Images of Bath - Old and New Exhibition

Images of Bath - Old and New Exhibition
Originally uploaded by Andy Clist

A couple of years back, I created the Images of Bath Group on Flickr. It was mostly intended as digital home for the rather amateur photography that me and some mates were doing at the time. Now we've got over 300 members, some truly great photographers and a few people with their fingers in the right pies to help us get events like this off the ground.

It's running from the 3rd - 16th December in Bath Central Library and I don't mind admitting that I'm rather proud.

Schmapping

Fame at last...sort of. One of my pictures has been picked by the Schmap team for inclusion in their map of bath. It's not one I'm particularly proud of but they obviously liked it. You can see it in it's full glory here

Rugby

Griff and I finally managed to sort ourselves out and get season tickets for Bath Rugby this season. So far it's been a cracking investment with Bath winning every home game thus far. Today we beat Leicester in the EDF cup 20-14 and as Griff was working, the Mrs came along. Lovely.

4 Years

Yesterday was our 4th wedding anniversary which may not seem a lot compared to some people but I have to say it has absolutely flown by in a good way.

Being a bit soppy I just want to say thank you to Andy for being my husband and may we have many many more happy years together with our ever expanding family.

I wouldn't have it any other way and I truly mean that. I can't think of anything I would change over the last 4 years which can only be a good sign :O)

Family Update

Finally one of us is posting a blog. Once you don't blog for a few weeks, that's it - it escalates out of control.

Anyway, lots of things have happened since July. One thing I should mention is that there will be a new addition to our little family arriving at the end of January. After we had the scan a few weeks ago we now know we are having a little girl which makes the family nice and complete. All we need now is the long awaited dog (which won't be for at least another 12 months) and we're all set. I must admit it is very lucky we are having a girl because try as we might we couldn't of any boys names we both agreed on - girls names on the other hand were easy, so you'll have to wait until the end of January to see what we decide on.
















Harrison had his 2nd birthday on 17th September. Doesn't time fly????????????? We had 2 small get togethers, one the day before for friends and family and one on the actual day jsut for family. He was a very lucky boy as far as presents go. We bought him a swing and slide for the back garden as well as a playmobil plane (he has a new thing for planes). He had a Mr, Mrs & Baby Potato set with all the ears, noses, arms and feet etc to put together, although some of his creations so far look like something out of a frankenstein film. He had some clothes as well, the highlight definitely being the mini Bath Rugby kit from Uncle Griff. Rugby is a new enthusiasm in our household now that Andy has finally got a season ticket (it's only taken him 6 years to get round to it).

The week after Harrison's birthday we departed to Spain for a week to stay with my mum. She doesn't get to see Harrison anywhere near as much as she would like to so she came for Harrison't birthday and then we went back with her. The highlight of Harrison's holiday was definitely the plane. He spent at least 20 minutes on the flight just saying plane over and over and over and over. People even started looking at us. It was nice with him having his own seat although he figured out almost immediately how to undo the seatbelt - not so good when the stewardesses come round to check everyone is strapped as we're taxiing to the runway. Unfortunately the weather was pretty dire. The best day of course was the day we were due to come home - typical!!! It wasn't even hot enough to enjoy the pool, although Harrison tried it twice - once accidentally (saved by Dad but not before he got well and truly dunked), and once on purpose but the coldness made him scream, so we gave up.

That's about it really (you don't want to hear about the mundane run of the mill stuff). We do have lots to do from now on. We are having a new conservatory put up starting at the end of October. Once that is done, we can move all the furniture back to where it was meant to be, meaning we can then concentrate on Harrison's new bedroom before his little sister arrives. Luckily he is already sleeping in a proper bed, so we don't have to overcome that obstacle when he moves rooms, although there were times when we almost admitted defeat and put him back in his cot. We can also redecorate the nursery in some nice girly colours. So as you can see we will not be slacking over the next few months - oh and we need to start the dreaded toilet training sometime soon as well. I'm sure there will be lots to tell you about that experience next time.

And finally...

Faces for Charity - Redbull F1
Originally uploaded by Andy Clist

Here's a picture of Coulthard's car with us on it. If you follow the tail of the '4' down 5 or 6 pictures until you see a dog on the grass. We're diagonally down to the right from this fella.

I (Coulthard) finished 11th

In the only Grand Prix I will even slightly be involved in, finished 11th (see below for this to make a touch more sense). At least the car made it to the line. Something of a rarity these days for DC.

I'm in the British Grand Prix!

Sort of...

Right folks, take a close look at David Coulthard's car at this weekend's British GP. Jay and Marie made a donation to Faces for Charity to allow me to have my picture on his car for the duration of the weekend.

Okay, there is no way you're going to see it up close. 30,000 other people have done the same thing, but if you're lucky, I'm on the nosecone on the right hand side close to the upper suspension wishbone.

Go Coulthard!

Father's Day

Sunday marked my second Father's Day. Harry bought me a great photography book, we went on an open-top bus tour around Bath and spent the afternoon with my Dad. All in all, a cracking day.

Camping preparations and work commitments are making this a busy week already, but that's okay. Having next week off work, ending with my Birthday a week on Saturday throws the chaos out of focus.

Later this week, we're planning to head to Silverstone to watch the final day of the F1 testing, but it's completely weather dependant. I'm pretty excited about it actually as it'll be the first time in over 2 years..It'll also give me a chance to fire off a couple of hundred shots with the Nikon. If I get one good one, I'll be happy!

June. Already?

Yet again, months pass between posts. It's been tricky trying to keep up with everything that's going on at home and work recently and even more tricky to blog about it, but I'm 'borrowing' some time from work to write a little update.

I'll start with the centre of our world, Harrison. He's becoming a proper boy now - plays in the dirt, whines when he doesn't get what he wants and occasionally talks absolute nonsense. Chip off the old block I think. Fi is taking him to weekly swimming lessons and Tumble Tots, both of which he loves. Tumble Tots does have it's downsides… he needs to learn that the house it not a baby-gym and he can't climb onto/jump off everything he wants to. No harm done thus far though.

I continue to be consumed in photography, although the quality of my 365 photos on Flickr may have you believe otherwise. I need to dedicate more time (any time actually) to just going out to shoot a location. My Photos of Bath website is woefully short of, well photos of Bath so that is first on my list.

If the weather holds out we'll be going to Silverstone to watch the F1 testing next Thursday. This'll give me a long-awaited chance to attempt to take some decent F1 pictures, something which has eluded me for about 20 years actually. I suspect I'll come back with 2 or 3 good ones and start moaning about how I don't have the right lens etc…. You know, the usual photographic excuses.

Next Saturday we're off camping, I suppose you could call it our Summer holiday. We're taking a trip to the Isle of Wight in our tent for 5 nights. We had been hoping to have a trial-run camping with Harry prior to going away for 5 nights, but something always seems to have got in the way. We're all really looking forward to it and amazingly it'll be the first time Fi, Harry and I have been on hols together on our own. Crazy.

Finally, a mention to Rachael and Paul. After absolutely ages they are now married. The day was a great success and much merriment was had by all. There are of course the obligatory photos on Flickr (here's a link to Paul's Flickr set). Congrats to you both.

That's all folks.

Casino Royale

In a bid to watch more films we subscribed to 'Love Film'. Now I was hoping we wouldn't waste our money doing this but as it turned out we have watched 8 films in the last few months which I think has been well worth the money. Most of them have been films we wanted to see at the cinema and couldn't, so getting them delivered through the post and being able to watch them at our leisure is brilliant.

Anyway we watched Casino Royale last night. I didn't get to the cinema to see this and I really wanted to see how the new Bond worked out. I have to say I am a big fan of Pierce Brosnan but I thought Daniel Craig was ever so slightly better - darker, moodier, edgier, funnier at the one liners and also more emotional (although I know this is supposed to be back to the beginning of Bond's career which is probably why). I was pleasantly surprised by the end and decided that yes they have made the right decision by picking Daniel Craig to be James Bond, so roll on the next installment.

Is anybody out there?

I read this news story on the internet yesterday and thought I had to share it with you. It sounds absolutely hilarious if you like The A Team and Most Haunted - mix them together (yes I know it sounds weird) and you've got complete and utter madness.

Brilliant and I love it.

Easter update

For a change we're staying in Bath this Easter but that doesn't mean we're not busy. We've got most of the immediate family around on Easter Sunday for a great big Lunch and around that we've all the preparations, tons of gardening and housework to catchup on. Hopefully somewhere in all that we'll find some time to chill out for an hour or two.

A couple of weeks back I was honoured to be asked to be Paul's best man for his impending wedding. Obviously there is a stag thing to organise and other bast-manly duties to take care of. Obviously this'll be done at the last minute.. It's okay, they don't read this blog.

Harrison is really enjoying the good weather at the moment. Part of the gardening work is to ensure that it is toddler-safe. We're almost there so he can generally wonder around without too much supervision.

Life Update

It's been exactly a month since the last post - this wasn't done deliberately, I just have the time and something to write.

Again Harrison is asleep. I use the couple of hours that he sleeps in the afternoon to do everything I want to do without him getting in the way - hence the blog. Annoyingly he fell asleep in the car on the way home from swimming which always throws his nap time out completely. I can't hear him anymore though which must be a good sign. The swimming is brilliant now we have moved up into Ducklings 2. It is more grown up - some of which scares him a bit, like standing on the side of the pool and jumping in while I catch him, and lying on his back which he hates. Oh well practice makes perfect as they say.

No grandparents yet though. Hopefully, maybe, maybe not next week - if all the extremely well paid and extremely crap professional people who deal with house sales get their arses into gear and actually do something....Solicitors and estate agents make me so mad. I could do their job better than them standing on my head with my eyes shut :O) I'm not actually sure I can stand on my head but I'll give it a go!

Andy decided to join 'Love Film' on a months free trial so we can see how it works. I have to say it works brilliantly, once you set it all up. It has revolutionised our evenings (seeing as we can't leave the house to go to the cinema and our DVD collection is so uninspiring). We have seen 2 films in the last 10 days that we may not have paid to go to the cinema to see or bought them on DVD but I am really glad we put them on our list to rent. Firstly we saw 'The Black Dahlia' which I had wanted to see ever since it first came out. So it arrived in the post and we actually sat down and watched it rather than playing on the Xbox or surfing the net. I'm glad I've seen it because now I know I don't want to see it again - much too confusing, but didn't interest me enough to try and watch it again to work out what the hell is going on. So we posted it back and within 3 days we had our next film. Now this was definitely a film I wouldn't have gone to the cinema to see but I have seen a lot about it on the internet. 'Volver' was excellent and I think it is now one of my top films. I absolutely loved it. I'm not a big fan of subtitled foreign films but I was so engrossed in this one. I am a changed person. So yes 'Love Film' is a brilliant way of seeing all the films you've missed at the cinema or read about and didn't want to waste the money. For £10.00 a month normally we could potentially watch 4 or 5 movies, so I think we will be continuing after the free trial ends.

Now I've been a bit 'Alec Baldwin' about the whole 'Love Film' thing, I'd better get back to doing something much more useful like putting some undercoat on the skirting board in our bedroom. We are almost finished with the painting, the bed is up, the carpet is in, all we need to do is put the new curtains up and go to Ikea to get the rest of the furniture. It looks fab, so I'd better continue with the decorating.

Back in the swing of things

Harrison's having a nap which gives me some precious time to actually sit down and write a post. We have been back from our holiday for 2 and a bit weeks now but already it seems like a lifetime ago. It seems to have taken ages to get over the jet lag and the horrible cold that followed me home (which I then gave to Harrison). Finally though I feel like I can deal with everything that life throws at me, although things have been surprisingly quiet - compared to the stresses that we had to deal with in the previous 12 months. I have made a conscious effort since we have been back to focus more on my immediate family (Andy & Harrison) and to try not to worry about what other people do or think. This is very hard for me as I'm sure Andy will testify, but I am trying and I think family life is better for it.

As for Harrison, he is into absolutely everything, and I mean everything. I think Tumbletots is partly to blame because they encourage him to climb and so he carries on when he gets home. And Harrison being Harrison the word 'NO' does not register with him. Instead you have to forcibly move him from the forbidden object and then he has a tantrum which usually involves him kneeling on the floor with his face in the carpet (he looks like he is praying) crying. People say these things happen but it is not until it starts happening with your child that you realise just how annoying, yet ridiculously funny at the same time, it is. I must remember never to let him see me laughing at him whilst I am trying to tell him off :O) We still go swimming and are just about to move up to Ducklings 2 after the half term break. This involves, from what I've seen, the wearing of armbands and lots of jumping off the side into the pool. I'm slightly worried about that but I'm sure Harrison will love it. Whenever I go now I have to make sure he doesn't try to get in the pool by himself - he's really impatient! I have also started to let him eat his own yoghurt. It is incredibly messy and he always uses the spoon the wrong way up but he needs to learn otherwise I will be feeding him until he goes to University. He does grin while he does it because I think he realises he is doing something that I am proud of rather than being told off. I haven't quite resorted to letting him hold the yoghurt pot by himself yet though - that will come later.

Things to look forward to - just more of the same really. We have a very quiet life and I'm afraid that there is lots more quiet to come, until Granny and Grandpa make their big move back to Bath. Then hopefully we'll be able to make use of our Christmas present (a night out on our own just the 2 of us). This never happens so hurry up Granny and grandpa :O)

One week down

We head into the second week 0f our hols with great times behind us. The skiing/boarding at Copper is magnificent and we've all made decent progress with our respective abilities.


Having a couple of rest days over the weekend has enabled us to enjoy a couple of other activities most notably dog mushing in Leadville yesterday.


None of us had done anything like this before and the apprehension was tangible as we waited for our guide to lead us out to the dogs and sled. Kirby was a lovely chap and did his best to ease us into the techniques and skills required to take full control of the sled. To be honest, we were really just holding on but the lack of any 'skilled' person on the sled alongside the driver was quite unnerving.



We all took it in turns to 'mush', lay in the sled and ride on the trailer on the back of the skidoo, from where all the pics could be taken. There were a couple of hairy moments but we all came back safe and sound. An amazing experience.

Copper

Hey folks. After a long old trip we got here safely around 24 hours ago. Although it's been our first full day we've not hit the slopes yet - food shopping and jet lag put paid to that. Tomorrow the fun starts.

Here's a crappy pic from our balcony (which I can't imagine we'll ever use)...



More as the week moves on.

Bring on the snow.

As earlier advertised, Fi, Rach, Paul and I are off to Copper Mountain CO for a couple of weeks of skiing/boarding. Packing is almost done, which is a relief given the time of our flight tomorrow morning.

I'm hoping to be able to post here, and to my Flickr pages whilst in the US so hopefully more soon.

Blogtastic

You know there are so many good blogging tools available on the internet. Traditionally I've always used Blogger, but at the moment I think Microsoft have done a great job with the Spaces pages. Also, everyone's on MySpace right? So here's what I'm going to do. Blogger will continue to be my reference source for my blogs. Once I've posted there I'll copy to both my Live Space and my MySpace. Uber-blogging if you will.

To make this a little easier, here's the links to these pages:

My Live Space

My MySpace

HAPPY 2007

Says it all really. Happy New Year to everyone we know. Lots of Love, Andy, Fi & Harrison.