Two Thursday walks and an update

Well I'm still here. Two weeks without a post!

Unfortunately going back about ten days I received news of three deaths on three successive days. My old friend from the Bradford climbing days in the late fifties and early sixties Mike Dickson who some readers here would have known died suddenly, but I only heard about that a couple of weeks after the event. The next day Pete, another member of that  group now living in Arnside and with whom I walk on Thursdays rang me. Pete, along with another neighbour, have been looking after an aged gent across the road called Oswald and doing his weekly shop for the last couple of years or so. Pete had gone across as usual the day he rang me to find Oswald had died sitting in his chair, so Pete was involved with all the formalities that followed. The day after my son William rang me in tears to say his best friend Cookie had been found dead in Preston after coming off his mountain bike - it later transpired he had suffered a heart attack.

Also during this two week period my iPhone had stopped connecting to WiFi - it is out of guarantee and I had bought it outright. I made an appointment with the Apple shop in Manchester's Trafford Centre. They replaced the phone, like for like, free of charge, and also happily transferred the contents from old phone to new. Their contactabilty and service has hugely improved.

Back home I found my Memory Map maps (all of Great Britain OS 1:25000 and OS 1:50000) had not come across. After a short exchange with Memory Map by email I got the 1:25000 re-downloaded - Memory Map responded to my emails within an hour - another huge improvement in help and service. I had more trouble with the 1:50000 because the files were on my computer and needed transferring via iTunes, one of the most un-user-friendly software packages known to me. In order to get to the  page to show Apps and "device" i.e. the iPhone you have to click on a tiny, oblong unidentifiable icon about an eighth of an inch by a sixteenth. There is no  mention of the word Apps in any of the dropdown menus or elsewhere that I could find - it is like having a car manual that that doesn't mention oil or brakes. Somewhat to my humiliation I was pointed in the right direction by Memory Map.

Then, my oven ceased to work and on one of two Thursday walks with Pete I ordered a new one at Appliance Direct in Morecambe. I hesitated at deciding to pay £69 for it to be installed on delivery but it turned out to be the best money I've spent for a long time. The oven was supposed to slide in on rails which needed to be screwed to the insides of the units, but my space was not suitable. The fitting guy ingeniously took the legs off the old oven and fixed them on the new - it would have taken me all day to sort, if at all. We then discovered that the gap between units and an inward opening kitchen door prevented removal of the old oven. As the guy was pondering this problem I went back to some work in my garage and then shortly after I came back and he had managed to extricate the oven - how I have no idea.

I have had two short Thursday walks with Pete, about three miles each, partly due to poor weather and my on-going knee affliction which is getting worse. I have now confirmed the hospital have received my gp's referral and the appointment with the surgeon will be eight to ten weeks away. I can ring periodically to see if they have had any cancellations.

The first of the two two walks was down the prom from Morecambe to Heysham, and the second  walking north up the prom from the Battery. Here are a few photos.

CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

A number of water fountains spurt spasmodically - these dogs were frolicking and having a ball 

North to Morecambe and across the bay to the Lakes

Stone graves at St Peter's church, Heysham

On the second walk - across the bay to the Lakes. Grange-over-Sands prominent when you click to enlarge

Zoom to Ingleborough from my living room window - I liked the mélange of colours in the clouds

The ash tree at the top of my drive. It was only a dwarf when I came here sventeen years ago.
Now it sheds sticky seedy things onto my car and dead branches onto the grass, and interferes with my incoming telephone line, but despite all that I am sort of imprsseed with it - I just wonder how much bigger it is going to grow. The wind was blowing hard so definition suffered.

Lord of the Flies

My daughter has just posted the message below on Facebook.

I teach English at a local high school. I am about to start Lord of the Flies, but find that my stock of the text has mysteriously reduced. In these times of austerity, my budget is next to nothing and so I am on the scrounge! Do you have any copies of Lord of the Flies that you do not want and would donate to my class? I need about 14 copies in total. Many thanks!

If anybody can help please contact me at conrob@me.com and I will let you have an address to send to.

Thanks.

The end of a disappointing summer

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Thursday "walk" with Pete - 7th September

I have been walking with Pete for years now on Thursdays whenever our schedules have allowed. I can hardly remember the very few days when weather has stopped us but today was one of those rare occasions.

So, we had a trip to Marks and Spencer for me to buy some new trousers, and then to the indoor market to buy a new camera case, then back to my house for a bit of nostalgia looking at photos on the computer.

Yes, I did replace the camera. I decided that I just didn't want the bulk and weight of a bridge camera and have gone for  the Panasonic TZ100 which as far as I know is the only compact at the moment that has a one inch sensor. Wilkinson's Cameras gave me £65 allowance on the TZ60 and there is a £50 cash-back from  Panasonic which I will be able to claim in October. Walking past Wilkinson's window this morning my camera was up for £120, but I suppose they've got to make a living and I didn't want all the hassle of trying to sell it privately.

I have taken quite a lot of photos mostly of subjects that I have reasons for not posting on the Internet (no clever comments please), but there are a few examples below, and I am pleased so far with the results. Especially I have noticed a big improvement in rendition of colour. There will be more to come, but maybe not from walking for a while.

The knee is well and truly playing up and making walking a painful and troublesome activity. Today I saw my GP and he has referred me to the knee surgeon and sent me to Kendal hospital for an x-ray, so I am now waiting for an appointment  - the start of a long road to pre-op appointments, surgery, physio, and hopefully, in the fullness of time, gradual incremental walking. Ah well, I have had a bonus for the last two years being fortunate to be able to do a lot of walking on a knee that the surgeon had condemned all that time ago. I'm sure Gayle will be recommending that I take up crocheting.

It is 4:00pm as I type and the end of the summer is apparent as I see the school kids walking back home again after their long break.

Flowers were moving with the wind

Zoom from about thirty yards

A "testing" walk

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Thursday 31st August 2017 - Thursday walk with Pete

Since aborting my backpacking a week ago last Sunday I have not been for what one would call a walk except for strolling limping round Lowther Castle and spending this last weekend helping Gimmer lay screed at his house project.

The leg is stiff and weak feeling, but not giving much pain in the day, but in bed at night it is very painful and I have had little sleep. The leg/knee is not functioning naturally and I just know it's not going to get better this time.

I have an appointment with my GP next Friday 8th September which I know will result in a formal referral to the hospital, and as my surgeon told me two years ago the knee x-ray showed surgery was advisable then, so everything I have done for the last two years has been a bonus, so I suppose I can't complain. But, the prospect of the best part of a year getting this sorted including waiting for appointments, surgery, and the long exercise programme required afterwards is not a pleasant prospect.

Recently I have written here about my lack of satisfaction with the Panasonic TZ60 camera. That is probably partly due to my lack of expertise not using it to its full potential but from research I can see it does have its limitations. I have no deep knowledge of photography, but if I am to be partly immobilised I would like to take more time and patience out and about to try and get some better results and to that end I will likely be upgrading to a better camera shortly. I have been reading reviews, looking at websites, dithering, changing my mind, seeking advice and generally going through a sort of guilty process familiar to me when deciding to spend a fair amount of money on something that is not really essential.

Just to satisfy myself completely I went for the routine Thursday walk with Pete today - we walked about three miles on quiet roads around Gressingham, and except for the company there was no pleasure in the walking for me, and I now have no doubts about the need to submit.

I took a few macro photos, and I reckon the TZ60 must have overheard my deliberations and smartened itself up to produce one or two quite good results - these have not been doctored in Photoshop Elements. One difficulty with flora is that it blows about in the wind.

CLICK PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

Lowther Castle

In July 2011 I went with my friend "Gimmer" who is a frequent commenter here to Lowther Castle. Gimmer's business produces specialised stone and wood sealing products and Lowther were starting a huge project to make their asset into a major visitor attraction and were seeking advice relevant to Gimmer's expertise. The place was a building site in its early stages.

The histories of the Lowther family and the now roofless castle are more interesting than many of these aristocratic venues and can be studied on various websites.

Work in progress - 2011

Yesterday, six years later I made a return visit to Lowther with daughter Jill and two of her friends and respective offspring, and granddaughter Katie along with her great friend Lily. Lily has come through traumatic medical treatment including  NHS sponsored treatment in the USA and is now a delightful, impish little girl full of character - her and Katie are inseparable.

The transformation at Lowther has been massive. The roofless castle has been restored and made safe and the surrounding areas landscaped, and there is a good informative museum with interesting family artefacts. There is also a café whic we did not visit. A ten minute walk on good paths through attractive landscape brings you to a newly constructed monster wooden castle in the woods with slides, several different levels and all kinds of nooks and crannies and walkways etc. for the children. Develpment is on-goung, and that encourages future visits to observe and benefit from progress. All in all this was an excellent day out.

Lily and Barney

Lily and Katie

Another of my entries for Photographer of the Year

Baby Sailor - he was a star

Katie and Barney

Berwick Part 2 - slideshow

Here is a Dropbox link to a slideshow with captions of my walk from Weardale to Hellifield.

I have been disappointed with the Panasonic TZ 60. All my photos seem to lack sharpness. On this walk the weather was often dull, and damp and wet which will have some bearing. Most of these photos have been enhanced using Photoshop Elements.

At £200 the Panasonic was not cheap, but how much more do you have to pay to get better results?

CLICK HERE.        click on first thumbnail then go to "Full Screen" at bottom

Changing times

The first ascent of Everest combined with the Queen's coronation heralded hope of regeneration and a new start after WW2. What does the silencing of Big Ben herald?