Catkins

It has been another dull day today. I spent the morning packing which is always such a major job for me - even though it is a short workshop I have to take the right technical clothing to cope with cold and rain, all the camera equipment and filters, wellies, GF snacks and some special dietary foods in case I cannot get any - although most places in the UK are very good these days in providing food and drinks to cope with all sorts of dietary requirements. That is thanks to the rise of veganism which has always had a stronger effect on the media than insignificant gluten intolerance!

Last night we had an interclub competition on zoom (for our camera club) and I found the judge rather annoying. In fact I think I remember him from a competition last year when he also annoyed me! I find most judges fair and enjoy their constructive comments, but this guy had some stupid things to say. Each club was allowed to enter 10 images, and one of my images - a scene of Luskentyre beach on the island of Harris - was entered. While the judge loved the composition and the patterns of sea and sand, he said he could not believe the water was actually turquoise and so marked it down. Duh, he obviously has never been to Harris before which for a UK judge is quite unbelievable as it is part of the holy grail for photographers! I had not enhanced the colour in any way but maybe you do have to see it to believe the beautiful blues there. In a previous internal competition, another judge scored that same image full marks of 10/10. We managed to come second, although we won it last year.

Our local Waitrose has been very short of many fresh ingredients lately. It was in the press about the shortage of tomatoes in the UK due to a supply issue, but our branch has not had tomatoes for about 3 weeks already - when asked why I was told its the usual thing... earthquake in Turkey, bad weather affecting the ferries from Europe, (I thought products came by plane?), Brexit blah blah. Actually I think it is just poor ordering as I then went to Sainsburys and found some there.

I met a friend for coffee this afternoon, it was lovely to catch up. Now I must check my packing one more time as I leave tomorrow morning to drive to Snettisham in Norfolk, we are meeting at 12.30 to go down to the beach but it will be raining, and its difficult working with filters in the rain.