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Tags: British Columbia, Fuji x10, Photo, Victoria
Back in BC in time for Canada Day with our dear friends in Saanichton. Good to be back!
No words at this point – just some images from the garden.
Happy Canada Day!
An unexpected treat – a day out at the Henley Royal Regatta courtesy of a (young!) ‘old boy’ who is a partner in a software company whose system is used extensively by the School. I have enjoyed many days at Henley over the years, but this was the first occasion on which I was the guest of a former schoolboy and Oxford oarsman. I have been entertained as a guest in the Steward’s enclosure before but have never previously visited Leander itself, nor been invited into the boathouses.
Though the School’s first VIII was knocked out of the main schools’ competition (The Princess Elizabeth Cup) in the morning, our day was made by staying late to watch our under 16 crew who had managed to qualify for The Temple Challenge Cup – which event is ostensibly for Universities. Half a length down to Nottingham University at the halfway mark they then proceeded to row through the much older and heavier crew, beating them to the line by a canvas. Excellent and heroic stuff!
Here are some pictures from the day:
Something I have not seen before – Pimms on tap!!
Another surprise! The Gloriana – the Royal Barge built to lead the Jubilee flotilla on the Thames in London earlier this month – was moored by Leander.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m fine on my own,
Fifty Thousand miles from home.
Sometimes I’m weak and the past is my guide,
Summer returns and puts you back on my mind”
Crazy English Summer – Faithless
Following the two weeks of blazing weather at the end of May which came to an abrupt end – inevitably – just in time for the Jubilee weekend, this crazy English summer has been predictably unpredictable. Odd sunny days – more torrential rain – cold, windy spells – grey, grey, grey…
Here are a few images snapped on the Fuji x10.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
William Shakespeare
May is usually my favourite month. The first true taste of spring – the newly mown grass – the azaleas and bluebells – the fresh munchy green of the reborn floliage. It is time to step outside and to breath deeply of the nascent summer – to sit outside a pub and feel the sun on one’s shoulders. To lunch on tender new English asparagus – to lick the garlic from one’s fingers after the year’s first bowl of moules marinière – to savour the first sip of a chilled glass of crisp Sauvignon Blanc…
We have been granted a brief respite – two days on which the sun finally wrestled its way from behind the clouds. I took the Fuji x10 out to record the occasion.
Tomorrow it rains again!
Today I have to return to the UK after what seems an all too short stay in Victoria. I have been snapping away with the Fuji x10 throughout my visit, and this post consequently comprises a miscellanea of images.
These were taken around our dear friends’ farm:
Food shopping around Saanichton is very different to the UK. The local supermarket is called Thifty’s – and looks completely unlike any Waitrose or Sainsbury’s I have ever seen:
…and this is the very wonderful Orr’s in Brentwood Bay – fabulous meat and delicacies such as black pudding, and a cornucopia of delights from home for the British expat. The model of the paddle steamer Waverley in the window betrays its origins north of the border (the Scottish border, that is!)
I really liked the way the waitress in the Prairie Inn in Saanichton carried her change:
I love Sidney by the Sea. I think you can see why:
…and finally, something of a surprise:
Kickass Canada Girl discovered that the Maple Leafs (Rugby Canada’s development squad) were playing the Ontario Blues (national champions) in an exhibition match at the new Bear Mountain Stadium. Being big rugby fans we thought we would go along. We went early in case it was sold out (it wasn’t… come on, Victoria rugby fans!) and found ourselves the first ones there. We got into conversation with what appeared to be the head honcho, and found – to our surprise – that he had been to school in England, and had subsequently taught – and coached rugby – at the school that I worked at prior to my current school. We had overlapped briefly but not met. We also found that he has a residence in London a stone’s throw from where I work now. Small world!
As the conversation wound up I asked his name. How embarrassed was I to find I had been talking to Canadian Rugby legend, Garreth Rees?! Doh! He is now in charge of Rugby Canada and their splendid new Centre of Excellence at Langford. Great things are anticipated for what is clearly a growing sport in Canada.
Tags: British Columbia, Fuji x10, Photo, Rugby, Victoria
Living in the south of England gives one a particular perspective on the matter of snow – in that we only get any once every few years, it is only ever an inch or so deep at most and it usually disappears as quickly as it comes.
Seeing snow on the Coquihalla was a different matter entirely. The fact that both ends of the journey to Kamloops were spring-like and sunny, but the high pass had six foot drifts and there was a clear snow line on the mountain tops, was unlike anything I had seen before. We were very grateful that our dear friends had lent us their Toyota Surf for the journey. It certainly reinforced my feeling that owning a 4×4 is a pretty good idea in the west of Canada.
On the way back to Victoria – and because we had not seen each other for a month – Kickass Canada Girl and I treated ourselves to a night at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort. I had not heard of the Harrison Hot Springs and the Girl had never been there. We had a stunning view of the lake from our room, a splendid dinner and several opportunities to wallow in the outdoor hot spring pools. It was a wonderful way to wind down after the stresses of too much travelling and we thoroughly recommend it.
I wanted to take some photos of the view from our room but the battery on the x10 ran out of charge having been worked hard at the Aunt’s 80th birthday party the night before. As I was travelling light I had left the spare battery – and the charger – in Saanichton. Not wanting to miss the light on the lake and mountains I took a couple of snaps with the Galaxy Note instead. To my slight annoyance – in the circumstances – they turned out rather well!
Tags: British Columbia, Fuji x10, Photo
Last Sunday was mild and sunny in Berkshire, with hints that spring is at last on its way. I took the Fuij x10 out to try to capture some images of the re-awakening.
Driving the x10 after years with a point and shoot felt a bit like stepping into a performance car having only previously driven a compact… most of the time I wasn’t in full control of what was going on! I did manage to get a few snaps:
The working week – coupled with my mammoth commute and with the need to eat and to sleep – does not really leave much time for exploration. I had half an hour last night to play with the x10 and took the chance to experiment a little with some macro shots. Here are a couple of examples.
This is a most treasured possession of mine – the 1966 Omega Seamaster that Kickass Canada Girl gave me as a wedding gift. It could do with a new crystal, but it is a thing of beauty and a timeless classic…
… as is this – my lovely 1976 Fender Precision. Clearly I have a love of things classical!
Once I have had a chance to really get to grips with the camera I am hoping to be able to produce some pretty decent images.
Trying to choose a suitable play on words for the title of this post – with the intention of taking the theme about cameras that commenced here and was extended here to its (quite probably il)logical conclusion… it occurred to me to wonder for the first time in my 58 years as to the origin of the phrase ‘in camera’ – and how it came to mean what it does.
Thank goodness for the InterWebNet! I found this on a most useful site titled Daily Writing Tips:
“The word we use for a “picture-taking device” comes from Latin ‘camera’, “an arched or vaulted roof or room.” The English word chamber, “room,” comes from the same Latin word.”
The link from the domed room to the clever digital device that we now take for granted is the camera obscura – again from the Latin. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition:
camera obscura [L.; lit. ‘dark chamber’]. a. Optics. An instrument consisting of a darkened chamber or box, into which light is admitted through a double convex lens, forming an image of external objects on a surface of paper, glass, etc., placed at the focus of the lens.
There are still a good number of Camera Obscuras in the UK, possibly the best known of which is on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. I have no idea if there are any in Canada but I would love to hear of such.
The expression ‘in camera’ thus literally means “in the room” – the inference being “privately” or “secretly”. When – for example – a judge calls opposing barristers (attorneys) to meet him “in chambers,” they are meeting ‘in camera’.
Oh yes – I decided to order the Fuji X10. It should be here early next week!
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