Sunday 27th July 2014, 12.05pm (day 1,067)
She’s certainly going for it as if it might be. Like us, this lady was in the departure lounge of Fiumicino airport, but, I suspect, leaving her home country rather than returning to it.
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Portrait
Shelter from the storm
Tuesday 22nd July 2014, 11.20am (day 1,062)
First full day in Rome. It would be easy here to slip into just doing a series of photos of the tourist sights. Today we saw the Colosseum (impressive, but as expected, heaving with people), the Baths of Caracalla (stupendously impressive, and with a notable absence of coach parties) and the Palatine Hill.
The latter was worth visiting but notable for being the place where we were caught in a severe thunderstorm for an hour or so, which is when I took this shot, of these two Chinese women in their waterproof ponchos (being touted at €5 each while it was raining), in the first of the two spots in which we tried to avoid the rain. I like the strange positioning of the hand of the one in green, and yes, her friend is standing on one leg at this point.
Joe’s last day at primary school
Friday 18th July 2014, 2.10pm (day 1,058)
Today was Joe’s last day at Riverside, his primary school. You may do things differently in your country but this is a significant transition point for us. And here are the rest of his cohort. I like the animation in this picture, a sense of the joy of today, as well as its deeper meaning. Good luck to all of them.
Jomo Kenyatta airport, early morning
Friday 11th July 2014, 6.25am (day 1,051)
I only post this early when I’m travelling, and here’s the second really early one in a week. Nairobi’s airport seems to have about fifty duty free shops and one bar/café, this one. I like this shot, particularly as I wasn’t really giving it a great deal of thought, I just captured the bar scene randomly but I like the way he’s been caught. And I was only having a cup of tea. Honest, guv.
Alessandra, at work
Thursday 10th July 2014, 3.30pm (day 1,050)
Another nice reason to come to Nairobi is the presence of some of my distance learning students, including Alessandra, pictured here on the right, doing her stuff for her company, the Cultural Video Foundation — check out their web site, they do some amazing stuff. Here she is interviewing a local artist for another project. And yes, that is an old double-decker London bus in the background.
Clare and Joe
Saturday 5th July 2014, 5.20pm (day 1,045)
My family. No further comment necessary.
Tour de France tomorrow.
Clare, incognito (15th wedding anniversary evening out)
Tuesday 1st July 2014, 6.30pm (day 1,041)
I knew you wouldn’t make it all the way down the road in those heels, dear. Anyway, even if the exact date is tomorrow — happy wedding anniversary, hun. My, 15 years… as long as Basil and Sybil Fawlty 🙂
George and Kelly visit
Sunday 29th June 2014, 10.20am (day 1,039)
George is originally from Cyprus and his wife Kelly, from Minnesota. They had been living in Austin, Texas, but have recently moved to Vancouver Island, Canada. He used to work with me at the University of Manchester and was passing through Hebden Bridge (England) today, on their way to fly home, from Scotland, so we met in the morning for tea.
I don’t know if they were planning to appear on my blog as well as all these other places in their life, but as they look happy and I like this picture of them, they have.
Walker, summit of Arthur’s Pike
Saturday 28th June 2014, 12.20pm (day 1,038)
Another Lake District walk today. I was sat down having my lunch on the summit of Arthur’s Pike (1747 feet above sea level) when this other walker came over to admire the view and I just snapped him from below, the Pennines in the background. More photos and text will appear on my other blog tomorrow, but not tonight. A cloudy day, as you can see; OK for walking but June is never a great month for photography.
Self-portrait in orange, University of Stavanger campus
Wednesday 18th June 2014, 12.25pm (day 1,028)
It’s been November (or rather Movember) since a selfie appeared on the blog. This orange wall stands on the University of Stavanger campus where I was doing my day’s work today. I like the reflective bubble effect, but what puzzles me is where I’ve gone in the one to top right.
Being 42 