2013 commences in earnest

Hi everyone. Here I am, back at my desk and what a joy it is merely to be able to type that sentence. As I'm sure you can all imagine. It's going to be – I hope – a quiet sort of year. Last year I sent so many weekends training for the Olympics and then there was the excitement of actually being right there. Plus the Grant Shapps-baiting, which was highly gratifying. He called me 'politically-motivated', which seems a bit rich from a Chairman of the Conservative Party!

This week, I've got an entire book chapter to write by next Monday, so you won't be hearing much from me unless I'm really stuck and need a good rant to get the creative juices flowing. I've written my half of the chapter on jazz in contemporary fiction, though things I should have put in make me wake up in the night. I've done all the reading for this Welsh travel chapter, but I'm dreading the writing process.

In the meantime, have some pretty pictures from this weekend's walking in Church Stretton and on the Long Mynd. Click on them to enlarge, and see the whole set here. This year I'm going to upgrade my equipment. I've just bought a second-hand 18-200 VR lens to replace my 18-55 and 70-200 lenses. After that, I'll be getting a Tokiina 11-16 landscape lens, then an f/2.8 300mm one for wildlife, and finally f2.8 105mm lens for portraits. All this depends on inheriting massive amounts of cash or finding a suitcase of used notes down a rabbit hole, of course. Or you could send me all your money.

A wild pony foal on the Long Mynd

Looking south-south-west from Ragleth Hill

A sheep at sunset

Prehistoric enclosure on the Long Mynd

The sun comes up over Ashes Hollow, the Long Mynd

Sun shine over the edge of Ashes Hollow, Long Mynd

Sunset over the Long Mynd

Sunset over the Long Mynd and Caer Caradoc

Monchrome sunset over Caer Caradoc and Cardington Hill

Sunset over Caer Caradoc and The Lawley

While we're on the subject of photography, I've discovered a whole pornographic sub-culture whose existence I'd never suspected. When I was working at the European Fencing Championships, I took lots of pictures of the Wheelchair EFC competitors (it's a much harder sport than ambulatory fencing, by the way). One photo is my most-viewed shot of all - coming up to 1000 views. Several people have 'favorited' (not a word) it or other shots of these fencers. Curious, I clicked on the profiles of some of them, only to discover that there's a whole fetish scene of amputee porn… and plenty of models willing to provide the necessary material (very much NSFW). Is this exploitation? Liberation? Something in between? Being a prudish old lefty rather than a libertarian, I tend to see porn as exploitative and commodifying but that's just me. 

So, I think we've all learned something today. Something you may not wish to have learned, but now you're stuck with it.