I Spent The Day,

playing with the camera and lenses, 

the problem being when I go to Namibia, the smaller airlines can be quite strict about overhead luggage, both the size and weight of the bag, so I had to get as much as I could in my Lowepro ProTactic BP 350 AW III Backpack, the size fitted the airlines criteria, as for weight it had to be under 10 kilos, 

 after much swapping and changing, inside a 500mm telephoto lens, 1.4 teleconverter, 20-32mm wide angle, 35-70mm 'normal' zoom, 120mm macro lens and a flashgun, all up 7.2 kilos, after adding a laptop it will be under the 10 kilos, 

and here is the bag all loaded up and ready to go, but you may have noticed no camera!

 as my camera is medium format, the system is much bigger then conventional cameras, both it and the lenses are large, so I will carry the camera and a 100 - 200 zoom lens over my shoulder,

 plus all of the lens hoods as they would not fit in the backpack, 

also in the bag I will carry all of the batteries, the chargers in my suitcase along with the tripod, it sounds ridiculous but it took an age mixing and matching what to put in each bag, after my evening meal it was the usual fare of a Outback Opal Hunters before my film for the evening, I watched an old favourite, 

 We're No Angels, a delightful comedy, a really nice Christmas story, with a bit of a edge to it, shortly before Christmas in 1895, unapologetic convicts Joseph (Bogart), Albert (Ray), and Jules (Ustinov) escape — along with Albert's pet viper, Adolfe — from the infamous Devil's Island prison in French Guiana. After dodging search parties, they seek refuge in the shop of Felix Ducotel (Leo G. Carroll), who is struggling to make ends meet under the overbearing supervision of his cousin Andre (Basil Rathbone). Given the spirit of the Christmas season, the trio decide to assist Ducotel, his wife Amelie (Joan Bennett), and their daughter Isabelle (Gloria Talbott) the only way they know how, with the unseen star of the movie, Adolfe, after which Diana arrived home, so feet up for a coffee and a chat about where we were going drive to tomorrow and have breakfast/lunch as it is Diana's day off, after a Bangers & Cash, which saw the team buy a 

1963 Lotus Elan and then spend a fortune on restoring it, the original cost of the car and the restoration came to a staggering £80,000+! when it went to auction it sold for £39,500, some one got the best restored Elan in the world! it is pictured restored as sold above, as it happens I have always quite liked this model of Lotus, not so the others, after which we were then off to bed.

Diana Was At Work,

so I had a play with a few photographs, 

from our last cruise, this one a skylight in a tunnel with a large road and footpaths above that we went under by boat, 

I am not a fan of graffiti, but I did like this industrial sized piece of artwork, 

next into the giant cave in the Rock of Gibraltar, 

this one the biggest and probably the most famous is this one, St. Michael's Cave, 

a stunning, illuminated natural limestone cavern used as an auditorium, after which my evening meal, followed by 2 from Deadly 60, then a pleasant surprise, Diana was leaving work early, so off to pick her up, arriving home a coffee and a chat as we settled down to watch a Lewis, after which Diana was off to bed, for myself a Bangers & Cash before I too was off to bed.

After Posting Yesterdays Blog,

Diana was already at work, so a quiet day for myself,

as I posted the blog, I noticed a few foxes in the garden,

so peanuts it was, 

the third one was quite shy, as soon as I went to the widow to throw another handful of peanuts he left, 

this is a new one, all of our 'usual' foxes has a black or tan coloured tip to its tail, this one white,

the same as the family which we normally see at the entrance to the park early mornings or late evenings, 

"more nuts please!"

no sooner said than done, 

meanwhile the one I perceive to be the mum, 

was busy, 

eating away, next I spent the rest of the day playing with and printing photographs from Morocco,  

I quite like this one, I titled it 'Three couples, two waiters and one cat',

but when I looked at it when I had finished making it look as I liked it, the photograph was still a tad dark, so I reprinted it with a few more corrections, the lighten one at the top of the two and one of a alleyway in Casablanca, I always print a full A3 size of every photograph I play with, so that I know it is of acceptable quality if ever I should enter it into a competition or a exhibition, in the late afternoon I picked up Diana from work, after our evening weal and a Outback Opal Hunters we watched another couple from the most entertaining series Deadly 60, before watching a Midsomer Murder, as Diana was a tad tired from her early start she was then off to bed, for myself a Lewis which brought me up to midnight and then I too was off to bed.

We Had A Lovely Day Ahead,

Rainham Steve was picking us up,

so glad rags on and we were out to visit Bob & Debbie, for a bar-b-q,

out in the garden it was so nice,

some one was more than happy to see us all!

all set and ready to go,

also here was Gill on the right and of course Debbie on the left, 

Gill and Diana having a chat, 

Bob the master of ceremonies was soon rustling a huge plate of bangers, 

and was really getting into the party spirit!

whilst I had a chat with Gill's husband Dennis, 

I have slipped this one in that Steve took, Bob really looking the part, 

Gill, 

and Dennis, I tried to get into the shot, but failed miserably!

it was all go,

with the sausages, 

Diana and myself, Ah!

Bob gathering himself for the next course,

chatting to Dennis, 

time for bubbly, 

expertly poured, 

then inside for a feast,

 beefburgers, baked salmon, chicken, 

and a huge selection of salads and roast potatoes along with fried onions for the burgers and my favorite beetroot, 

Bob making sure everyone was well lubricated!

Steve and Debbie having a chat,

and admiring a lovely cake, 

it has a special name, but have forgotten it, 

carefully does it,

 it was absolutely delicious!

Diana tucking in to the cake,

then on to the pièce de résistance,

Bob taking so much care, 

and here it is, 

banana fritters which were served with lashings of ice cream and copious amounts of brady, 

Steve tucking into the bananas, as the afternoon turned into evening we all made a move inside, for a great party game, UNO, Debbie kept score it was such great fun and a wonderful way to spend the evening, at the end the scores were added and the result was announced, I am not going to say who won, but everybody else lost, after saying our farewells to Bob, Debbie, Dennis and Gill we were off, many, many thanks indeed to Bob & Debbie who took so much care of all of us, and to Steve for some of the photographs, Steve very kindly dropped us off at home and we said our goodbyes, at home we had a night cap, and as Diana has a 04.00AM start we were off to bed.