The rewards of an early morning run....

Thames river from Richmond Hill

Inquisitive deer - Richmond Park

Jogger in the mist

Deer in the mist - Richmond Park

Deer antlers at dawn

Rutting deer baying for a mate

Shadows of dawn

On the walk for a mate

Crossing paths

Dawn lights

Who are you?

Brotherly love or not....

Call me xenophobic but.....

An early morning paddle on the Thames

Which part of the following article does not make sense?

'' One of the terrorists convicted of involvement in the July 21 bomb plot is still in Britain and free to use public transport to protect his human rights. Siraj Yassin Abdullah Ali 35, was jailed for aiding and abetting the al-Qaeda cell which attempted to blow up three tube trains and a bus in London but failed. He has since been freed from jail and is living in a north London hostel. He was expected to be deported to his native Eritrea but judges ruled that he must stay because he might face ''inhumane treatment or punishment''.

Ahhh all is explained

This sign below probably helps explain the delay in the UK sending armed forces to intervene in other countries ruled by tyrannical despots as they recently did in Libya. 

Or is it because Syria and the Yemen don't have lucrative oil field contracts with major UK producers?

.

Deers and Don.....

The route to Kingston shopping centre from home can be done either by car along the eponymously named Kingston Road or by bike through Richmond Park. How truly amazing it is then to bike your way through a Royal Park in the middle of a major city of the world and come across these two magnificent beasts.

As an aside - Sometimes you get to enjoy the best things in life by mistake. Take last night for example.

Don McCullin is unquestionably the greatest living war photographer of our time and someone whose works I have long admired. When the RPS (Royal Photographic Society) recently announced in a newsletter to its members (of which I'm one) that Don McCullin would be speaking at the Royal National Geographic Society I immediately sent my payment in for a ticket. There was some slight dismay when after posting the cheque I read the small print where it said he would be talking in conjunction with a famous historian about their recent book which is a photographic essay of Roman architecture through northern Africa and not in fact about McCullins war works. Now don't get me wrong. I admire the Romans for everything they were able to do. But the thought of sitting in a lecture room with 399 boffins listening to an academic waffle on about the nuances of sand covered and wind blown Roman ruins doesn't normally rank in my top 10 things to do on a Monday night.  

How wrong can one be? Very, is the answer.

To anyone who has ever held a camera in their hands and more than a passing interest in photography McCullin is a demigod. He spoke with humour, candidacy, honesty, emotion and an abundance of humility. Yes, I was possibly the only male in the audience not wearing roman sandals, a crumpled linen jacket with a handkerchief tucked into the breast pocket, and growing a beard that nesting pigeons would be envious of, but regardless I felt privileged to see and hear the man in person. Interestingly he also spoke with remorse. Remorse that the path life had chosen for him was the photographic documentation of the horrors of war and not the photographing of beautiful ruins. He spoke with remorse of the terror and immeasurable cost of human life associated in the construction of many of these magnificent buildings. He spoke with remorse about the fragility of his own life and acceptance of it nearing its end. 

The Royal National Geographic Society lecture halls are themselves saturated in history and host to many great explorers who in days gone by would visit to recount their adventures to the members of the society. To sit in the main hall and listen to a man revered as a living legend then was truly a highlight of a very young week.

You can't be serious.

A man takes his children to a working fishing quay in Devon. He and the children see crates of dead fish and dead crab that are being stacked ready to be used as bait inside fish traps during the forthcoming evenings fishing.

His children get distressed and so too does he by the sight and smells.

He complains to the harbour master and then attempts to take his complaint further by notifying the local newspaper.

David Copp. Take a bow. You are the winner of the 2011 ''Prat of the Year'' award. No further competitors need apply.

See...

http://uk.travel.yahoo.com/p-promo-3361576



.

Stately homes

Wimpole Hall - Cambridgeshire

http://www.wimpole.org/

Wimpole Hall

Entrance to....

View from the ''Ladies drawing room''

Harvest Festival in motion

Ornate Gardens

Service bells

Soon to be a steak

The sensitivities to culture

Ok. I'm getting old. 

There is something grating to the senses when you find yourself overseas in a foreign location and confronted by hordes of 18-25 year old tourists from your home country hell bent on achieving only two things. Getting drunk and fornicating. Not necessarily in that order. 

It's a tad disturbing to find yourself immersed in a culturally rich and historically important town such as Korcula (birth place and home of Marco Polo) and then to hear this exchange as you sit sipping a post dinner coffee...

She - '' Aaawwwwww Trev, check out how much a f**king pasta is here''

He - '' That's a f**king rip off Charlene. I reckon Guiseppe on the boat must be on a kickback from the owners for recommending this place. Why don' we skip the pasta and head back to that bar. ''

She - " Awww yea, maayybeeee but I'm real hungry and besides all ya wanna do is watch that football game.''

He - '' Well the f**king beer is cheaper that's for sure ''

I sat there wondering how this lot would handle it if their local suburb back in Oz got inundated for 3 months of the year by countless non English speaking, beer swilling, cultural ignorami (sp?) twats vomiting in their gardens and offending all and sundry.

Given the cultural insensitivities of some Australians as evidenced by the Cronulla riots 

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Cronulla_riots ) a few years back I'm going to guess the answer. 

Not very well.

Old man and the sea

Gargoyles at sunset - Split

Dubrovnik Old Town from the sea