A walk in the country after rain

Walking back from my football match, well actually from the pub I was given a lift to, I decided to take some photos, as it was raining and I was in the countryside most of the time.

Went down a small ditch on the side of the road to take a shot of this big puddle or pond whatever you want to call it. Anyway, the ducks seemed to like it. Christmas come early for them.

A field with many grazing horses, often wrapped up cosily in their own little blankets (as you'll see)

Ta-da! Not a little blanket, more like a onesie. Heh, maybe it's called a ponesie LOL. Ahem... Just needs a hood to go over its head. It's neck's nice and warm though.

More horsies! I mean, horses. The black one's a gangster, he don't need no clothes to go outside cos he feels no cold, he is superhorse. Or he's just super well-fed at the expense of the other two... hmm, I hope not... They came a-running once they say me cos they want some food, but oh no, the sign says I can't. Sorry!

Well those two came a-running, or a-walking. If only I had some hay... I'd throw it, I would, despite the sign. Poor things. The one on the left is like, "I am a sad horse. I am hungry. I am about to die." Then the one on the right says, "Yeah, do you want him to die?". And in the red coat; "Yeah, you want his death on your hands?" and I'm like, "Woah there partner, I didn't ask for this". Bye bye.

That's about it. I walked for another hour, about, then called for a lift home. It was cold and raining, and I was in my football shorts, with only Armin Can Buuren's techno album playing on my headphones for company. Good bye! See you on my next walk/adventure.

Coastal photos during my walk - 'Dramatic'

I live along a road off St. Asaph Avenue in Kinmel Bay, near Rhyl. I decided to go for a walk along the coast with my Olympus SZ-31MR camera and take some pictures to see how it fared. It was cloudy outside, and as it was a Winter's afternoon (last Saturday), there wasn't loads of light from the sky and there was a lot of haze.

Still, here are a select few of my favourite shots that I took:

I call this one (above) 'Stairs to the Sea'. I had to get in the right position to get it exactly right. After about five minutes of bracing myself against the strong winds and stabilising the camera in my hand, I took it. This is on 'Dramatic' scene mode. The camera changes the contrast, colours etc. for me, so this is actually without any 'computer' enhancements!

This one is the best of all my photos taken during my walk. Anyway, I call the one above 'One Destination' because whatever path you take - the sky, tarmac, sea wall or rocks, you're going to the same place. I like how they all lie adjacent to one another.

It was half past two when the Sun was in this position so you know that it's Winter! The camera was on Auto mode in this one. It's difficult to adjust to normal colours of the camera after using the 'Dramatic' scene so much, but it's much more natural.

This isn't Flickr or Instagram, so I won't publish a whole set of photos I have taken. But I hope the ones above tell a story for you and show a little of the Kinmel Bay environment.

Do you want the originals of any of these three photos? Just give me a comment and I'll send it to you.

PS. I've found out what bird that is below that I photographed - it's a Long Tailed Tit. Thank you RSPB website

PPS. Merry Christmas!

A little insight into unemployment

It's a cry from the deep. The deep, dark and sordid situation of being unemployed. But it's not just that, it's also the fact that I am really rather a unique person and I can't seem to find any 'job' that will fit me. That's a terrible excuse isn't it? There's no excuse to be unemployed! Get off your backside and start printing your CV a hundred times and hand it out to employers.

Yeah, unfortunately that's not how things work any more. Everything is online isn't it. 'Upload' your CV, 'click' this link and that link, 'insert' your name and address and be added to the Excel spreadsheet of hundreds (well, maybe not that many, but who would know from this end?) of keyboard pokers with worse grades but probably more experience than you.

If you know this feeling, then I sympathise with you. Look, I know the position that others have - the sceptics - and no doubt us job-seekers have in our mind every time we enter the dreaded Job Centre. It's almost as if just entering the doors, you have to have your head down. You've failed. You're 'one of those'. There's no reason to smile. No reason to look people in the eye. You've no pride. Nothing.

That's the wrong attitude. It depends who you are. I finished my Sixth Form college with four As and one B. And I took English, Maths, History, Geography and General Studies. The B was in history and I actually got an A* in English. I applied for University in 2010. It didn't work out. I then retook the year in 2011. Same thing happened. But I won't go into detail here. So I didn't go to University. Instead, I got a job via a random phone call to a friend of mine, who just turned to me and said "Here's your job". As a Christian I believe this was God's work but as I said I'm not here to go on a tangent.

The point I am trying to make is, I like to think a lot. I'm a thinking person. Yes, I can actually do stuff, physical work, talking to customers in a shop, typing things, admin, boring stuff. But... I would feel out of place. As if, this really is not my reality! I finished 6 months of being a Marketing Apprentice (bad move) on 31st October this year, beginning on the 16th May. Office, every day, computer, typing. I hated the environment. Then I got lazy and got used to it. I didn't work as hard as I should have. Nevertheless, I had some great ideas for this small business and it helped. I made a good positive impact that I can be proud of.

Unfortunately, the salary was not so tasty. A mere £3.65 an hour. I know it's an apprenticeship, and the minimum for those are £2.65 (can't believe this is legal), but I'm 20 years old! That's an insult! So as you can imagine the issue never really cropped up in the office except when I mentioned it. But that, is a story for a another day.

So, all this 'evidence' is pointing to one thing. One, it's near on impossible to find a job that you're even more than half happy with. You're told to go for anything. You're just a number that has to be assigned to some sort of workplace. It doesn't matter what, as long as you're not claiming benefits. Two, you feel depressed. You get up late, your mind becomes clouded with irrelevant thoughts. You become confused and disillusioned, which means not knowing where you want to go or what to do in life. It's easy to feel hopeless and you've probably visited your GP already.

So I continue the job hunt. I search on government approved job-seeking website of Universal Jobmatch. I also check the careers site of the major supermarkets and some stores. I don't cross my fingers or do any superstitious rubbish, however. I pray to God to give me a good job. I also pray to show me where he knows is best for me. It might not be a job, but I continue doing what the government says I should do because I respect authority. After all, they are the ones paying me £54 a week to help me with my living costs.

A new chapter, a new camera, and what bird is this?

It's been a very long time since my last post. That's essentially because I didn't really keep my blog updated at all really. It must happen to a lot people. I mean, that's why you see a blog that has only a few posts or has stopped completely about a year ago. But who cares, this is my own spot for writing stuff and now I feel like writing so I'll write. And yes, my new camera (Olympus SZ-31MR) has arrived from Amazon. I've had it about a week now and I am so impressed with it. It has 14 megapixels which is far too much to actually be useful, but what I am really anxious about, or was, is the picture quality. It's very very good. I actually bought it for £105 with free delivery on Amazon's Black Friday deals.

So I have been busy taking pictures of the birds outside in my back garden and I'm not bad a photographer, so attached are some results:

So this little bird you can see above is one I have not seen before, but it was hopping around the branches of my apple tree and looking nice and fluffy so I thankfully got some relatively clear shots when it was standing still, which wasn't very often :-)

Unfortunately there's not a shot (out of about 7 in total) with it facing my camera and it's beak visible, as a twig always got in the way. I went on the RSPB website to find what species it might be and after entering the details of its feather colours etc. it seems it's either a brambling or a whinchat. But I'm still not sure so if you know, please tell me.

The photo above is the only one I snapped before the little fluffball fluttered away (wow, unintentional alliteration). As you can see, that stupid twig is blocking its beak. I think on the RSPB website it said a thick beak (even though it is small) would mean it's a Brambling and a thin beak would make it a Whinchat so that twig is actually more annoying than it thinks it is. I'll snap it off my tree tomorrow. It's the best one I've got of its face, so it will have to do. I'm sure someone knows.

I don't want to make this post too long as you'll lose interest, but I think now after not really knowing what this blog should be about, I'll dedicate it to my photography. And I like nature and landscapes so expect photos of the outdoor environment. And birds, because I've also put out some bird feeders this afternoon with peanuts and sunflower seeds so... we shall wait and see. But definitely more photos to come, definitely!

Studio Ghibli and their wonderful animations...

I have to tell you about a wonderful animation (or anime) creator named 'Studio Ghibli'. You may have heard of them, but I just find their anime films so amazing. A new one is coming to the Cinema - 'Arrietty'. I think it is the first time one of their creations is on the big screen. The first one I saw was on Film4 and is called 'Castle in the Sky' and it is just so atmospheric. It really shows the difference (huge difference) between 'cartoons' and 'anime' films. Did you know that one of their more recent creations, 'Spirited Away', is the highest grossing film in the Japan ever? I didn't. And yet it still does not have the amount of limelight it deserves. Well, until now, perhaps.

I would definitely urge you to watch one of their creations. Right now I am watching the anime that started off Studio Ghibli - 'Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'. I guess these animes go hand in hand with my love of nature. It must be true, otherwise I wouldn't feel so attached to them. 'Nausicaa' was made in 1984 and it begins with a lonely peaceful village (Valley of the Wind) which is invaded by a big army (Tolmekians),  who want to unleash one of the Great Warriors from his embryonic cell who were responsible for the apocalypse a thousand years ago. Why? To destroy the giant insects that have thrived in the so-called Poisonous Jungle, made so by the pollution caused by mankind. The embryo was found in the village of Pejite, but the Tolmekians with their superior firearms and tanks, invaded and stole it from them. The protagonist is Princess Nausicaa, a much loved young girl who lives to protect the insects and their habitat. It is really creative and thoughtful, and most of all, it is so beleivable. It is like a different world already crafted, and all you have to do is immerse yourself in it.

If you're interested (I really hope so), watch the original with the subtitles. The Western remake has absolutely no character (1980). If you really hate reading subtitles though, there is a newer one made in 2005 which is totally uncut and simply re-dubbed. I'd love to know what you made of it, and if any people out there are as much into it as I am.

Growing vegetables...

I'd like to say a few words about my veggie plants - actually, there are only two: chillies and cherry tomatoes. I have strawberries growing but their season has ended so they look like a bunch of weeds at the moment. My chillie plants are really doing well, they've had the sunshine, had the warmth, had the good compost from the growbag, and now there are about ... I'd say 25 to 35 each plant, ranging from big fat ones to little baby ones just emerging. So 3 plants = 75-100. Wow. I also have another Scotch Bonnet chillie plant with many on it (30-40). Looks like I better start learning how to make curries! As for my tomatoes, I have 6 cherry tomato plants which I only realised several months ago you had to chop off their growing stems (I like the phrase 'behead') as nicely or as brutally as you want. So now they are really ripening, having swelled up to be the size of a ... we won't go there. Table-tennis ball, yes, that type of ball. I have around 100 I think, and I've already picked 10-20.

OK, enough of my wonderful gardening successes. I am here, quite simply, to help YOU grow something. I totally failed growing courgettes (they don't seem to like growbags) perhaps because their roots got way too damp down there (sorry, courgies) so I chucked 'em in the river (sorry, courgies). They're all dead now. So, if I would recommend a veggie plant to be grown preferably outside on a balcony that gets at least 3-4 hours of good sunlight in the Spring/Summer (May to August) per day it would be these two. Tomatoes thrive in grow bags, but you must must water them. Leave a comment if you want more good honest advice.

In the past, I have successfully grown runner beans (massimo crop), French beans (tasty), peas (sweet), Brussell sprouts (cute little mini-cabbages), onions (bees and wasps LOVE their flowers), garlic and rhubarb. They were all grown at my previous home in Devon in a fairly small patch at the back which was elevated and did not receive much sunlight. Lots of snails and slugs came, ate pellets, and sort-of fizzed to death (sorry to put it so dramatically, I hope I haven't caused any tears), but many also evaded them and munched on my peas. I threw so many pellets that they started to get mouldy. Still the pests invaded. That's life I guess.

My next post will be on... well, it could be anything. I watch the news, and I have views!

Me, swans.

Hi everyone! I am from the UK, and my hobbies are badminton, running, reading and best of all, singing and playing the piano. I also like Ralph Lauren clothes. I will be studying Law at the University of Southampton shortly, i.e. October, and we'll see how that goes. As for now, well, I'm not sure what I'm going to write about in this blog, it depends what life throws at me. OK, for starters, lets talk about the swans that paddle and waddle around the river behind my house. All of them white swans, except for one black one that's a different species and has a very red beak. He's a newbie and I have no idea where he came from. Among the swans is one particularly angry one who always has his wings tensed up and feathers out, and as soon as the others gather outside for some nice tasty bread, he comes with his neck tucked deep into his chest and chases them away. Why is he like that? I have absolutely no idea. He has pecked many a swan. Actually, pecked is not the right word. He has attempted to murder many a swan.Yep, he gets his beak and clamps it around any part of any other swan he can reach, after initiating Turbo-mode and doing a nought-to-'got ya!' in about half a second. He has also attacked ducks. Once he caught a duck and threw it about half a metre in the air. It's all true. Might upload some pictures of this homicidal maniac swan. He's crazy. I have to throw bread as a decoy so the other innocent ones can escape! Well that's all for now, I will update you should anything drastic happen. Watch this space :)