The World Spins Madly On

Went to a workmate's leaving do tonight. We went straight to the pub from work, and back to a different pub after dinner. I am a little bit pissed very sleepy.

Here is the ( 21:15 to Bristol Temple Meads )

I borrowed a tripod from work, so I popped down the garden tonight to take some night sky shots. It's a right fiddle, because you can't actually see anything on the screen, so you have to line a shot up, wait the 2 minutes for full exposure, and then see what you've got and adjust from there. Still, it was interesting and I will probably have another go.

While I was sitting there quietly waiting for a shot, I heard rustling and made cat-encouraging noises at it. Then I realised the head was far too triangular for a cat. My next thought was hedgehog, but it was bloody big for a hedgehog, and I would swear it had two white stripes on its head. It also moved bloody fast when I moved to point the camera at it. So at this point my best guess is a young badger, except a) do badgers move that fast? b) what the hell would a badger be doing in my garden? I am baffled.

Have tonight's picture:

( Possibly the Big Dipper )

I decided to play a little with lighting, and used my flash for once. (I almost never do, as it's way the hell too intense.) I think this came up quite nicely, though.

( Pop )

This week is feeling like it's really spring at last, thank goodness. As a result I've been all spring-cleany and domestic today. Today I have cleaned most of the bathroom (including the tiles which were looking pretty manky), unclogged the shower drain, dusted the living room, done all the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, put out a bird feeder in the garden, gone into town and bought birthday presents for people and a new set of bed linen since most of mine is pretty elderly, and started some bread which will need to sit overnight.

Tomorrow I plan to finish up the bathroom, scrub the kitchen floor, vacuum the living room, put drainage holes in a planter tub, plant up the planter, and bake the bread.

Goodness knows how I'll cope with all this activity. I have also not neglected my photography. While I was on town I realised that in six years I had never been into St Michael's Church, despite walking past it on a regular basis. It's really lovely on the inside. Have some pictures.

( St Michael's )

( Stained )

( Perpendicular )

( Worn )

I'll let you know how I get on with the bread.

It was a glorious day today, warm and sunny. I got directed through a part of Chippenham I've never been to before, and took a walk through a park I didn't know existed.

I also skived off work a little early to get a lift into Bath, rather than the train. Which meant I had time to swing by the Polish Deli and get perogies. Yum! They were also selling these things called Rurki, which are like an ice cream cone, but smaller and a tube rather than a cone. It's closed at one end and filled with a sort of chocolate mousse. There's also a version with nuts. I tried the chocolate one, and I am completely sold.

Anyway, there's a couple of pictures today:

( Saint Andrews )

( Bridge on the Avon )

( This Place of Peace )

It was a train-to-work day today, which meant the hike to the station. On the plus side, it was a lovely day, so here is Bath Abbey in the early morning light, and a slightly blue-toned daffodil, because I forgot to change the white balance.

( Bath Abbey )

( Daffodil )

We're thinking about moving closer to town, so this morning we went to see a couple of flats. One of them was a scummy dive - students had been in and ruined the place by the looks of it, although the problem with the damp was probably pre-existing. The second was in a gorgeous little courtyard with a well. Unfortunately the bedrooms were teeny weeny, or we'd probably have taken it. I'm going to have a nosy around to see if I can find out a bit about the history of the place, because it looks very interesting. Either way, we now have a couple of agents looking for places for us, which is always useful.

After that we went to my friend L's baby's first birthday party. Now, many of you have probably been to the birthdays of cousins, nieces, nephews etc, but I haven't been to a kid's birthday in... well. In a very long time indeed. It was quite amusing, but the guests were basically us and the father's family, L's brothers having piked out. L's SIL is a bit of a cow, so it got a little tense from time to time.

Anyway, in honour of Alethia's First Birthday, the pic of the day is:

( Birthday )

Today I took it to the kitchen. Unfortunately, as professional food photographers have presumably long known, raw meat is just not visually attractive. So I went for implements instead.

( Pots and Pans )

( Dials )

The only problem with kitchen photography is that you become excruciatingly aware of your housekeeping deficiencies. The oven just went on the list for a thorough scrub down.

Actually, it's more like a snack today. It's a workday, so we're back down to one picture.

( Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. )

Today you get not one, not two, but three, THREE pictures of the day. Because, well, basically because I like them. *shrug* An old school friend is spending her thirtieth birthday with us. We mooched down to town, went to the Farmers' Market and mooched around. We also went to The Best Bookshop In The World, where I was taken by a fit of madness and bought Histories by Heroditus. *facepalm* I do like making things difficult for myself.

Anyway, today's pictures:

( Paella )

( Mountain o' Cheese )

( Eetin Ur Arktexur )