4 Years

By the power of a leap year in 2012, today is our 4th blipday – no days missed in 4 years. That’s astounding to us, as neither of us has ever been able to keep up a diary for any length of time. The power of blip has been to make sure we’ve had our cameras with us at all times, and we think our photography has improved as a direct result of this site. Thank you blipfoto, for that opportunity.

We’ve also made some great friends directly through this site: some we only know online, some we meet up with for fun days out, and some have become a few of our closest friends (and now, some work colleagues as well!). How many other sites do you know have people start as strangers, and become friends like that?

And so to Blipfuture – an important part of the end few months of our year. A lot of work has gone into the proposal to buy blipfoto for the community. Chris doesn't get credited, but he has worked behind the scenes also. If you’ve not heard about Blipfuture, please do go to this Blip Central post and read forward through the Blip Central posts from that, as well as the information at our crowdfunding site. Anything anyone can do to get the message out in an appropriate and sensitive way, without upsetting members, is welcome. All I will ask here is for anyone who is still undecided, please read the material and ask questions to us at info@blipfuture.com. If you’re yet to pledge but wish to, please do consider doing so as soon as you feel able. If you have decided not to pledge (or do not feel able to) then that is of course ok – everyone must make up their own mind and we know some people won't or can't.

As for our own journal, 2015 (aka images 1097 to 1460) has been a busy year for us. We both have jobs that involve long hours and a lot of commuting time, so getting the daily blip has often been a welcome relief in the day. Particularly exciting moments in the year have included:

- Our springtime European adventure, where for 10 days Chris didn’t know day by day where he would be going next;
- Winning the Club Triumph Historic Counties Run;
- A trip to New York to see Annie’s cousin get married;
- Annie taking the Tube Challenge, collecting 269 London Underground stations in one (long) day with her brother;
- The Club Triumph 10 Countries Run in our 1978 ex-police car, making it 1,900 miles over mountains before having to heartbreakingly abandon the attempt a short way from the finish line;
- Watching the Vulcan fly for (nearly) the last time;
- A blipmeet in Blenheim, remarkable for the weather and for reminding us that the community was why we were working on (the then unannounced) Blipfuture;
- And the 4th December - the public launch of Blipfuture: one of the most stressful days we’ve ever had!

And today? Annie worked, and Chris ventured into London to explore some fun places. The blip is the magnificent Cecil Brewer staircase at Heal’s through the Lensbaby fish-eye lens. Round and round it goes, like each year merging into the next. See you tomorrow for the start of our 5th year...

4 years: we should be celebrating with Fork Handles...