Val D'Isere for Men's GS

I took this photo earlier this month in Val D'Isere before the 2nd leg of the Men's GS race which Ted Ligety
won. I'd skied over from Tignes where I was skiing to watch. I like the shot, it looks dead impressive
although taken with my little compact. However it's a bit of a trick as the balloon was actually
tethered only a few feet above the ground and was used for TV interviews.

Tignes in October

Went for a few days skiing on the glacier at Tignes earlier this week with my daughter. I've never been
so early before and thanks to heavy snow the day we arrived snow conditions were superb as you can see
in this photograph.

Smurfs

Wasting time in a wet, miserable Geneva waiting to be transported to the mountains. Most
of the city is actually closed, well it is Sunday. These apartments are really cool though.
Known as Schtrumpfs (Smurfs) there are several blocks all with equally wacky designs.

Peterborough Arch (again)

There is a fair bit of sculpture spread around Peterborough. This is one of
my favourites, Peterborough Arch by Lee Grandjean. The pieces are spread
around the town but the greatest concentration is around the rowing lake area.
I've photographed most of the pieces and they can be seen on my Flickr pages.

Country Pubs

There are some delightful ones spread all around the UK. As it is such a wonderful day here today I had a
wander around Castor which is only just outside Peterborough. The Fitzwilliam Arms really is an attractive
pub from the outside. I resisted though, although it was difficult, and didn't go inside.

Tignes Les Boisses

I'm off skiing to Tignes in a little over 2 weeks, staying here. Earliest I've ever been
and I doubt there will be too much snow down at the hotel but I'm looking forward
to it all the same. This will be my 3rd time there (with a 4th in December).

Maquis

I've passed this monument to the local Maquis or french resistance heroes from WW2 many times. However
last week was the first time I've managed to stop to take a look and photograph it. It stands by the side of
the road just outside Livet near to Grenoble. I always find this sort of thing particularly moving as so many
gave their lives during the war.

French Alps

I spent last weekend in Les Deux Alpes in the french alps. I know the place
well but had only been for skiing in the winter before. Although the weather
was not great for most of the time I did at least get to see the alps in the
late summer sun on the sunday.

Naaaaatalie

One night on holiday this summer, sitting outside a bar by Nauzan Beach after dark, I was messing
around with the camera experimenting. I quite like this one of my daughter.

Burwell, St Mary's

My grandparent's were married here in 1926, my parent's in 1957. Many of my relatives are buried in the
churchyard (and the village cemetery also). My great grandparents and my grandparents lived directly
opposite the church for around 90 years and I've still got relatives in the village.

Meacham Family Grave

A couple of years ago my uncle told me that he had found an old
Meacham (my Mother's maiden name) grave in Newmarket cemetery.
Last year I visited and found it is the grave of my Gt Gt Gt
Grandmother (Mary Meacham 1804 - 1873) my Gt Gt Grandmother
(Elizabeth Meacham nee Planner 1842 - 1869) and a couple more
family members. More information on them can be seen at
http://www.colin.buckle.btinternet.co.uk/genealogy.htm

Florence Cathedral

Florence Cathedral (Il Duomo Firenze) is a magnificent building. This is a picture I took of the front of
the building when I last visited there in 2007.

Fort Boyard

Fort Boyard was originally built as part of the defences of the west coast of France in the early 19th century,
it stands in the sea between 2 islands. However it took so long to build that it was redundant before it was
finished. In recent years it has become well known as the scene for a popular game show named after it. As
my daughter had loved that show (both the english and french versions) for years we just had to take a boat
trip to see it close up.

Fuschia

My neighbour must have made a really good job of watering my plants
while I was away. This Fuschia in a pot in my garden is looking
extremely healthy despite the fact we've had little rain recently.

Camille

Another photo from my recent holiday, this time from Rouen in Normandy which organises a Rouen
Impressionnée festival every summer. This is Camille by Arne Quinze a wooden installation that
symbolically connects the left and right banks of the Seine on the Boieldieu Bridge. Typically french it
has closed one of the main bridges in the city to traffic for 2 months. C'est la vie!

Bands at Royan

While I was away on holiday last week there was a fair bit of entertainment locally. There were a couple of
local bands we briefly saw playing by the beaches. One rock/blues and one jazz, both were good though.

Pontaillac beach at night

This is a view at night of the bay and beach which was 5 minutes walk from where I stayed last week in
Royan. In the foreground are fishermen's huts built on stilts with suspended carrelets (fishing nets).

Saintes

Another picture from last week, this time of Saintes. It's a lovely little town in Poitou Charente with quite a
lot of Roman remains. It felt to me very much like a Provencal town. This is a picture across the Charente
river with the Roman Arch of Germanicus on the other bank.

La Rochelle

Just on my way back from the west coast of France. Had a great time, hadn't been there for over 10 years,
this is the old port at La Rochelle earlier this week.

Pearl Harbour

A very moving place to visit. This is a picture I took of the US flag flying
at half mast above the USS Arizona memorial. The remains of the ship and
the crew lay under the water below the memorial.

Swan Family Outing

On Sunday I had a walk around the lake at Ferry Meadows followed by breakfast overlooking the lake too. I
took a lot of photos and I was pleased to catch this one of a cute swan family taking an outing.

My Birthday Present

to myself! No, not a steam train. I got myself an HD Camcorder,. I decided that my last one, even though it
cost a fortune, was well past its best after about 8 years. Youtube doesn't really show it off at its best, and it
was really only a practise session, but it's not too bad.

Geese Eye View

I took this shot locally on Saturday, which was a pretty pleasant day, at Orton Mere. I
had to get fairly close to the geese, which I wasn't too happy about, they can be pretty
vicious, to get the shot.

Port Grimaud

Port Grimaud is a great place. It was only built in the 1960's on the Gulf of St Tropez.
It caters mainly for boat owners with most of the properties having berths and there
are a series of canals throughout the place. I was pleased with this shot, considering it
was taken from a moving boat.

Post Football Barbecue

After a really disappointing match, on a really hot day here, I did a barbecue for
Natalie and a couple of her friends. They are eagerly waiting here for me to finish
cooking.

Waikiki Body Boarder

One for the girls! I haven't got a clue who this guy was but I snapped him from the
pier at Kuhio Beach, Waikiki, Hawaii. There were loads of body boarders there and
long boarders too, but they were mostly too far out to get a good picture.

Pink Lilly

I haven't really got many flowering plants in my garden, it's mainly foliage. So I thought
I'd better take a shot of this lilly whilst it's in bloom. I only took it a little while ago,
lovely day here.

Highbury Farewell

Thought I'd better go for a football photo today. This is one I took of the last ever goal,
a Thierry Henry penalty in the win over Wigan, in the last ever game at Highbury in May
2006. Taken from the seat I sat in there from 1994 to then.

Flight to Maui

A bit of a change today with a video. It's of a flight I made a couple of years ago
from Honolulu to Kapalua on Maui, both in Hawaii. It was in a 9 seater turboprop
and was a great experience, far nicer than on a larger plane.

Natalie on Super Diable

I know this isn't very seasonal but I cropped the picture last night and I like the result.
This is Natalie on the Super Diable (Devil) piste at Les Deux Alpes at Easter. This is a
steep black run and there had been a lot of overnight snow on it which had become
very cut up.

Ferry Meadows

Ferry Meadows is a rather fine country park in Peterborough. I had a short stroll
around there earlier and took this photograph of Milton Bridge. Shortly afterwards
it started to rain.

Sebring

My hire car in Maui a couple of years ago was this Chrysler Sebring Convertible. It
was a great car to pose about in as Natalie is doing here. Maui though does suffer a
lot with tropical showers coming off the mountains meaning a quick stop to get the
roof back on.

St Mary's Vaults

St Mary's Vaults is a very old pub in Stamford, I took this
photograph while I was wandering around there at the weekend.
I used to go to the vaults quite often over 30 years ago, how
time flies.

Shiver me timbers!

When I was down in London a couple of weeks ago I took a few photographs of the
replica of the Golden Hinde. There was a bit of low level filming going on at the time
with these pirates.

Travelling in style

It's been very hot here today but a bit overcast and muggy. I've had a wander around
Stamford and saw this lad waiting for his dad to get him an ice cream from the van
which was behind the car. What a great way to travel in this weather. I bet the cap
doesn't do his street credibility any good though.

Grimaud

Grimaud is a great place, just inland from St Tropez in the
south of France. It is built on a hill with an 11th century
castle on top. This cross and windmill are quite magical and
are near the cemetery on the outskirts.

Fair!

I took this photograph last October at Peterborough Autumn
Fair. I did get one or two odd looks wandering around the
fairground with my camera and a tripod in the dark. It took
a 5 second exposure to get this effect.

Inline!

I've been doing a bit of inline skating since Natalie decided I had to go with her 7 or
so years ago. This was taken at Mission Bay near San Diego during our holiday there
in 2005. We did loads of skating around there especially in the Venice Beach area.
Reminds me I must lose some weight!

Bird of Paradise Flower

The Strelitzia or Bird of Paradise Flower is a very striking flower which grows in many
sunny, warm climates around the world. I photographed this one at Pearl Harbour in
Hawaii.

Matterhorn

I've spent two weeks skiing in Zermatt over the last couple of years, it's one of
my favourite skiing resorts. Over the town and the slopes towers the majestic
Matterhorn.

City centre cycle racing

The Tour Series comes to Peterborough again in a couple of
weeks. It's quite exciting to watch them race at high speed
around the city centre. This is a photograph I took of last
year's race.

Duke Kahanamoku

Duke Kahanamoku was a famous Hawaian surfer and gold
medal winning olympic swimmer. This impressive statue
of him is on the edge of Kuhio Beach at Waikiki on Oahu,
Hawaii.

London Stereotype.

Back to London, from Sunday's visit. This could almost come
from one of the touristy T shirts that you can buy on every
street corner there.

Avignon Festival

Avignon is a great place and I've stayed there a couple of times.
In 2006 my stay was during the annual festival which couples artistic
performance and street entertainment. This guy attracted a pretty
big audience in the Place de l'Horloge.

London scorcher!

Although I spend quite a bit of time in London it's for work and I don't see much of the
sights. I spent yesteday though going around many of them on a very hot day. This is
a view of the Millenium footbridge with St Paul's in the background.

Olive

My grandmother's name was Olive, she only died 6 years ago at
94 years old. By chance one of my favourite plants in my
garden is this standard olive bought for me by my daughter last
year. Taken this afternoon on a great, warm, sunny day.

Gardening tomorrow!

It's going to be a great weekend here and as I'm away on Sunday tomorrow is a
gardening day. I need to get it looking as good as in this photo taken last June.

Ginger

This flower is a Ginger which is a family of tropical flowers,
I took this photo at the Garden of Eden Arboretum on
Maui. To me the colours look quite surreal.

Art on art

I took this shot a month or so back whilst I had a tour around some of the villages to
the west of Peterborough. This is in Duddington and the bridge is over the River Welland.

Cypriot fishermen unloading their catch

I found watching these fishermen in Paphos harbour unloading their catch interesting
and managed to get a few shots. This one showing a large open mouthed tuna being
unloaded is the best.

Sheringham

Sheringham is my favourite local seaside resort. It's on the
North Norfolk coast about 80 miles from here. Over the last
30 years I've been there many, many times. I took this photo
from the cliffs last summer.

Crowland Abbey

Crowland is only a few miles from where I live and I had a
short stroll around late this afternoon. The Abbey is quite
spectacular with the ruins of the old nave remaining
alongside the existing parish church.

Outtersteene

My grandmother lost all 4 of her older brothers during or very soon after WW1. I
visited the grave of one of them in Outtersteene in Northern France in 2007. The
war cemeteries there, and there are very many of them, are extremely moving.