Friday, October 28, 2011

View across St Ives harbour

We have very fond memories of the place, so being in Cornwall for a few days we just had to go down there to see it again. We were welcomed with warm sunshine and that lovely view across the harbour to the white houses with the yellow lichen on the grey slate roofs. Magical! I hope you get to make it down there soon.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Scenes from Cawsand

Scenes from Cawsand by CharlesFred
Scenes from Cawsand, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

gary8345 (35 hours ago | reply | delete)

It looks rather surreal – although I am now wondering, if it is start of a joke……. a man on a horse walked into a pub…….

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Happy Birthday, James

Happy Birthday, James by CharlesFred
Happy Birthday, James, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

18 today, congratulations! The party was great, hope you have a wonderful day today and enjoyed your (legal) pub crawl!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Early morning in Kingsand

Early morning in Kingsand by CharlesFred
Early morning in Kingsand, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

Had to get up early-ish for this but it was worth it!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Our friends from Ercis

Our friends from Ercis by CharlesFred
Our friends from Ercis, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

Arrived back to Amsterdam this evening to be picked up by a taxi driver from Trabzon who told us about the deadly earthquake which struck Ercis earlier today and killed over 40 people. here is a photo from happier times from this attractive town in the northern shore of Lake Van

Saturday, October 22, 2011

A push-me-pull-you

A push-me-pull-you by CharlesFred
A push-me-pull-you, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

As seen out in the Peak Ditrict near the Nelson Arms, just west of Sheffield.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Fred, Diana and Cuddles under a big oak

Time for lovely walks in the Yorkshire coun tryside around Sheffield.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Autumn Colours at Westonbirt Arboretum - Japanese maple

Nine pounds each was quite a lot of money to pay fopr a walk in the woods but these Japenese maples sort of made it worthwhile!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Flying

Flying by CharlesFred
Flying, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

Mum and Fred getting high above the beach at Watergate Bay in Cornwall earlier today

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Highland cattle on Dartmoor

We crossed Dartmoor on Sunday having visited a dear old friend of my Mum's whow as in Hargeisa the same time as we were, she living in Cadbury. Dartmoor is more famous for its wild ponies and wandering sheep, but it was good to see these great beasts up on the moorland and, as you can see, the sun was still shining.

A row of pretty Devonshire cottages at Drewsteignton

Could only be Devon, where the cottages are a lot prettier thgan in neighbouring Cornwall.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Frankel, the best horse in the world

Here is the mighty Frankel after his annihilation of the field in today's Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot

Monday, October 10, 2011

Delicate pink in Paris

Delicate pink in Paris by CharlesFred
Delicate pink in Paris, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

This was my favourite flower pic from Paris a week ago in that lovely sunshine.

Sunday, October 09, 2011

Paris mixte

Paris mixte by CharlesFred
Paris mixte, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

Autumn is here well and good. Maybe it is just me but the trees seems to have been losing their leaves for quite a long time already and they still have a month to go. Perhaps they are still suffering from the long dry warm springtime.

Saturday, October 08, 2011

Paris greys

Paris greys by CharlesFred
Paris greys, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

This time last week, we were walking along the Avenue Daumesnil, hearing about France losing to Tonga and England narrowly beating Scotland, to set up this weekend's quarter final. The sun was shining and it was hot.

Now, we are back home and the rain is teeming down outside, when a few minutes ago we had bright sunshine. A click onto the Guardian website tells us that France have beaten England 19-12 to get their revenge for 2003 and 2007. Well, at least Wales beat Oirland.

How things change!

Anyway, here are some nice memories from the Brocante market at Place Daumesnil.

Friday, October 07, 2011

Ombre et lumière

Ombre et lumière by CharlesFred
Ombre et lumière, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

Glamour at Longchamp on Sunday

Today's colour - jaune

Today's colour - jaune by CharlesFred
Today's colour - jaune, a photo by CharlesFred on Flickr.

France still has its national post service.


Elián (29 hours ago)
The comment sent me off to another one of my explorations. I had no idea this existed: www.postnl.com/customers/mail/index.aspx
People in the U.S. (who tend to complain about everything), often criticize the Unites States Postal Service. I'm quite satisfied with it.

CharlesFred (28 hours ago)
Thanks, my friend. I thought that the post was still being handled by TNT, although PostNL looks like it is a subsidiary. It is a terrible terrible company. It sacked all its postmen and now only employs casual workers at the lowest of salaries, part-time, with minimum pension rights and so on. The staff are paid next to nothing and yet are forced by management to deliver as much post and advertising rubbish as possible just to keep their crappy jobs.

Elián (27 hours ago)
That's terrible! The average U.S. postal carrier (formerly mailman) earns $54,000/year. They also excellent benefits and a rather nice pension. Two of my friends (one a former professor of Italian, and the other a great pianist) worked for the USPS.

CharlesFred (25 hours ago)
I am pleased to hear it. No wonder you have such a high opinion of your postal service. We'd have been quite proud here, were it not for the continuous price hikes and degradation of its workforce - what we would quite commonly refer to as American-inspired work conditions.

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Orange was to be the colour - Danedream wins the 2011 Arc for Germany

Danedream winning the Arc, followed first by her shadow, then the rest of the field at a respectable distance. To be honest, she wasn't that much fancied by the turfistes and everyone was looking around in silence when she came to win the race? What was the name of that small horse in orange who had just burst from the pack? The jockey, Andreas Starke, did a great job to enthuse and entertain the crowd as he rode her back past the grandstands and all the connections were clapped and cheered when they came to collect their prizes.

The nearest we came was third, where Fred and I had a small bet on Frankie Dettori riding the totally inaptly named (for the day) Snow Fairy.

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