May Day Morris Dancing

This morning the alarm was set for before dawn, to ensure we arrived at Wandlebury, just outside Cambridge, in time to see the dawn Morris Dancing by the Devil's Dyke Morris Men on this May Day morning. The day when tradition has it to roll in the dewy grass, although today the dew was of the white crunch variety.

(This is the holding page to ensure a 1st May date on the blog post and whilst the rest of the edit is completed in between a full weekend of assignments. Do come back later for the full set of images)

Amsterdam

A week ago I flew off to a city I had last visited around 15 years ago, and was delighted to be making a return visit. This was to be a pure indulgence visit - not shooting for work but shooting for pleasure, and it was also be an opportunity to meet a lovely Dutch friend of similar situation who is also an enthusiastic photographer with a keen eye.

Leaving the sunshine behind in the UK, I landed into some wintry weather, giving rise to some shots I had not expected to see during my visit.

However, by the next morning, the sun had caught up with us and we spent a fascinating day people-watching in Dam Square and the environs of the De 9 Straatjes.

Here's Looking at You. 1

Here's Looking at You. 2

Here's Looking at You. 3

The Kiss. 1

It was impossible not to find shops with traditional Dutch souvenirs, including the typical blue and white Delft ware which came in all shapes and sizes. Appropriate too that this kissing couple was mirrored for real on the Kees De Jongenbrug - Kees De Jongen (Kees the Boy) being a famous Dutch novel about a boy and his first love, Rosa. However unlike the pottery couple who keep their hands to themselves, this modern day Rosa needed to hang on! (Someone give her a couple of Yellow Pages too!)

The Kiss. 2

The Kiss. 3

Now, for a couple of Dutch cliches...

Bike on the bridge

Bike in the window

In the saddle

Then there were the selfies - loads of them.
Not any of me I might add, I'm rubbish at them.
But everyone else busying themselves with their selfies, oblivious to what was going on around them.

...iiiits selfie tiiime!!! 1

...iiiits selfie tiiime!!! 2

...iiiits selfie tiiime!!! 3

In fact, I got so engrossed with people taking selfies I'm going to dedicate another blog just to the phenomenon.

It also turned out to be a weekend of
Planes...

Schiphol...check-in

Trains...

Amsterdam Centraal...checking out

...and Automobiles.

Fiat 500...checking up

And why not finish off with some tulips from Amsterdam!

Day 24 - August Challenge

Challenge - "Photographic record of an allotment site"

Suggested by - Martyn via Facebook

The forecast for today predicted pants weather. Waterproof 'pants', coat and boots to be more accurate, so when I woke at 07.30 and realised it wasn't currently raining, I grabbed my chance and my gear, and indulgently motored to the other end of town - throwing in a big brolly for good measure.

And I needed it. A humid mist hung over the town as the once, odd few drops of rain became ever more persistent. I tucked the handle of the brolly into my coat pocket, balancing the rest of it on my shoulder and head, in an attempt to free up both hands. Armed with just one lens - leaving the other kit in the dry shelter of the car, I ambled into one of my favourite shooting zones - allotments.

I have photographed these particular allotments on a number of occasions, their backdrop of the town behind them making them even more photogenic. I love the eclectic nature of all that goes with these little oases. I love the tranquillity and I love the colour - the flowers of the traditional allotment plants adding the only splash of sunshine in today's scene.

Where normally it would have been an early morning hive of activity, the rain had stopped play for the gardeners. However, I persisted, to record some of the plants, record the demarcation of the various plots and record the overall environment of the town allotments. However, there is one more record that, if one looks long enough, it will always be found...

The screen grab

My thanks to:

Martyn for the suggestion

Tomorrow, Day 25

"Stirs emotions, and why?"

VMCC Banbury Run 2013

After the buzz of the TT post the other week, let's go right back to the beginning with motorcycles all built before 1931.

Over the past thirty years, I have been to watch these old machines at a particular summer event on a number of occasions. This has mostly been due to the fact that himself has a passion for two wheels. So, coupled with the fact that we haven't been for a number of years, and the newest member of our family also has a passion for two wheels, it seemed a perfect reason for us all to set off on Sunday, picnic-in-panniers, to watch the annual Vintage Motorcycle Club 'Banbury Run' take place, starting from the Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire.

It is amazing to think that enough of these old bikes are still road-worthy enough to be able to get together to make such an event but nearly 600, mostly British, veteran and vintage motorcycles took part.
With almost a complete lexicon of all the old manufacturers names,
from Ariel...

...to Zenith,

riders could choose to be competitive...

or just social and for the fun of it.

From traditional tweed-clad riders...

...to those in a mixture of old and new, the riders lined up the bikes in batches of five, ready to be waved off at minute intervals, to cover one of the three circular routes.

 

With such clouds of smoke and a succession of bikes queueing for the electric rolling road to coerce the aged machines into life, it was questionable as to whether some of them would actually make it all the way round their designated route.

All knew what lay ahead.
Cue the moment to hop back onto our own two wheels and head over to Sun Rising Hill.

................

Situated on the A422 Stratford to Banbury road, Sun Rising Hill is the long, winding road from Warwickshire up over the wooded Edge Hill escarpment into Oxfordshire. It is notorious for the best wheels, let alone those belonging to this ageing band of motorcycles. It isn't any wonder that spectators gather on the hill to watch as these machines pop, wheeze and bang their way up the hill, with some seemingly covering the route with little effort.

Others get caught out for any number of reasons.
But can you imagine the possible embarrassment of being overtaken by a cyclist?!

Hats off to this cyclist though for riding non-stop up a road where many spectators walked just a small portion, and wheezed worse than some of the old motorcycles!

Countless machines expired just in sight of the top of the hill, relying on the VMCC volunteers and sometimes, spectators to give a friendly push to the top, whilst other motorcycles just plodded on past.

As machines went by, there was always the hope of that distinct whiff of Castrol R to confirm that the event was indeed running old and not modern machines. We didn't need the proof though.

Where else might you see purple motorcycle and sidecar outfits like this?

Some machines 'flew' up the hill but not necessarily quite as planned.

For others, touch-down would be imminent.

Whilst there were those with a long taxi back.

Sun Rising Hill. Sorts the men from the boys. There are those that can and there are those that can't but by one means or another, they all still have to get to the top...

 ...but there will always be one straggler.




Post script

Judging by my blog stats, it appears there are loads of you out there dropping in to have a look at this post
- and thank you!
Would be lovely if just one or two of you might leave a comment too. (Don't be shy!)