Moved

Have moved over to Aminus3 ..... http://memento.aminus3.com/

Watching

Quiet holiday ? wide open spaces ? a good book and lots of relaxation ? Or being close to lots of other people ?

Lets go surfing

Would like to have gone but weather and surf not good. Another day in another place and the waves were huge, never seen a person disappear standing up in a wave before.
Only locals allowed at this beach, breathtaking just watching them. If only England had sea and sun like this.

Bad Weather

Finally moved house, good to be in one place again.

Weather has been interesting over the last few weeks...visited by a tornado last week, fantastic sight and a little surprising being in England. By the time I found the camera most of it had gone....it is there......somewhere.

One step beyond

At the end of this week we are officially homeless, although thankfully not literally so. No phone, no Internet, no post, no address. Could be interesting. Not sure when I will be back on-line, hopefully not too long.

In England those that are really homeless have a small lifeline in The Big Issue, if you see one perhaps you might like to buy one sometime.

Surf's up

Reach for the sky

The mood has been getting a bit heavy so lets lighten up and look on the bright side of life.

Is it a person or is it a rocket ?

On the way up

Poppies

Do you believe in fate ? A grand design, a sequence of events where one things leads to another, a bad decision here leads to a good event there ?

Enough philosophising, the sun shines and the flowers grow.

Escape

Locked in or is the door open ?

Over the edge

Step over the rail, breathe in the air, imagine what it is like to fly, don't look down.
Imagine the impact, the pain.
Imagine the future, what might be.
Another sunrise, another sunset.
Life's an adventure.

There is hope

A sign on a famous bridge.
I need hope at the moment but am not yet at the point where I need to make the call.

Early morning exercise

I have to admire anyone who gets up early in the morning and jumps into cold water for a swim (even if they are wearing wet suits).

Escape

Content amongst friends

They may be smelly, make a lot of noise and be the villain in Happy Feet, but they are cute.

On the beach

Beaches are wonderful places, no matter what the weather. Breathe the air, clear the mind.

On the road

In the great debate on climate change the car owner is one of the main villains, but the open road can be such a great place to be, exploring the world by modern horse power. If only we could slow down enough to use the real thing.

Avarice

Thanks for the longest comment I have ever had Laurie :-)

What has happened in Venice is that wealthy people have desired to have holiday homes or have seen the rental potential in owning property in the city, the original inhabitants who have sold undoubtedly profited nicely. The city is pretty crowded so the shop owners probably do not make much more money as only so many tourists can be accommodated. The locals who want to work there lose out because they have to travel in from out-lying areas.

The town near to where I live has 70% of the properties owned by people who do not live there, local providers struggle to do business in out of season times. The locals who live there suffer, unless they sell up and move away of course. Workers in the region do not earn very high wages, they cannot compete with the city bankers who get annual bonuses of several millions of pounds and see the area as their playground.

I seen places in the Caribbean where some of the islanders have profited from global corporations building hotels on the best parts of the islands while many of the other islanders still live in wooden shacks. Corporations are pathelogical entities and so well being of locals is not a consideration (The Coporation ... excellent book and film well worth reading/seeing ).

As a famous jokes goes...
A consultant was at a pier in a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large tuna. The consultant complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The fisherman replied "Only a little while." The consultant then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish? The fisherman said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. Then the consultant asked how he spent the rest of his time.

The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Maria, and then stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor."

The consultant scoffed, "I am a very successful business consultant and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and, with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to the City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York City where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?"

The consultant replied, "Probably 15 to 20 years."

"But what then, senor?" asked the fisherman.

The consultant laughed, and said, "That's the best part! When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public. You'll become very rich, you would make millions!"

"Millions, senor?" replied the fisherman. "Then what?"

The consultant said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

And.. yes I work for a global corporation...and no that's not my Ferarri (I wish!)

Canal

As Wim said, a lot of the locals haved moved out of Venice as prices soared and people with the money bought places as second homes. It is sad that the wealthy have such an effect on so many places. Judging by the washing someone still manages to resist selling out.

Mask

Watching

I want one of these

I know it's a taxi but I still want one.

Windows

Catch a Vaperetto from Venice for a forty minute ride to Burano, an island in the Venetian lagoon.


Take a stroll past the shops selling lace, for which Burano is famous for.


Come out of from the buildings into a mini version of Venice.

There in front of you is the best advert for external house paint you could find.


Many houses painted in bright colours.


Who decides what house is painted which colour ?


Is there a committee that takes the decisions ?

If a person paints a house one colour is the neighbour not allowed to paint their house the same colour ?


Where do they get exterior paint in those colours ?

If the locals re-painted their houses in white would the tourists stay away and the lace industry disappear ?

Who cares ? they just look great.

Burano satellite view

Back street

Some streets in Venice, like the Rialto bridge, are always teeming with people, but step off the beaten track and you can be alone. Without cars it is a great place to wander, get lost, explore.

Grande Canal

The Grande Canal from the Rialto Bridge.

Gondoliers

They get everywhere.

Gondola

Gondolas are a great way to take a relaxing, romantic ride through the city....or a cynical tourist rip-off...depending on your point of view.

This is one of the two cavai, there is one on each side of the boat.
Fonditori e Ottonai

Entertainment

A great little band, this is the Bass player, if you ever see them give them some money.

Pink lamps

I was struck by the pink lamps (not literally). I wonder who chose that and why ?

Souvenirs

I reckon the tourist T-shirt trend is going away but not everyone shares this view

Winter calm

Sun is out, water is calm, Winter is not all bad.

Happy New Year

Happy Chinese New Year Hayley and Daniel.

Sheep

Is this an English thing or is straw chewing a global pastime ?

Retro

This was taken earlier this week, before the rain came back. I wanted to create a 50's style image so used one of the Photoshop guides (http://freephotoshopguides.com/photo-effects/retro-50s-postcard/1/) but realised what I was actually after was a Kodachrome look. Unable to find any good tips on how to achieve that so ended up with this ....


It's not that different from the original so guess I failed.

Early Spring

Winter was late coming and now Spring appears to be here..... in February.

Caneoist

Strong winds again today. This possibly foolhardy canoeist braved the waves, minutes after this shot he came out of his canoe and luckily floated to shallow waters.

Windy

Kite surfers out today, just out of shot were the serious size waves.

Dartmoor

This is a cheat as it was taken last year not today...have moved house since then so did not get the chance to see what it looked like in today's snow. For those that like to laugh at the Brits reaction to a few flakes of snow .... Severe weather warnings continue

Toy Boat

A real boat, but it looks too clean to have ventured very far. The weather has changed now so I better stop posting pictures from our sunny Sunday.

Padstow has a famous chef, renowned for his fish dishes, which seems to have encouraged most of the shop owners to turn into restaurants or ice cream parlours. If you ever make it to Cornwall make sure you pick up some Skinners beer, the brewery is based in Truro but most places in the county stock their bottles. Check out the website to view the unique names of their brews. Delicious!

Foot

Feet

A beautiful sunny Sunday in February, the weather is warm the flowers are already blooming and a walk on the beach in Cornwall is a must.