[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 20 April 2024].
blossoms against bricks
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 13 April 2024].
death in technicolour
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 8 April 2024].
A couple of flowering Camellia japonica trees brighten up the churchyard of St Peter's Church in Delamere.
Life and death side by side.
pyrus communis
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 7 April 2024].
Flowers of the common pear tree, captured on my photo walk from Delamere to Kelsall last month.
along the sandstone trail
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 1 April 2024].
It's already been a week since I returned from Delamere.
I managed to edit the above photo and a couple of others for a separate post before I travelled down to sit my regulars in Bromley on Wednesday evening. I'd hoped to write this post while there, but you know how sometimes you don't realise how tired you are until you stop? That.
So, I'm writing this on my one full day at home after my return from Bromley and before I head up to Glasgow for the best part of a week.
For my second trip courtesy of Avanti West Coast (well, technically, my third, as I booked it last and it was the 'bonus' trip I would give up if I couldn't afford the accommodation or my leave request was refused, but chronologically, it was the second), I opted to return to Manchester.
I figured that, as I'd visited the city quite a few times already, I wouldn't lose anything if I had to give it up, and it was a sufficient distance to justify the enjoyment of a first-class seat.
I looked at Airbnb options in and around the city but couldn't find any that stood out. I had decided I would, most likely, stay in a hotel at Media City. But I would also keep an eye out for pet sittings in and around Manchester in case something suitable popped up to avoid me having to pay for accommodation.
I booked my train tickets and annual leave in mid-January, and then in late February, a couple of possible sittings came up through Trusted Housesitters and I applied for both.
To my joy and surprise, I received a positive reply to one of the applications the morning after I applied, with the invitation to a virtual meet and greet in early March. And I received an invitation to sit from the other, mere hours after the first pet parent responded.
While I would happily have spent a long weekend entertaining and being entertained by a corgi called Winston in Manchester itself, I held out for the virtual meet and greet with the owner of a cat, Peter, and (wait for it...) two peacocks, Bowie and Mercury, in a cottage near the village of Delamere in Cheshire, about an hour and ten minutes on the train from Manchester.
I was apprehensive about the prospect of sitting peacocks, but the location, the cottage and the opportunity to experience such things, were too good for me not to apply and find out more.
Long story short: my hour-and-a-half phone call with the pets' parent reassured me I wasn't taking on something I couldn't handle, and I was pleased to be offered the sit.
Peter the cat is a dentist, so I can't show you his face.
Or rather, for privacy reasons, I can't share photos of the pets I sat or the home I stayed in. But I will share plenty of photos from my time exploring a stretch of the Sandstone Trail, the nearby Delamere Forest, the walk up the Old Pale hill, and my walk between Delamere Railway Station, Delamare, Oakmere and Kelsall villages over the coming months (or years, knowing me).
The peacocks are beautiful creatures and seemed to warm to me over the few days I was there, though not enough to feed from my hand. I was less comfortable with the Angus bulls I encountered, though thankfully, none charged me. Sir Peter was an absolute sweetheart, and probably the snuggliest cat I've ever encountered.
The above photo was taken near the junction of the Sandstone Trail with the path from Delamere Railway Station.
The weather was somewhat unpredictable, with strong winds and short-lived showers creeping up on me, but I managed to experience some lovely spring weather and even get a bit of colour in my face (and my freckles came out) on my last full day wandering. It was a few degrees cooler than London, at about 7-9 degrees each day, but with a coat, mittens and leg warmers, and the body heat generated by walking, it was quite pleasant, and on the last day, more like sweater weather once I was moving.
I hope to return to sit those beautiful beasties again and explore more of the local area. I decided to forego wandering the forest itself, as on the Sunday I was there, every man and his dog and child (literally) was out doing just that. And Delamere is a perfect spot to explore nearby villages and venture further afield to Chester, Liverpool and Manchester.
sowbread
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 17 February 2024].
Some Cyclamen hederifolium I photographed in the churchyard of St Nicholas' Church in Arundel while visiting in September 2021.
post-floral
twelve
In the final hour of my twelfth Londonversary, here are twelve photos of my adopted city from the Sky Garden.
You can see three of my workplaces in these photographs and many of my favourite places, including St Dunstan in the East church garden and Tate Modern.
life's a short summer, man a flower
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 1 January 2023].
The final stanza of Samuel Johnson's poem about Winter (with some tweaks), inscribed on a headstone in Arbroath Abbey that I captured in April 2011.
The original quote reads:
Catch the, O! catch the transient hour,
Improve each moment as it flies;
Life's a short Summer - man a flower,
He dies - alas! how soon he dies!
Though the quote on Wikiquote varies from the above and attributes it to a poem with a different name and only cites the final stanza.
I don't have a copy of the original poem to be 100% sure which is correct, but I'm okay with artistic license on headstones.
a mathematical bridge
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 30 December 2022].
leeds castle
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 6 September 2022].
Leeds Castle in Kent. Taken in May this year during a visit with friends.
hidden treasures
magnolia on blue (bromley)
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 30 May 2022].
bright blue rose
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 26 May 2022].
cherry blossoms
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 30 April 2022].
shirotae
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 23 April 2022].
I'm happy to be corrected, but I believe this is shirotae, a cultivar of Japanese flowering cherry or cherry blossom trees.
Found a couple of doors down from the house at which I've been semi-regularly cat-sitting since Christmas time.
Such a lovely sight to behold over the Easter weekend.
magnolia on blue (oxford)
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 4 April 2022].
of springtimes past
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 29 March 2022].
toni's ices
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 22 June 2021].
I'm looking forward to the prospect of day trips out of the city with friends this summer.
The last one with friends as a collective in the UK was to visit Cambridge in 2018.
I took this photograph in Cambridge, but it was during a road trip with Mum and Dad on their last visit to the UK in 2017.
It was definitely my Mum's last international trip but, hopefully, Dad can come back to the UK sometime soon.
That trip was stressful and emotional as it was the first time the development of Mum's dementia was unmistakable. Previous travels with my parents had been stressful and emotional, but for other reasons.
But it was still enjoyable for the places I could visit or revisit and the time spent with my parents in the calmer moments. And, obviously, the photographic opportunities.
Where are you looking forward to spending your days out this summer? Answers on a postcard ;)
love you all x
[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 13 June 2021].
In the wee hours of Friday morning, I got caught up in discussions with a friend and a lover (two different people). Two random conversations about oscilloscopes, dating and relationships, Black Box Recorder, Sarah Nixey (if you look closely, you can see me in this video), and The Jesus & Mary Chain. Subsequently, I didn't get back to photo editing.
On Friday afternoon, I caught up with one of those people and three other friends for our first proper reunion since well before the lockdown started in March 2020.
Of the four friends I met with, I'd only seen Sophie in the interim, and even then, on three occasions months apart.
It was a lovely afternoon and evening which lasted longer than I had expected but still felt all too short.
Here's to things getting back to normal over the coming months and us being able to catch up more regularly again.
Love you all x