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. 

And finally

The last lot of shots from my holiday in Shropshire. I'll be back to moaning about things tomorrow, so make sure you come back, y'all. Click these to enlarge.

Landscape through a gap in the stonework at Stokesay Castle

Actual live mistletoe!

The 12th-century equivalent of a Bond villain's lair: Stokesay Castle

'…be more redy to hear then to give ye sacrifice of fools': good Biblical advice for students coming to lectures

More good academic advice from the uncovered murals at Stokesay Parish Church

Fluorescent ladybird about to be gobbled up by a carved fish

The Lawley and Caer Caradoc. I climbed both of those. 

The Wrekin, The Lawley and Caer Caradoc

Ferns bending in the wind on the Long Mynd

Top tips for Church Stretton: Burway Books is completely magnificent - a brilliant range of stock and nice people running an independent shop: I bought some Browning poems and Cavazzoni's The Nocturnal Library, not something you'd find in Waterstone's. The Long Mynd Hotel is green, friendly and relaxed. The Studio is a tiny restaurant serving beautifully-cooked food by the friendliest people (and several cafés were rather sumptuous too). The village is pretty, relaxed and nestled between good hills. I bought a brilliant new waterproof (rock and roll) in an independent outdoor shop, gourmet packed lunches in Van Doesburg's deli, and fine local beer everywhere. Paradise!

While I'm feeling cheery, I'd like to publicly thank Mr Berghaus for his wonderful boots. I've had mine for ten years, and haven't ever bothered even cleaning them, yet they're still waterproof and I've never had so much as a blister from them. Usually when I buy things without friends to advise me, I end up with something totally unsuitable. Not this time. Best things I ever bought.

Toodle pip. It's all misery from tomorrow: marking season is upon us. I've just failed one essay for suggesting that women 'should' only want to find a man with whom to have babies, and asserting that any woman who's previously been involved with pornography deserves 'no sympathy' if she's raped. Thankfully, this chap isn't representative of the class. I hope. 

Bucolia

More shots from my retreat to rural Shropshire: click to enlarge or see the whole lot here.

Sunrise over Church Stretton

Sunrise again

Sunrise at 1/5000th of a second

Stokesay Castle, Craven Arms

Gatehouse and Tower, Stokesay

Stokesay parish church from the castle windows

What I did on my holidays!

My chance to bore you with more photos - from a short break walking in beautiful Shropshire: Church Stretton, Caer Caradoc, the Lawley, the Long Mynd and Craven Arms. Full set here, or click on these samples for larger versions.

The Lawley from the top of Caer Caradoc. They're both pretty steep and stick out of the Shropshire plain like humpback whales. 

Some mushrooms. Or toadstools. I don't know. 

Abandoned Ford Capri. 

The spine of The Lawley with The Wrekin in the distance

I took a lot of pictures of the multitude of buzzards. This poor effort is the best of the lot. I really need a faster lens of 300mm or more. My 55-200mm just doesn't cut it for this sort of photography.

Sunset over Caer Caradoc

Picture Post

A final few (rest here).

A self-portrait

Barn to be wild…

I've now run out of horse puns.

This just depresses me. One of a pair at Church Stretton station

Click the picture for larger versions.