I read this today and it got me thinking about how things have changed (advanced?) over the years in the world of photography.
I’ve been a keen photographer for many years - since I was a schoolkid actually - and I’ve owned a number of cameras… each purporting to be the latest and greatest in photographic [...]

Another thing that has come to annoy me over the past weeks, as regards staying in hotels, is that they never have a bog brush in the bathroom.
Now, I don’t know about you, but if I make a mess, I like to clean up after myself. I know the chambermaid probably thinks nothing of it, [...]

I’ve never needed a great deal of sleep - unlike the current Mrs Masher, who, if she doesn’t get her full eighteen hours is scratchy for the rest of the day.
No, five or six hours is generally enough for me.
But, when I’m working nights, I tend to average only three to four hours as I [...]

I’m very tired: I’ve had two hours sleep, out of the last 36.
We had some problems at work, which meant I had to stay on a bit longer.  Luckily, we managed to get it sorted, but it made it too late to go back to my hotel and have a snooze and a shower before [...]

Well, summer now seems to be most definitely upon us.
I’m not a fan of the heat, but it’s certainly nice to be able to walk around in just a T-shirt and shorts… especially as I have such nice legs.
But, at the same time, I miss my big winter coat. Why? Because it has huge pockets, [...]

I was recently asked to take part in a long term study (20 years, I think it is) looking at the health effects of mobile phone use. The study is being conducted by Imperial College London and is backed by the Department of Health, so it’s obviously a serious piece of research.
I readily agreed to [...]

Several hours ago, I turned 48. Cripes!
In truth, I’d forgotten it was my birthday today. Well, not so much forgotten, but I hadn’t really given it a thought, until my sister asked me about it the other day?
“What are you doing on Saturday, then?”
“Err, nothing much. Why?
“It’s your birthday.”
“Oh, er, is it? What, already?”
Blimey, but [...]

Some years ago, I started writing a children’s story.
I don’t think it was particularly good, but it had all the ingredients to be so and just needed a bit more thinking through. As first drafts often do.
I wrote seven chapters and then… something happened; something in my life changed and, as a result, I stopped [...]

I went to the dentist earlier. I have a new one, as my old dentist buggered off to Dubai for more cash.
The  new one is quite delightful… and very pretty.
I lay back in the chair and stared up, into her gorgeous brown eyes, losing myself in her dusky beauty and feeling no pain at all [...]

Not much to tell you about, so I’ll just bore you with where I am at the moment.
Leeds.
Bored yet?
I’m working up here for a few days. It hasn’t been good so far: almost everything that can go wrong with the project, has gone wrong with the project. Undoubtably, I shall have to return.
I’m staying in [...]

Burning those candles
I’ve been all over the place this week, it seems. And I’m tired, so goddamned tired.
I had three days of nightwork oop north at the beginning of the week. Nightwork isn’t usually a problem for me, but I do struggle to sleep during the day. This week, for some reason, moreso than usual. [...]

… first of the month. Hurrah!
And, of course, that also means the end of my February Challenge.
It got quite hard sometimes to think of things to post about (quite evident, in some posts, methinks), but we got there in the end.
It’s good to have challenges, I think, something to make you push yourself… to help [...]

Even though I’ve mentioned it here before (actually, it was on the old site), somebody I was talking to at work yesterday, didn’t believe that I was once kissed on my leg by former Miss Whiplash, Cleo Rocos.
So when better to repeat myself - and provide photographic evidence at the same time [...]

I played squash again this evening and I think it’s fair to say, I ache like buggery.
However, it’s not just the aches and pains from playing comedy squash - a game that shouldn’t really be played by a man in my condition (slightly overweight) - that ails me. I have several other long-term ailments that [...]

Did I ever tell you about the nutty woman? I wrote about her on my old site - as more of an essay than a blog post. But I don’t think she’s ever been mentioned here.
It was quite some time ago, when I lived in the house on the hill; just me and my German [...]

This post comes to you from Sunderland. I am working oop north for a couple of days.
It’s currently 2:30 in the morning and I am surfing the internet, whilst I wait for the video server card that I have changed to come back online.
However, I say surfing, but it’s really more of a paddle in [...]

I took Amelia and Harry to a children’s birthday party yesterday. It was held at a local open farm.
Once the kids had tired of stroking the rabbits and feeding the lambs, we all went inside, where they had one of those indoor playgrounds, and our little party of a dozen 5 to 8 year-olds spent [...]

She was the prettiest girl in the school, right from the very first day.
Her blond hair shone like spun gold and her eyes were a piercing blue. The smallest of smiles from her perfect lips were enough to send any boy’s heart a flutter and mine did so on many occasions.
Though I’d seen her around [...]

I returned home from work yesterday evening, to an empty house: Mrs M had taken the mini-Mashers swimming.
I went upstairs and changed out of my work clothes, then came down again.
Just as I reached the bottom step, I heard my mobile phone ring and turned to go back upstairs to retrieve it. Then I realised [...]

Every year it’s the same.
Every year the notification falls on the doormat, I look at it and say “Ahh, plenty of time to do that.”
And then the reminders start coming thick and fast, warning me that I’m liable for a penalty fine if I don’t meet the deadline.
And then I start to worry a bit. [...]

I’m in Reading. For the second night this week.
The first was on Tuesday night, when I was in to do some out-of-hours work… that didn’t go particularly well.
Also, the motel I stayed at was a bit of a dive: cold room, soft bed, tiny bath. On the plus side, the pub restaurant next door was [...]

Still a paucity of posts, I’m afraid.
Still vewwy busy… that’s why.
I’m no longer on nights and have shifted to early mornings, on a project in Lewisham.
Let me tell you: 5am  is just the best time to be travelling through the Blackwall Tunnel. Conversely, 5pm is not the best time to be travelling back!  Each night [...]

The past three mornings, I have woken up with a mightily stiff neck: a result of sleeping on the sofa.
The current Mrs Masher has had a dose of the plague and I don’t want it, so, I have chosen to eschew the marital bed in favour of the sofa.
It’s not the most comfortable sofa, it [...]

We is back.  Nippy here, innit?
A great time was had by all.
And I kept a diary, which I’ll type up later, so I’ll be able to regale you with tales of  sun, sea, sand and fish. Also of the stars and the moon, new friends, a sea rescue and how I let a man with [...]

“You haven’t written anything on your website for ages”, bemoaned half of my devoted readership.
I looked him in the eye. “Hold on”, I said, “stuff has to happen before I can write about it. Otherwise all you’ll have is daily posts full of me ranting and moaning about the traffic and the weather and… the [...]

The world of personal finance is speedy quick in these modern times.
These days, with 24hr telephone and internet banking; instant inter-bank transfers and the likes of Paypal at our fingertips, there is no reason why anyone should have to wait for their money.
But today, I ordered some goods and was asked to pay by cheque.  [...]

My car broke.
It developed a serious gearbox problem and when I took it to a gearbox specialist, the price quoted was just economically unviable.
And so I’ve bought a new one. Well, a new second-hand one. New cars devalue at such a rate, I’ve never wanted to buy brand new.
Anyway, having scoured the internets, looking at [...]

Well, eleven and me.
Returning from holiday, there amongst the big pile of junk mail on the door mat, was a letter from the courts; a summons for me to attend Jury Service. Again.
I’m trying to weedle out of it.
I have no problem with doing Jury Service and I fully understand that it’s everybody’s duty to [...]