Brooklands yesterday and after the shoot I had a little look around the museum, with a particular personal interest in finding anything to do with a cousin of my grandfather's, the aviation pioneer Harold Barnwell who I knew to have been based at Brooklands as a test pilot for Vickers until he died in a plane crash in 1917. Anyway as luck would have it, in a display cabinet dedicated to F. W. Merriam there was a picture dated 1912 of the first ever dog to fly, the pilot was Merriam and who should be holding the dog, none other than Harold Barnwell. I wonder if it's in the Guinness Book of Records?

The Wellington Monument

I was out on a shoot last week in Aldershot, the first in quite a while due to the adverse weather of recent weeks and found myself at a location overlooked by the most enormous statue of the Duke of Wellington. Apparently it used to adorn the top of the Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner before being replaced after the Duke's death with the current bronze statue of the angel of peace descending on the chariot of war.

The bronze Wellington Statue by Matthew Cotes Wyatt was at 40 tons (40.62 tonne) and 28 feet (8.53 m) high, the largest equestrian figure ever made when it was unveiled in 1846. Many people, Queen Victoria included thought it looked disproportionately large on top of the arch, but it was left there until after the Duke's death so as not to offend him by replacing it while he was still alive, especially so as it was directly opposite his home, Apsley House (No.1 London).

Round Hill close by the Royal Garrison Church in Aldershot was selected as the new site for the Statue, Aldershot being the home of the British Army, where it was moved to in August 1885.

Storm damage

Woke up this morning to find that my garage roof had been ripped off during the night and was hanging into my neighbours garden, I know it was quite windy at times but I was quite unprepared for what I saw when I opened the bedroom curtains.

Rang the local roofer who arrived suspiciously quickly and got a quote which was at least double what I was expecting, anyway my wife rang around a few other roofers and indeed we were able to arrange to get the work done for less than half the original quote!  Just goes to show you shouldn't assume that your local tradesman is necessarily going to give you a competitive price.