PICTURE THIS!

I know it's been a few days again, or should that be several if you want to get all technical with the machinations of the english language. If it's not cones hampering my way( the evidence is on the other blog), supermarkets not replenishing goods or kamikaze birds throwing themselves into the patio windows, it's now the turn of photobox to complicate my life.

I've been using photobox along with imagekind to sell my work. Lots of reasons but lets just say logistically its the best option for worldwide domination, when you live on an island. The good news is they have closed their books to new professionals. Yippee! The bad is, they have changed to a new sleeker website. Whoopee doo! Put the champers glass down. Never that simple. Basically I now straddle two sites (not in the literal sense, that would be too painful) the old and the new link, which is confusing to customers. They have also lost/misplaced 2008 sales.Perhaps a lawsuit winging their way will spur them on to find said sales pretty sharpish.


Well you know I love too complain, so yes they have had it with both barrels, and still getting it. New improved site my derriere! It was perfectly hunky dory before, they used to be heroes, but no more golden years with them. We may have to part company unless they get their act together. Have you ever noticed when something is new and improved it's gobbly gook for we have made a mess. Terminal 5 Heathrow. I rest my (suit) case.

The photo is another from the nature reserve. I must take 200 a week here, and they are all so different. Not as moody as some I've used for skywatch, but not bad.

WALLABY WATCH!
Lost somewhere in the ether betwixt parallel photobox sites.

ISLE OF MAN , PC GONE MAD

The eagle eyed(no that bird pun wasn't intened) may have noticed that this photo is also on my daily blog. Now I do usually try and have differing ones, but the bloody files have gone walkabout and well, I can't access anything new. So all the other photos I have taken in Raw are lurking somewhere mysteriously on my PC. Why they would run away undercover of older files I don't know. That has been the week in general though, hence my absence.

I get one post done, nip over to this blog, but no, server down. Then MY LAPTOP JUST KEEPS MISBEHAVING. It keeps going to sleep. Goodnight, just going to standby. Then it's the hiding of files. I have obviously done some heinous deed towards it I am unaware of, but for the sweet life of me I have no notion of what that would be. It's being well very Manx. No you don't want to work, there's time enough, I'm going to sleep. Er, no you are not. You are my laptop, now do as you are told or else I will feed you to the cones.

Oh yes, before I go, or my narcoleptic laptop passes out I have been dared to do something a little mad when the TT is on. Get a T. shirt with one of my photos on with my website details printed and wear it, sort of free advertising for my sales site. Should be fun. Epecially if I could get on one of the TV channels covering it, just to wave to you all.

The photo is the baby cormorant of the one I photographed earlier this year. Check out my other blog for more info and semsible wrting. RAMSEY DAILY PHOTO

WALLABY WATCH!
Trying to get a flight anywhere off the island when TT is on. Motorbikes and wallabies don't mix.

IT'S NOT A CATTLE PROD!

It may aswell be a cattle prod, my camera that is. Following on from "Trust Me I'm A Photographer", it's still happening. Cones hold their ground, defiantly saying shoot me woman, shoot me. People however, even those laid back Manx types are reacting at the sight of a camera as if they have just had the proverbial cattle prod, inserted into the proverbial nether regions.

Surely it will hurt me more than it will hurt them? Just a fraction of their time. Me. Do they realise what I have to scarifice. Space on my card, valuable nano seconds taking it, uploading to my "oh no not more bloody photos" laptop, converting from Raw to Tif/ jpeg, filing in my image library under "supposedly human", Cropping, not cropping, colour, black and white.... Overload, Overload. You see my point though don't you? Who may I ask is gaining from the deal. I can't claim this time back. I just want to show off the good folk of the Isle of Man to the world. I could lie and tell you it's for the newspapers, then you'd be beating a path to my door.

So an old pic from last year today. Just to show we have life here. It's TT practise week, the week before the actual races, and all the bikers you see are tourist bikers, not those taking part. It's also my practise week for speeds and angles. I like this shot because it really sums up the Manx laid back way. That woman was positively dawdling, the lights had long since changed, and she nonchanlanty strolled across, oblivious to the traffic building up behind her.Wonderful.

WALLABY WATCH!
Still waiting for the woman to cross the road.

IT'S NOT COMING HOME

It's not coming home then afterall, the F.A. that is. Hand of Posh, and it was all over(thank you for concurring with me about that "none goal" Stephen) .To add insult to injury, blogger was a nightmare yesterday, along with the server here making me yes Mr Hyde, a unhappy bunny. Didn't do sensible other blog post 'til late and couldn't post anything on this the darkside at all.So Lily, you weren't the only one with posting problems. Think the gremlins are at work to undermine the blogging community.

So after the debacle of the football I was not in the mood to be disturbed. Tell that to my neighbour, and I do hope at some point you read this somewhere. You are an idiot. You are inconsiderate. You have no idea what you are doing. The silly litte man next door is buliding an extension , on a new house...for the last 6 YEARS. We have only been in a year. Drilling, hammering, tapping, breaking bricks, for 6 hours straight. The back garden resembles a buliders yard. What the hell he is doing I don't know. The extension remains the same shell it always has been. But the final straw was going out the front door to find he has dug up his own lawn to our side, where a lovely cherry tree sits, now with it's roots exposed on his side. The idiot had also dug up the dividing fence and get this, thrown it onto our lawn. Needless to say, it got thrown onto his and words were had to the effect he reinstate it or else. Why do I have to live in a nice little cul-de-sac, in a nice little semi, unfortunately attached to the semi detached brainwise D.I.Y. calamity from hell. Ps. Your wife and and 3 young boys are charming personification of politeness, you are spoilt brat that should be ashamed of yourself. The words are good morning, not grunt, or look the other way and pretend we aren't there. You imbecile.

The Tulip Pic, Peek-A-Boo was from a bunch Barker bought to console me. That and Jaffa cakes washed down with lashing of Baileys.

WALLABY WATCH!
Digging an underground tunnel to collapse the neighbours extension and put him in it's place instead.

CHAFFINCH HAS WOMAN'S ARM TRANSPLANT!

Obviously there has been no such Frankenstein type transplant. It's the chaffinch that flew into the window the other week, the one I mentioned with the siskin photo.Today is all about my barmy birds. Now, my little feathered friends I love you all dearly, you keep me sane in a mad world but, lets face it your're a bit of a nightmare aren't you?

1. Stop pooping on my washing. It's very fustrating to find your birdy dropping on my freshly washed clothes. It's not big and it's not clever!

2.Learn to share. You know there is a never ending supply, so queue in an orderly fashion, and then peck away.

3.Sort out your air traffic control. It's a window, not a drive through mcbirdies. I will not always be around(or Barker) to rescue you when you've flung yourself headlong at the window, fall onto your back and can't get onto your feet. I haven't really got 3 hours to sit with you until you come round and then run round the garden with you teaching you how to fly. Besides that, it's hard trying to explain to the neighbours, er yes it's another poorly bird, too coincidental for them.

4.Stop having mass orgies in my garden. Really, the noise. Chasing each other, groups, not practising safe sex, promiscuity. Please I'm going all "NIMBY"with you birds, Not In My BackYard.

5. Last but not least, stay bloddy still when I'm trying to photograph you, yes you mr grey pied wagtail, it's not a race, chill out.

So the pic is me and my poorly chaffinch, the one that wouldn't fly off, the one that I was running up and dwon the garden with flaping my arms to encourage him to fly. So get the tripod out, set the pic up, and click the timer.

WALLABY WATCH!

Warding off those naughty cats without bells who try and kill my pretties, my birds. It suits him working outdoors as he can have a fag anytime.

TRUST ME I'M A PHOTOGRAPHER

Ok. Hands up who thought yesterdays post was an April Fool. Only partially. Barker did upload a cartoon of Mugabe, and he did get lots of traffic from government buildings in Zimbabwe. He did get the odd disturbing email, but on the whole we are quite safe. Lets face it Google earth feejit thinks we live in Douglas, Lanarkshire, Scotland, so doubt if Mugabe can find us. Apparently he has a small problem of an election result to consider. Here's hoping it's not in his favour.

So, my other blog, the Ramsey Daily Photo is doing well. That is it's doing well online around the world. What of the island. Well, I'm out and about in Ramsey, trawling the high street for images with the big camera with the big lens, stopping to snap varying pieces that catch my eye. So why is this considered abnormal behaviour. I'm sure the good folk of Ramsey still believe that if I snap them, I may be stealing their soul or something. Good grief people, do you not want to be immortalized on the net for posterity. Something to tell the grandkids, all around the world, that was me when I was younger picking my nose, breaking wind while having a fag outside the pub. That was me letting my dog crap everywhere and not scooping up the poop. That was me falling out the pub and dropping my chips, and shoving the chip paper into the nearest shop letterbox.

So to Ramsey, and be warned tomorrow Douglas. The camera isn't the devils tool and I am not one of his minions. If you can upload your idiotic antics onto You Tube for all the world to see then surely when I'm photographing, that ineresting angle, a humourous, sign or another sunset and you just happen to be wolfing down your ice cream in shot, then in the scheme of all worldy things, it's not so bad is it.

Todays pic is a solitary narcissus. I put a matt black card behind it( no light reflection then) and snapped away. I suppose that would account for why some people consider this photography lark of mine a bit nuts. Well all I'll say is if being able to wander about in the fresh air, with no timetable to adhere to as opposed to being stuck back in a darkened airless vault in the bank, nuts then I am, a fully paid up member of the barmy brigade. Job satisfaction, second to none.

WALLABY WATCH!
He's gone to ground in fear that I might capture his image with that pint in his hand. Wallabies are supposed to be teetotal.

KILLER CONE ON RAMPAGE BEACUSE HE CANT HAVE A FAG.

They're back. Just when I thought it was safe to venture out to Laxey, the Killer Cones have re appeared. It seems planet Coneworld has been annexed to the island, so they are all now officailly Manx, no permits required. This would account for the fact that they had multiplied rapidly since last week and even have humans dressed in yellow coats assisting them in their island takeover. Obviously I am heading up the resistance as we speak. I know Resistance is futile.

I do have another theory about the cones. Late as usual with policies, the Isle of Man , today has officially banned smoking, in indooor work/public places. Now, as a former smoker(not a born again non smoker) I welcome the decision on health grounds, but dreading what the fag smog and aroma were masking. B. O. for one. Then there's beer vomit from the idiot who never knows when to stop. The perfumes and hairsparys all mingling in a couldron into a heady mix a skunk would be ashamed of. Time will tell.

So my Theory is they have been drafted in as community police, in case we have any incidents of fag rage. As they are immune to the addictions of fags, they are perfect for the job. Well they're not guarding the roads very well, I got past again.

Another yawn sunset, called yawn, hint of pink. I do these daily, so I am being lazy. No sunset tomorrow.

WALLABY WATCH!

Having a crafty fag under a manhole cover, behind the train sheds.

FLY, MY PRETTIES, FLY

Yippe, it's officially British Summer Time. The clocks went forward an hour, which of course I forgot and wondering who had pinched my missing hour this morning. Now not exactly like being jet lagged now is it, but always takes me a day or two to climatise. It was lighter an hour later than usual, which meant the lovely birds who I feed to keep sane, were still around and ravenous.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my little array of feathered friends, the siskins, goldfinches, chaffinchs any so much more. Even though the little buggers, just turn up and sit on the fence outside the kitchen window, staring at me manically until i replenish the feeders and water, I love them all. However they frighten the bloody life out of me and here's why.

When the sun shines( rare but it happens) they fly into the kitchen window, and plop onto the ground. So first sunny day, a mad little male siskin, flew straight into the window. So bird nurse Babooshka of Ramsey, to the rescue. Have to pick the little buggers up as gently as you can, put then up the right way and basically sit with them, fending off sparrowhawks and pussy cats( and tail less manx cats) until some three hours later they fly off. Which he did. Had a chaffinch once that basically refused to fly away. Just hopped on my hand. I spent two hours wandering round the garden, like the bird woman of Alcatraz, talking to this bird and waving my arm around running in spurts to try and coax him to fly away. No idea what the neighbours thought. They think we're bananas anyway. Eventually he flew off without so much as a thank you tweet. Not exactly well mannered our graden birds, very manx.( I couldn't resist that one)

So today pic, is er todays pic of the siskin. What a grumpy little bugger he was too. Well I suppose I would be too if I'd been flinging myself headlong into windows. Again not a thank you tweet.

WALLABY WATCH!

Slept in due to the clocks going forward, with a raging hangover.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO DOUGLAS(EXCEPT WHEN THEY ARE CLOSED)

There are basically 3 roads to Douglas, the capitol of the island. The mountain road, the coastal road and the all the bloody way round Peel and every Hillbilly, Hammer Horror, One Horse town in between road. Obviously the last is to be avoided like the plague, unless of course you are a tourist, then it's called the scenic route.

So today i need to go to Douglas, and of course the bus has the monumental decision, mountain or coast. Two drops of rain, means the mountains out and the coast is in. So far so good, until we get to Laxey, then it's attack of the Killer Cones. I swear there are more cones on the island than people. Where do they live when not in use. Are they imported from across, and if so do they have a work permit. Cones that haven't lived here for 5 years, or not Manx born cones would need a work permit, so i suspect they are here illegally as work permits aren't issued willy nilly.

I digress( me never). It's that time of year again, just before the Laxey blues festival, and The TT Road Races shortly after, the powers that be who control the finances, re surface the roads and cause utter chaos. Why? Each year at this time, just before the tax year ends, they need to spend the excess money left, otherwise they won't receive the same budget again, but receive a lesser budget instead. So good financial planning isn't rewarded, the roads have money wasted on them that should go to say, ooh lets be radical HOUSING, EDUCATION, HEALTH and a whole island transport system comes to a standstill. Uk mainland is just as guilty.

Today the photo is the "Seal In Peel." It's so fresh, I've not even uploaded it to my serious, sales sites. Peel is great place for seals as they come right up to the shoreline where the fishermen are to compete with them for the fish. Yes the sea really is that green there, and even I am swoon over it.

WALLABY WATCH!

Found my other blog quite sedate, and is returning if he can fight off those killer cones hampering his route.

MY OTHER BLOG IS A PORSCHE

Today I have gone over to the lightside. I have created a sensible, straight down the line, whinge less, irony free zone, "Isle Of Man Daily Photo" blog. It's the blog i originally set out to do, but got sidetracked with venting my spleen on this one. It is even on a humourless, dispassionate white background. It will have trite titles, real photo info, you know the technical stuff, like what ISO was used and shutter speed. All the boring bits i can't be bothered with here.

It also means i can do any old arty farty, social photography( ooh look at the locals aren't they quaint) black and white, just stepped out the house and thought this pile of dog poo looked really interesting in a conceptual art kind of a way photo i like. Hey, so long as it's a daily photo( who i wonder will check the date, will someone be secretly spying on me form the manx mafia) of the little ole town that I live in, then that will suffice. Apparently though i have already broken the the ethos of the daily pic, (fight club, first rule of fight club, there are no rules in fight club) by setting it in the whole island, rather than the town of Ramsey. Not very good with rules.

So the 2 blogs will run simultaneoulsy in a schizoid kind of way. God help the veiwer who strays from the path of the good blog, worthy, pure photo of photos, to the mad, bad and dangerous blog on the darkside of purple haze.

Queens Pier Photo today. It's seen better days neglected, and needs restoring to it's former glory, but of course the money will go elsewhere. Will have to have a rant on this one.

WALLABY WATCH!

Well that's loyalty for you? He has defected to my other blog.

WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE TOTO?

No, not in Kansas or Oz for that matter. No, no tornado's sweeping the house away and dropping atop the Wicked Witch( of the West Midlands in my case) West. No despite the stormy clouds you see above , still in the Isle Of Man.

This brings me to a pet hate of mine(what another one i hear you cry) that Pierre inadvertantly mentioning the Steam Packet in the comments box has irked me today. The price of leaving the Island. Not forever , just a vacation/holiday.

I'll get round to the steam packet next time they bug me, but for now it's flights. A flight across, 20 mins in the air to Blackpool, England last flight cost £150 plus. Ridiculous. We are being held to ransome here, when we want to get off the island, and what about tourists. Do we want them? The answer is yes,yes, yes, then do something to encourage more visitors. Stop relying on events like the TT Road Races that have a loyal following and bikers will come whatever the cost. Stop ripping visitors off, and us Island folk that occasionally, when cabin fever strikes need to escape to Shopping Malls or Sun drenched beaches that don't have a creepy flag with 3 legs waving at them.

Ooh i do like a rant. Today's pic( called"Cloudbusting") was literally at the back of my house on the nature reserve. Barker and i were dodging the rain. Back and forth into the house, so in the end we had a hike round the nature reserve looking for birds and rabbits(bugger all)to photograph. Instead you got the view towards the mountains, with the glistening sun, and the rolling clouds. 2 minutes later, it was pissing it down and i was back in the house whinging about it always bloody raining. Need a holiday, but can't afford a second mortgage for the flight.

WALLABY WATCH!

Having flying lessons as it's cheaper to charter a plane , than book a flight.

THE LOST WEEKEND

Happy Easter everyone. Have we had lots of chocky eggs? Not much of a chocolate fan myself, i know, a woman who doesn't go ga ga over the sweet stuff, but crisps ooh that's another story. When it comes to pringles I don't understand the word share! I can eat a full pack in one sittiing and then roll around in agony complaining i have bad guts and swear i have no idea why. Back to the chocs, had a baileys easter egg, with minature baileys truffles. Yummy, but not as yummy as a bag of crsips.

Somehow managed to negelct my blog yesterday. Think i may have been kidnapped by aliens (or the manx mafia) and had the memory of the event erased. Time just slipped by in front of the tv and re organising photos. Can't even blame it on alcohol, now that is worrying. So saturday came and went and sunday has visisted and to be honest the photo reorganization has monopolised my time yet again. Fotunately this means i haven't been traumatised, by powercuts, bank false imprisonments, Thomas the Tank Engine(as i now refer to manx railway) being derailed or taxis failing to arrive leaving me stranded with eight bags of shopping in the middle of Ramsey. (see earlier blogs if this has confused you) No, my blood pressure is down, I am at one with The isle of Man, and even a the cormorant posed for a pic. Somewhere in the world, someone has had a shit day on my behalf. Sure the equilibrium will be restored tomorrow and the mad world of Babooska will resume.

Today's pic is entiled "cormorant in flight." Yes it's unimaginately titled what you see is what youb get with this one. I have been chasing this bloody bird, my nemesis for months now, and today, my perfect world day, there he was, and so was I.

WALLABY WATCH!

He too has had a lost weekend in Blackpool

HAS GOOGLE EARTH MOVED FOR YOU?

No, Google Eath hasn't moved for me either? It seems I though have moved for Google Earth. Confused?Not half as much as I was to find out that I now live in Scotland. It will all make sense if you read on. As usual it's one of those you couldn't make it up things. Just happens to be me again it's happened to.

Uploaded one of those clever little maps that flags who's been visiting your blog yesterday. Today I thought i'll have a nosey and that when it happened. It came up with Doulgas. Douglas is the Capital of the Isle of Man, so ok it's not Ramsey, but close. Started to zoom in as you do, and that's when it happened, it zoomed in on Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Now after the bank false imprisonment, power cut, and Thomas the Tank Engine running, but only one way, what i needed this week was some stability. Oh know, Google bloody Earth, have moved me(must have been when i slept. damn!) back to the UK mainland. How can it not recognise the Island. How traumatised do you think i am today so far this week, and it's only wednesday!

Obviously Google Earth have had a strongly worded email about this... check it out for yourselves. Hover and zoom in On the Isle of Man, and it's big fat blank nothing. Do you think the Manx Mafia have conspired with Google Earth and the real Photoblogs societies to obliterate me from Blogger land. Perhaps in fact i don't actually exsist and if you are reading this, it is you in fact that are mad. Ponder that.

Today's anitphotoblog pic is another of Ramsey Rugby. Very touchy feely this one, and they tell me it's a man's game. Getting to grips with thier manhood are they then,no just each others.

WALLABY WATCH!

Google Web and Google Earth have no record of anything called a wallaby. Should they exist they will no doubt be found in Douglas, Scotland.

THE SEAGULL HAS LANDED

"The seagull has landed" should actually have been applied to yesterdays pic but after the bank false impriosonment( liberty taking with the truth i know) my puns weren't up ( or down depending on your viewpoint) to scratch. So today i will enlighten you as to how and when this pic was taken. Again it's a genuine pic, not a particuarly good shot, in fact it's crap technically and too dark, but it's an opportunist shot.

So, at my old house, there were these two herring gulls went into a pub. No i mean fighting in the back garden. Why they chose my garden i do not know. Tried to seperate them with a broom, and the weaker one flew into the house and proceeded to have a mad half hour flying about. Managed to shoo the other one away. By this time the gull above had decided to sit where you see him now. At this point in the proceeding i just had to take his pic, having texted Barker to tell him we had a gull in the kitchen. Now even for me this seemed in the realms of fantasy, as only so much can happen to one person, so pictorial evidence was required.

Now getting him out was another challenge in itself. More shooing with brooms until he retreated to the garden , straight behind the oil burner. More problems. He sat there for about 2 hours, came out of his own accord, flew off and left me with big pile of seagull shit as a parting gift for my trouble, and you have no idea how much a scared seagull can poo. Thus ends another one of my "it really happened, no i'm not lying, drunk or on drugs, this is just my life" tales.

Well, we are still none the wiser as to which way the train will run. No logical explanation given for the powercut. I think it might be somekind of X Files secret tagging thing they were doing. Probabaly whole island kidnapped and tagged, and we have been implanted with this false scenario of a powercut and lock in. Ok just me then?

WALLABY WATCH!

It's not a wallaby, it's an alien with a cloaking devise, thus explaining why he is so elusive.

JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY

Happy St Patrick's Day. That's especially for my friend Micheal, or should i say "Mehall." There are so many Micheal's, that he is Mehall pronouced as if " i was standing in me hall" with a very broad generic "oirish" accent. Message to his mom. He was a very good boy and went to church. Then he was a very bad boy and went to the pub. On the plus side this means he will have to have an extra visit to confess he was at the pub on a monday night. Barker(my other half) and I only accompanied him you understand to be polite. Honest.

Very traumatising eXperience today, I got locked in a bank. No, really. An island power cut which meant lockdown. Now, having left the banking fraternity recentlty on this mad whim of "I'm going be a photographer, so long farewell you boring little jobsworths"the last thing I needed was to be imprisoned in a confined space, with the people i had been satirising on facebook, and my blog, in the very buliding i had been kicking and screaming to get out of for a year. Never keep your bank account at the bank you have just left!

Finally escaped but will now be booking my session with Dr Melfi( I believe she has a vacancy now Tony Soprano no longer requires her services) to analyse my ordeal. No doubt the power cut will all be my mother's fault and i was trying to climb back into the comfort of the womb by getting myself locked in the bank, the safety net of my old sensible job. No it was just bad luck. Or was it? You never know on this island.

Latest news on the Manx Electric Railway Society cancelling the one and only rail link between Ramsey and Laxey that i was banging on about in one of my older posts. My threats to them, well they have relented. That is to say they will be running the service, but one way. Which way i don't know, but perleeease can the see that this is just not bloody practical. Half the battle won, but the war rages on. So then do I.

My anti photoblog pic today is an obliging herring gull who I asked kindly if he would try a landing shot for me. He used his stunt double instead and i gave him a fish head as a reward. I always promised to give him a mention. I don't know, everyone's a bloody wannabe star this days.

WALLABY WATCH!

Unfortunately still locked in the bank. He was able to run fast enough, being a wallaby he just bounced a lot. A rescue plan is underway, if my therapy is sucessful.

SHOOTING FROM THE LIP

Sloshed saturday so old news, sober sunday all the rage. Remebered what i was actually going to blog about yesterday, what is a photoblog? Discuss. Firstly, a big thank you to my friend Joanne who has duly supplied me with the correct name to yesterdays pic i lazily christened "Pink Blush". It is wait for it, a red "Australian Bottle Brush Plant" (latin - callistemon citrinus splendens). Many thanks Joanne, our guest expert today.

A photoblog is defined as a daily photo uploaded to a blog with a blurb or two about the pic. It can be animals, flora, travel, knitting, basically whatever you are into, tips ,camera info etc. What it can't be however is funny, ironic, irreverent, nonsensical. No po faced is the accepted format, wittisims are unacceptable. There's no room for escaped wallabies roaming round the isle of man, which inspired wallaby watch. Only sober sensible photoblogs please apply.

I have been turned down from a photoblogging index on the grounds that, "it is not seriously commited to the ethics of promoting photography." Hello are THEY serious. I couldn't be anymore serious myself. I gave up a good job in the very boring, dullard financial industry to persue photography as a living, which just about sustains me in jack daniels and pringles( ok lying again, it's jack daniels and coke with pringles) in the short term until i am master photographer of the world( well at least the isle of man) with matching income.

So this now is an anti photoblog. It is the antithsis to a phototoblog. It will contain a daily image but will now be devoid of any useful, relevent, technical "here's the science bit info." The image will bear no relation to the post( when does it anyway), in fact i may not even refer to it at all only perhaps in a subversive anarchic way. Who needs to be indexed anyway. I am a free anti photoblog, not a number.

So to todays pic. I would like to go into intricate details of night shoots, but my anti photoblog ethics will not permit this. What i am at liberty to tell you is that it is today, Ramsey Harbour, evening sunset and tritely titled "Golden Wonder."

WALLABY WATCH!

Has gone over to the darkside and swithced to a serious photoblog. He will be back when he realises he will no longer have his own spot, but be shunted to one side as an extra. Afterall he has a staring role here and i did discover him.

CONFESSIONS OF A PHOTOGRAPHER

Confessions of a photographer otherwise known as "one i made earlier" would be a more accurate title. When I started this supposedly serious one a day photography blog, the intention was to highlight my photographs fo sale, tips and impart you , dear readers with a little knowledge of my adopted home, The Isle Of Man. As you can see it has descended into ramblings of a insomniac photographer who is often tilting at windmills figthing lost causes( the manx railway),who can't always due to the unforgiving weather here take her daily pic. Hence falling on the old standbys in my archive, ie a butterfly. Even with global warming it is a wee bit early for yesterdays red admiral. Today i will redress the balance to purge my guily soul, though very tongue in cheek.

Todays pic is actually wednesdays pic, which i hadn't uploaded until today. Rambling again. Originally entitled sunset glow, now it is to be known as Flaming Orange. Taken again from my friends flat( previously taken red fire sunset from here) as the night fast drawing to a close in Ramsey these wondeful orange and gold tones lit the evening sky. Peel is actually the place for the best sunsets, but occasionally we are fortunate on the east side of the island and the odd spectacular night sky can be snapped.

Tomorrow the forcast is rather gloomy, so if you see an obvious autumn/fall shot appear you will know why. The most perculiar shot I have ever taken is a seagull in my kitchen. Now that has to be seen to be believed. Not superimposed, it was sheltering from another seagull. Another story for another day.

No mad Isle of Man celebrity news today. All seem to be behaving, that is apart from my partner. Not really misbehaving just falling asleep in front of the tv snoring loudly when he is supposed to be working which i find annoying to say the least. He by the way is The BBC Political Cartoonist of The BBC Politics Show. His Cartoons can be seen each week on on the website in the Barker Gallery. You can check them out for yourself under my links, along with the link to his own blog "Barker Bites Back" which he should be updating but is spark out. Please go and comment on his blog and tell him to wake up. This would amuse me tremendoulsy and frighthen the life out of him. Obviously you can tell him how wonderful the cartoons are too, which they are.

This is my first sober friday for ages. Don't panic i haven't taken the oath, we are having "sloshed saturday" instead.

WALLABY WATCH!

Having a quiet night in with friends, the flying pig and the pink elephant.

MANX ELECTRIC RAILWAY SOCIETY, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

As you can see from the title of my post today Babooshka( why am I refering to myself in the third person is beyond me) is not a happy bunny. In fact polite blogging society tempers the language i'd like to use. Why so irate? Read on.

Manx Electric Railway, in their wisdom( blatant irony here) have decided not to run the train from Laxey to Ramsey in the summer for the tourists anymore. This effeftively cuts off the north of the island for alternative transport. It is also mindboggling stupid not to run this when the TT is on. Doh! This is how people get to work during those 2 weeks from Ramsey to Douglas. This is also a blow to the shopkeepers of Ramsey who are reliant on a steady stream of tourists to boost summer sales. Arrrrrrrrrrgh!

Us islanders have not been consulted over this decision. Be warned, you tried to close Ramsey's cottage hospital and failed. You are going to have a fight on your hands over this one aswell, and it starts on my blog. Anyone want to join in feel free.

Ooh that was good. Sorry folks had to get that out of my system.

To redress the angry balance my daily photo is of a very placid butterfly. It's a red admiral taken again with the telescopic lens. I like telelscopic lenses, because you can focus on the subject, whislt the background fades and blurs. This then emphasises the chosen subject in the case the butterfly.

WALLABY WATCH!

Wallaby last spotted stranded at Laxey trying to get back to Ramsey, but there are no bloody trains. Have i made my point yet?

CASTLETOWN QUAY. GENE HUNT WAS HERE.

What is happening to the Isle Of Man Celebrities at the moment.?Is there something in the water? Too many Manx kippers? Or have they just not said hello to the fairy folk when they go over The Fairy Bridge. Whatever it is they do seem to be getting themselves into trouble. Re my post yesterday "Berk In The Merc" aka Jeremy Clarkson being a naughty boy and using his mobile whilst driving. It now transpires that he may actually be prosecuted!

Castletown is situated at the lower end of the island, a beautiful little town that often features in TV and film. One of these of note was the short lived "Island At War." A drama that concentrated on the occupation of the Channel Islands by the German Army during World War 11. The Isle Of Man doubled for the Channel Islands mainly as Castletown, unchanged over the years bore a close resemblance to The Channels Islands during WW11 and of course the tax breaks films and TV get here. Locals were used as extras and locals old cars were also used. Some shop windows even have old money price lists still displayed which were used in the series.

The series proved more popular in America than here and never reached it's conclusion for varying reasons, the death of the writer, actor commitments, and it's popularity waning in the UK. Philip Glenister was one of the actors playing a German Officer, better known now of course as the wonderful character "Gene Hunt"of "Ashes to Ashes" and "Life On Mars."

Todays Pic is Castletown Quay, which i'm sure you had worked out by now. Always better to capture on a sunny day as it really brings out the blue hues of the water.Gene Hunt has long gone though. Jeremy Clarkson you might see though, possibly on foot if he gets a driving ban.

WALLABY WATCH!

He has joined the Resistance and stowing away on one of those boats pictured.

BERK IN A MERC

Jeremy Clarkson, you know one of the 3 presenters of the fabulous, best car programme ever, "Top Gear" has done it again. No, not for shooting his mouth off again about what he's like to do to the ramblers on his land, motorbikers, or environmentalists, although it does involve his vocals.

Jeremy was pictured talking on his mobile phone whilst driving his merc at 70 per hour. Now we are not talking hands free,we are talking one hand on the wheel, the other gripping his moblie. No doubt he was looking for ramblers to run over and getting the info as to their whereabouts from the other person at the end of the mobile.

Jeremy is another Isle Of Man resident. One of the reasons he loves the place is that it isn't governed entirely by UK rules. An example of this is the speed limit. We don't exactly have one. Well yes we do, say when you are approaching the few towns we have, but basically it's carte blanche. So you can drive like a maniac on the mountain road and believe me drivers do. If you like rollercoasters, take a Isle of Man bus ride. It's cheaper than a rollercoaster ride, lasts longer and is far less predictable. I mean at least on a funfair ride you are strapped in, know the highs and lows and that it will at some point reach it's destination. None of the above can be said of taking the bus. For all those that watch Top Gear, it wouldn't surprise me if The Stig was an Isle of Man bus driver.

Top Gear latest news under links.

Todays pic is " Storm Clouds Of Ramsey." No we didn't have the storm, gales and floods that were predicted last night, so here's one from last summer.Took this one with a wide angled lens and chose black and white to emphasise the contrast of the white clouds and severe greys of the sky. Iso was 4oo. ooh getting technical, will stop it.

WALLABY WATCH!

Wallaby found to be the person Jeremy Clarkson was talking to on the mobile when he was driving. The Wallaby, however, did not commit an illegal act as his set was hands free.