September & October

In answer to the e-mails, no I haven't forgotten about this blog; the increasing demands of the real world have kept me away from the vitual one recently. And, to be honest, the lack of a digital camera has really hurt -- I hate not being able to shoot and post! A new one is on the Christmas list. Until then, I have to point the Leica in the general direction of the scene I want to photograph and hope I get it in the frame (the viewfinder is broken, so I can't see what I'm photographing).

In the past month or so, I have been working in Florida, Stamford Connecticut and New York, with frequent trips into London. It makes for long weeks, nevermind long days. K did manage to drag us out to the "Back to Backs" museum in Birmingham, which I would thoroughly recommend to anyone visiting the city. We also saw the Alvin Ailey Amercian contemporary dance theatre in Birmingham, which was (mainly) superb.

We also spent a day at VanFest, which was truly amazing! I have a closet love of classic VW campers; a love that is not shared by K, but one that is shared by thousands of other enthusiasts who gathered at Europe's largest festival for these cute bug-like things in deepest Gloucestershire. Some of these vans are incredible, such as those in the show 'n shine section. The "cooking in a camper" event was particularly funny. The price of these vans reflect the amount of work that has gone into restoring these '50's treasures; a prime example will cost around £35,000 ($70K!).