Victor W.'s photostream  

Man......

Nah, wasn't a hippy, too young for that as hard as it may sometimes seem. Although I was a 'love child' of the sixties, quick knee trembler between a married man and a barmaid in an alley forgetting that they'd actually invented the damn contraceptive pill!
Shouldn't complain, I wouldn't be here otherwise ;-)

Pretty much been absent from flickr, (yet again!), so my apologies, (again), to all of you out there with whom I've crossed paths, (or wires, photostreams or some such). Missed you :-)

We're at that time of year that I really loathe especially working in a camera store, no sorry, retail outlet. (Because that's all it is at this damn time of the year!) People loaded down, or not depending on their view of the current economic 'depression', with shopping bags to celebrate in often the most un-Christian way possible a 'Christian' celebration. Go figure.
Of course cameras nowadays being yet another consumer electronic device that must be upgraded every time a moth farts in the wind they'll make ideal festive presents.....

"Which one takes the best pictures?", is usually the first question followed with "It must be cheap", or, "Price doesn't matter"?!?!. After half an hour or so running through the vast array of cameras they'll decide on one to buy and then ask the ultimate question, "Does it come in pink?".........

Makes you loathe even the thought of a camera!

So I've recently 'dropped out', turned on an old communications receiver given to me by a very good friend and sit there tuning it in.
My step-Father was a radio 'ham', it's what first got me involved in electronics many moons ago, but I'd forgotten what it was like listening to the world. Strange voices and languages popping out of those headphones as your finger sits spinning that tuning dial anticipating what you'll hear next. Even started brushing up on my old morse, (-- --- .-. ... .), to listen to those wonderful old 'telegraphic' blips coming through. Sad old git I am.
But not once have I heard an advert, mention of a camera, notification that someone's posted some drivel on face-bark or other such. It's been bliss!

So, apologies to you all again, hope you and your families, loved ones, nearest and dearest are keeping very well. If you've recently bought a pink camera to celebrate a certain Christian festival, well that's up to you really isn't it :-)

Oh, for those of you that don't know what the heck this picture is, it's a close up of an old variable capacitor. It's what we used to use in the 'olden' days to 'tune in' radio signals, nowadays this being replaced with a much smaller semiconductor device, (varicap), so that you can just push a button instead, (and often your whole radio could be smaller than this variable capacitor alone!) Or, strangely enough, you can use a whole computer, modem, wires, fibre optics, several servers and maybe an odd satellite or two to listen to the 'radio'. Indeed a strange new world we live in!

Me, old fashioned, I do like to spin a dial and turn a knob or two ;-)

My apologies to my usual contacts for my recent disappearance, slight technical hitch. (Sheesh! That's an understatement!)

No, I don't need any 'help', I've had enough of that offered already, (and I'm at the point where I really need more psychiatric 'help' than anything!) Honestly, if someone else comes up with the suggestion, "Have you tried turning it on and off again?", I'll flipping scream!! (Probably manically whilst chopping them up into tiny-weeny-itsy-bitsy-little pieces!!)

For those of you not put off by my manic-knee-jerk reaction, "No", I hadn't installed any new hardware, (or at least I hadn't!!) Yes, I've swapped out just about everything that can be swapped out - graphics card, sound card, memory, PSU, every other cost-me-a-bleeding-fortune part that can be swapped out. Even that flipping little button cell that's so awkwardly placed! Sat playing with 'memtest' as well for those of you that have ventured that far before.
The only thing left to swap is the motherboard and then I might as well be building a new system - in which case I'll have an Apple Mac please.....

So in the mean time, take care of yourself all. I'll try to pop up on flickr every now and then if I can prise one of the laptops from the cold dead hands off one of the children ;-)
(Honestly if it wasn't for facebark and tweeting they'd have nothing left to do - much like me without my flickr at the mo!!)

If you're asking yourself, "What the heck is that?", that'd be the same response when my wife first saw it too :-)

Too much time on my hands, that's what this is.....

It's essentially junk that was laying around cobbled together in some form or another. I actually started building this a while back and after having some time on my hands, (cut back of hours and overtime at work once again!!), I revisited it.

I like it..........and I have absolutely no idea why.

Just one of those shots :-)

Something had been flattening a few of my plants and making little weird 'holes' in them. It didn't take too long to find the culprit!!

I actually don't mind the flattening of the plants, seeing nature move into my relatively young pond I dug last year has been quite pleasant. We had tadpoles, have young frogs and big old beasties like this beaut captured here. Along with the pond snails that appeared happily cleaning the pond, (must've hitched a ride with the frogs?), we've had Damson flies, Dragon flies, birds bathing and the odd hedgehog or two taking an interest.
Now if I was half as quick with the camera I could've photographed the grass snake that frequents the pond occasionally!! (Often followed by a decline in the frog population for a while!)

Nothing like a bit of 'garden safari' and all on your own back door step too :-)

See Mains Slave Flash and WTF?! for further details.

Take apart a domestic bulb, cram in a few electronics, make sure you don't kill yourself whilst doing it, (or cut your 'fingies' on the sharp glass), and job's a good'un ;-)