PhotoHunt 85 - Hot

I have three hot things this week.

Firstly, a hot cake, just out of the oven. YUM, I can't wait to sit down with a cup of coffee and a slice of cake.

This morning we had boiled eggs. They were kept hot by two small hats, which I acquired with my purchase of two bottles of "Innocent Smoothie" from Sainsburys.

Last, but not least... Need I say more?

What did you find for your PhotoHunt this week?

PhotoHunt 83 - Flexible

When I thought of this week's theme, I automatically thought of my flexible friend; the credit card. BUT - I used that already, in the week when the theme was plastic, so I had to get my thinking cap on.
The minute I sat down at my desk I looked at this wee collection of desk mates, one of whom is a super flexible wee fella, and he became my PhotoHunt picture of the week - what's yours?

PhotoHunt 82 - Classic

Sorry!
Originally uploaded by twishart

I thought this looked like it may have been a classic Banksy, but instead it was a "Peeblitz"!

This is my entry for last week's PhotoHunt", now for this week's entry!

PhotoHunt 80 - Pink

This week's theme was quite easy for me, as this month is "Breast Cancer Awareness Month" and the theme colour is PINK!

When I came out of the station Friday morning, I was greated with heap of collection boxes asking for money for breast cancer research.

When I went out for lunch, there were more collectors in the street - all with a pink theme, some more pink than others!

As I walked home in the evening, the pavement lit up pink. That's it, that's my effort for this week's PhotoHunt.

Go on - make a donation to Breast Cancer research - I did...

PhotoHunt 80 - Practical

I started a new job at the beginning of this year and quickly realised that the location of the new job would mean me walking a whole lot more than I had been used to for years.
With that, I went and bought a pair of practical boots, for walking to and from the office.

When spring arrived, the boots were rather too hot to wear, so I had to invest in a pair of practical shoes...

These are really practical - in fact, they are one of the best pairs of walking shoes I ever owned!

I hope to goodness I'll be able to find something similar, when one day I have to replace them.

That's my (rather late...) take on this week's PhotoHunttheme of "Practical". What was yours?

Blog action day

We are half way through October and still no coat is needed. In fact, it is so warm that you can sit outside and enjoy the green space around you, whilst enjoying your lunch - as I did just an hour ago...

Exactly twenty years ago the south of England saw the worst storm for hundreds of years. Around 15 million trees fell in the storm, which also claimed several lives. Today I eat my lunch in the park.

Nuff said!

According to the ProBlogger, today is BLOG ACTION DAY. Are you going to take action?

Time for a coat of paint

I thought tinylondon could do with a dollop of paint, so I got out my paintbox and got painting. I'm not entirely sure I've finished yet, but this far, this good.

I hope you like my new surroundings.

PhotoHunt 79 - Smelly

Smelly - hmmm... what pictures to use for the smelly PhotoHunt theme?

Oh, I know... This summer we've had a wee bit of a smelly problem at home - MICE!

My beloved leaves nothing to chance and has armed himself with heaven knows how many traps and weird concoctions for luring the wee buggers in the traps. I thought he'd succeeded and then I came across these two in the garden!

Phew, at least he saw the funny side of my addition to the garden. I thought they were rather cute, even if their real cousins are rather smelly.

My next smelly item is something I absolutely lurve: MUSSELS.
As a child I lived by a harbour from where the fishermen set out each day to catch (harvest?)mussels. I didn't eat them for years, because of the stench when they were left sitting in containers on the harbour. YUK!

My third smelly item is the last thing you would probably ever associate with the word smelly, but although I have the most gorgeous geraniums in my garden and I absolutely love the look of them, I can't stand the smell!

Isn't this particular specimen gorgeous? I'll have to get my mum to take a few in for me, when she is here next week, so that 1) my hands won't smell and 2) I can be guaranteed that I have this beau in my garden next summer. We do leave them out all year round. but I want to make extra sure that this one survives.

Nuff smellies from me. What did you come up with for this week's PhotoHunt? I can't wait to go and have a look - with a clothes peg on my nose!

A rainy morning in the City of London

This is what greeted me, when I stepped off the train this morning to walk to the office.

I did watch the weather report on the news last night, but I was rather hoping the massive bands of rain would somehow miraculously avoid London - how wrong was I?

As for the sorry excuse of a brolly that I carry... Well, suffice to say, it's time I upgraded it and went for the kind that is not just designed to look pretty in your handbag, to one that actually shelters you from the rain!

Tomorrow the sun will shine again, my shoes will be dry, and knowing me, I'll happily forget everything about my useless, but very small and pretty brolly - until the next time!

PhotoHunt 78 - Curve

When I saw this week's theme for the PhotoHunt, I knew straight away what picture I wanted to use.

This rather curvy lady, also known as "Reclining woman with cloth", or in her current position as the "Broadgate Venus" is a sculpture made by Fernando Botero, who appears to be Colombia's answer to Henry Moore.

I often walk round to Broadgate in my lunch hour and love to take pictures of this wonderful woman.

The picture below I have named: "Gone with the wind"...

This week I am almost on time with my entry. Now I'm off to have a look at your curves!

Look what I took on my mobile!

I have a mobile phone with a 3.2 megapixel camera, which goes with me everywhere. I take photos with it every day. Many of them I never do anything with, but occasionally there's a good one in the box. Anyhow, I don't really take the pictures to do anything with them, just because I enjoy taking pictures!


I saw this article in one of the London free papers the other day and couldn't believe my eyes. Henry Reichold is a photographer and has a 5 megapixel mobile phone camera which he uses for taking some absolutely amazing and professional looking pictures.





If his standard is achievable with a 5 megapixel mobile phone, then I think I may just have to hurry up my upgrade to my own phone!

The above picture was captured using my Sony Ericsson K810i. Not quite to Mr Reichold's standard, but I thought the colours were pretty good all the same.

PhotoHunt 77 - Original

Years ago one of the family favourite films in this household was Hairspray. We must have had it on video and wore the tape out. Some years back I tried to get a new copy, but had no luck. It was no longer in "print". It had gone out of fashion!

Imagine my joy, when I heard that the film was being remade, nearly 20 years on from the premiere.

Suddenly obtaining a dvd copy of the original seemed like a realistic idea, so I went to the Virgin store and didn't even have to look for it. It was sitting on the rack right in front of my eyes, begging me to purchase it.

Off course, I did, and now I have TWO Hairspray movies to watch. If the new one is just half as funny as the original, that's good enough for me!

That's my entry for ahemmm... last week's PhotoHunt... What was yours, I wonder?

PhotoHunt 76 - Paper

This week's PhotoHunt has paper as its theme and my goodness there's a lot of paper to picture!
Here's a wee snippet of the types of paper I came across during the week.

Junk mail!

McDonald's paper...
Chinese paper men.

And last, but not least... Paper lanterns

I'm sure there was MUCH more, but my week's been rather hectic, so this'll have to do for now.

What's in your This picture shows this week's PAPER junk mail. It is disgusting to think how much PhotoHunt this week?

PhotoHunt 75 - Plastic

Oooh - this is an exciting theme, as it makes me think of SO many things.

The first thing that sprung to mind, when I saw the theme was plastic bags. Plastic bags are a huge problem to dispose off. According to this article, the average plastic bag takes 400 years to decompose in a landfill site.
Goody two shoes here has already ditched the plastic bags for the weekly shop and has invested in some good solid carriers - sold by the supermarkets. (Yup, they know how to make their money!)



Another disposable is plastic cutlery. MANY times a week I use plastic cutlery for my lunch and dispose of it afterwards. WHAT a waste! I must go out and buy just one set of cutlery to keep in my desk drawer.


Plastic is such a wonderful product. It can be used for making so many different things. On my way home from work I saw one item made of plastic lying by a building site; namely a safety helmet. It is amazing that the same product that is used for throw away cutlery can protect a person's head!

I took my beloved to the airport today (booohoooooo - missing him already) and at the airport they had a plastic theme as well. Since the foiled bomb plots of August 2006 you have to carry any toiletries in a see through plastic bag, when carried as hand luggage. The plastic bags are available for free throughout the airport. Hopefully they are made from recyclable materials...

Finally there's the ultimate piece of plastic, namely the credit card and all the other store, membership and dividend cards. I remember when I got my very first debit card as one of the first customers in my bank. I thought it was SO cool and hence never got into the habit of using cheques. In fact, I don't think I have ever paid by cheque in a shop, thanks to my flexible friend.

That's the result of my PhotoHunt today. What did you find on yours? I can't wait to see.

Now, what's that all about?

YSL for Prime Minister?

What's going on?

PhotoHunt 74 - Music

This week's photohunt theme of MUSIC coincides beautifully with one of my proudest photographic moments...

Donal Donohoe has just released a new cd called "Ceol's Rann" - and guess who took the cover photo? Yup - you guessed it - yours truly! OH, and I'm credited on the inside cover. Now how cool is that for someone who has never learned how to take pictures, but takes so many that at least some are bound to come out well!


The cd is available on a link to cdbaby from Donal's myspace. I wish I knew how to make the title tune pipe up when you open my blog!

I'm sorry I couldn't produce a larger picture, but I rather liked the cool writing in the top right hand cover and decided to use the actual album cover as my picture.

I can't wait to see what photographic treats you all have in store for me this week. If the few I have seen already are anything to go by, then this week's entries are up to a great standard.

Happy PhotoHunting.

Fancy a can of beer?

Or: Cannabia, as the label states!

PhotoHunt 73 - Dirty

During our holiday we went to look for fossils in a clay pit and got rather dirty. I had borrowed a pair of Wellington boots, so my feet and trousers were clean and dry when we got home and the boots were easy to clean.

As the owner of this pair... Well, I think he may have taken a slight bit longer to clean up as surely these boots can't be washed with the hose!

My other photo for the PhotoHunt is a teeny weeny bit dirty...

I walked past this shop in Soho today and was rather taken with the window display and the great signage! LOL

PhotoHunt 72 - Happy

I was walking down Fournier Street in the East End of London, when I came across a bench with this happy wee sticker, which I read to mean that it was compulsory to lie on the bench and enjoy a wee beer.
Little gems like this in my every day makes me happy to be alive - and happy that I found a picture for the PhotoHunt

PhotoHunt 71 - Two

In the city of London there are always a load of people handing out promotional items to passers by. Recently little tubs of yoghurt were being handed out, but one of the distributors must have been in a hurry to go home and was handing out whole cartons of four to each person.
I ended up with two packs of "one a day" yoghurts...

PhotoHunt 70 - Row

Better late than never... I have been on holiday and have not had web access since the 10th of August!

Anyway, I am determined to stay on top of the PhotoHunt themes, hence here is my picture of not just one row, but a whole load of them. The rows were found on a hedgehog memoryfoam pillow, when I went pillow shopping. I thought it looked great, but must admit I bought something slightly more conventional!

Clever dogs!

Gosh, the dogs in London are clever. Not just do they drink beer and read the paper - they also know to use the BIN!

A morning on London's South Bank

This morning I walked along the river from Waterloo to the Wibbly Wobbly bridge by the Tate Modern and just had to stop and take pictures along the way, as there are so many great sights.

Over the last ten years or so, the South Bank of the Thames has developed into one of the greatest places in London.

The fancy lamp posts along the river are one of my favourite features and they remind me that the river walk was a happening place once before, but got forgotten for a number of years...

The Tate Modern is my all time favourite gallery. It has on a Dali exhibition at the moment and I was sorely tempted to forget all about work and enjoy the exhibition instead. However, I resisted the temptation and went off to work one last day before my holiday begins!