Just a random thought no.17.

So Aston Manor Museum has held its last event. We all hoped it would not come to this point, but I fear it was inevitable given both the intransigence of the council, and the ostrich-like behaviour of the museum's trustees. As a Birmingham resident, I understand that the council needs to realise assets to balance its budget, and is obliged to seek the best price for those assets, but the museum did not help its own cause by not seeing sooner that it might be asked to find more money for rent. Surely a trading company should have been set up years ago to get profits for the guarantee company to spend on the museum. That that appears never to have been explored reflects ill on the trustees, with one of whom I have to deal over 2847. Not, I'm afraid, a good omen.

Just a random thought no.16.

Three months have gone by since I last put finger to keyboard. You may recall that I had been laid up with a broken leg: that is all now resolved. Work has been slack: not surprising, as GB plc is on holiday at this time of year, and the new registrations now start on September 1. Next week will be busy, I'm sure, but for the moment I am wondering how to make ends meet. Since my last post, I have been to several weddings at church, and taken photos at them all. I can now call myself semi-professional as a photographer, as I have been paid for some taken at one of them. I'm still taking photos for the pure pleasure of it, including a batch taken in Leamington on a Flickrmeet a week last Sunday: it ended up here .

I also went for a stroll round Solihull yesterday (Monday 22 August), and went into St Alphege's Church, I think for the first time in my life. The digital photos are likewise already on Flickr, but are not particularly of general interest, as they are all of buses. The views of the town I took on a recently-, and cheaply-, acquired Minolta Vectis S1 APS SLR. I've taken five films on it so far, and considering the film stock used has been several years out of date, the four films processed so far have given more than satisfactory results. A sample can be found here ">.
Also in use at the moment, as well as the Canon DSLR and compact is a Praktica BMS for which I bought (for a tenner) a brand-new boxed Vivitar 28-70 zoom lens: I'm currently running a b+w film through that, the first images having been taken on one of the vicar's summer evening canal walks earlier in the month. Amongst all this my nephew, Andrew, has taken a first in Natural Sciences from Cambridge, and my niece, Charlotte, has taken straight As at 'A' level, and is embarking on a gap year before reading medicine. She applied for a place to start this September, but was unsuccessful.

Whether I continue with the vehicle delivery must remain a moot point. I should like to make my living behind the lens. We shall see.

Just a random thought no.15.

It's a heck of a long time since I last posted. I have been busy for much of that time, delivering cars and other light vehicles hither and yon. I've been working as a trade plate driver for a concern based on the old SU Carburettors site in Erdington. However, for the past five weeks I've been off, thanks to a negligent taxi driver in Worcester, who felled me whilst reversing, cracking the greater trochanter of my right femur, necessitating a surgical reduction. I'm well on the mend now, and rather champing at the bit to get back to work, because, although it does not pay a king's ransom, I quite enjoy the job, particularly when I have to get back, or from one job to another, by train. I've collected some routes I never thought I'd get to ride, even if on one or two the weather precluded much of a view. Lincoln to Peterborough was one such, and Grimsby to Sheffield another, of which that was true. My most regular ride, however, is LM from Euston to New Street. The Siemens Desiro sets used have a nice turn of speed, and are surprisingly comfortable for 3+2 seated stock. Mind you, they can be very full indeed. A week or two, and I hope I shall be back to it.