What's Happened to Hotmail?

For some time now, my 'other' email address - Hotmail - has been playing up. Quite often, people I send an email to don't receive them. I sent an enquiry to their 'Contact Us' facility asking what the problem was - it was ignored! How rude?

Then - out of the blue, and without asking my permission - images I'd posted to my Flickr site suddenly started to appear in a strap across the top of email messages I send. Not very professional especially when sending out a business email.

Come on Hotmail! Don't presume to know best and just do things without first checking whether we - the end user - wants them.

I have now found out how to turn off this "service" - but surely the correct action would have been to ASK first whether this was wanted - and then for the service to be activated - by me - if it was?

Enough of this Big Brother stuff - PLEASE?

If I want to send images to all and sundry - then it has to be MY CHOICE - and not the mighty Microsoft thinking they know best what I want.

There! That's got it off my chest. Well - for the moment!!

Ivybridge Camera Club Outing to Laycock Abbey

As any serious photographer knows, Laycock is the home of photography as this is where the very first negative/positive image was made, by Henry Fox Talbot. And that famous window, subject of the historic photograph, is still there to be seen! Laycock is now owned by the National Trust - but for many years - under pressure from photographers - we have been allowed in with our tripods and flash to record our own version of this window! I first photographed it when I did my GCE 'O' Level, about 20 years ago. This time - I recorded it digitally.

David Rayner organised the whole event for Ivybridge Camera Club, and then volunteered to drive the small coach, with 16 happy club members on board!

Ivybridge Camera Club outing! Dave Rayner third from left. Myself, kneeling at the front.

Dave even managed to arrange the weather! Lovely blue skies, with fluffy white clouds, which obligingly moved across the sun, allowing photography in all lighting conditions! Bravo, Dave!!

Here's a few snaps from the day!

That famous Fox Talbot Window - inside and out!

The Medieval Tythe Barn (left) and Sacristy.

Stone Coffin (left) and interesting light on a doorway.

Underground vaulted ceilings (left) and mysterious Green Door!

Two infrared images. On the left, an Ivy covered window and a peek around the corner

at the Laycock parklands.

The entire village of Laycock and the Abbey is owned by the National Trust, who "rent" it out to production companies for costume dramas. You may have seen the main street featured in Larkrise to Candleford?

To finish - a couple of fun doorstep pictures!

All the images taken for this page were either on a Canon G10 (colour ones) or my first digital SLR, a Canon 10D, which I had converted to Infrared (a passion for me when I used film.)

Blackpool - Part Two

Have resorted to a Part Two as this site didn't like so many images in one Blog!

Blackpool enjoys a marvellous transport system. Buses run into the town centre from all locations about every ten minutes. Trams trundle along the seafront, and out as far as Cleveleys every twenty minutes - and the train service is also very impressive.

The newly refurbished sea frontage makes wonderful photographs - but it was a bit unfortunate that work, especially around the North Pier, is still in progress.

We were too early for the official illuminations - but the new street lighting provided an amazing and colourful light show every evening, co-ordinated to music. The Diving Lady statue and fountains in front of the church also provided some great photographic opportunities when they too were illuminated in the evenings - although the drunken "stags" out in force on a weekend evening were a bit of a pain - especially as they thought doing "moonies" the height of entertainment for the photographers!

A trip to the top of the Tower on an inclement day was fantastic. So much to see and do - from the actual climb up the 185 ft. tower, to the Ballroom where tea-dancing to the famous Wurlitzer organ music never seemed to stop - to the Chinese Circus which were so professional and very, very entertaining.

Well - that's a very quick trip around Blackpool! I will be posting more images to my Flickr site if you're interested. Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/snaphappyann

Blackpool - An Experience!!

Went to Blackpool on 2nd July (as you do in the summer!!) on a photographic workshop organised by Iain McGowan. Sadly, Iain doesn't have a website, so I can't steer any business his way! 16 enthusiasts foregathered at a small holiday hotel, located at St Ann's and which had certainly seen better days!

On the first night we were treated to a magnificent sunset - and for the few that rushed out to snap it, we were very glad we did, as it never quite happened again over the rest of the week!

The enduring impression of Blackpool was, in fact, the gent who sold el-cheapo watches. Located in a road that runs up from the Central Pier, we were all so impressed by the incredible value (all ex-Argos stock which came complete with a new battery!) that we ended up buying 40 (yes FORTY) for souvenirs, Christmas stocking fillers - or just bling for ourselves!!

There is a Part Two to complete the Blackpool Blog. This software didn't like so many images!

The Tale of the Wandering Mobile Morgans and Well Dressings

On the first day of our Dales holiday, we enjoyed the Morgan Rally in Buxton,

watching the Gymkhana, Pit Stop Challenge and the Concords d'Elegance.

Mid-afternoon, we took off to see a Well Dressing ceremony - which only happens in the Dales during the summer months.

Loads of photos taken - and by 5.00pm, even the mad-snappers had had enough - so we headed back to the cottage for tea and cakes!

That's when I discovered my mobile had gone walk-abouts! I had taken to keeping it in a nifty little padded pouch, which clipped to the belt tags on my jeans.

With a philosophical shrug of the shoulders, I resigned myself to its loss. After all, the phone was a £20 secondhand purchase in Australia three years ago; there was hardly any talk-time left on it - and the neat little pouch had only cost me a quid at Focus on Imaging this year!

A phone call to the service provider blocked the phone and SIM card - so my credit was safe, and a new SIM, with old number, was to be sent to my home address - together with a £20 voucher for a replacement phone! How's that for service? I was MOST impressed!

Would you Adam and Eve it? 24 hours later a phone call from about the only friend back in Devon, who knew we were holidaying in the Dales, rang to ask which of us had lost a mobile!!!

Astonishment isn't a good enough adjective to explain my feelings!

An honest resident of Tideswell, the village where the Well Dressing ceremony had taken place, had found it left on her window ledge. She was able to access the Contacts, stored on the phone, and one of the two or three people she tried to ring happened to be our Devon friend!

So - the foot-loose, fancy-free mobile was returned safely to me - but of course, couldn't be used as it was blocked.

However, on return to Devon on Friday 25th, I was able to get the phone unblocked - inserted the new SIM - and bingo! We were back in business!

Anyone want a £20 voucher towards a Tesco mobile phone? I can highly recommend them as a server!

A Wonderful Week

Have just returned from a week in the Derbyshire Dales where a group of us went to take photographs. What a fantastic week it was, too, from a weather point of view?

The cottage we stayed in in Eyam was fantastic with every facility you could wish for! Three of our number were mad photographers - and the other two were Morgan car nuts!

There was a big Morgan weekend in Buxton which my husband went to in the company of one of the others (Julia Woolgar who owns a beautiful gunmetal grey Moggie!) After the weekend, Mike and Julia drove around all over the Dales, regally waving to admirers - and scaring a few locals with the loud honking horn on the Moggie!

Sheila, Maggie and I went snap-mad and were quite spoilt by the glorious Dales scenery! Up early (as early as 4.00am one morning) to catch the lovely early light - and stayed out till sunset most days! We were quite exhausted!

Spent about four days trying to find the famous Millstones - which are alleged to be scattered all over the moors - but we were singularly unsuccessful, despite close questioning of locals and climbers! However, on the last day we discovered 300 of the little so-and-sos - all neatly stacked just out of view of a main road!

So, all clambering up hill and down dales searching for them kept us fit - although large chunks of Bakewell Tart and other cakes at every opportunity rather defeated all that good work!

Never mind - back to normal again!

Would you believe it?

STILL no sign of the Christie's bedding - so I cut up rough! As I half expected - the range has been discontinued! Aaargh!! I tried to be supremely magnanimous - and said "get it - or I bring the lot back for a refund." So House of Fraser is going to "do what they can" and report back to me within 24 hours. Watch this space - er - sorry, I mean blog!

We are off on Friday for a week - so I guess nothing will be resolved too soon!

Good news, though, with the Sharp's corner hinged fitment - which has so far taken them four goes to get right! A new piece is awaiting fitting by a man-who-can - and said man is arriving at 8.00am tomorrow to (hopefully?!!) perform this small miracle!

The carpet looks good! Still no headboard or new mattress as yet! This bedroom revamp has taken far longer than the kitchen revamp did - and that only took four weeks!!

Good job I'm patient!