Wind Down

I love this time of year, these few dead days between Christmas and New Year. The old year is definitely over – work is done, family commitments, pleasant though I find them, are out of the way, and I’ve got some space to catch up with friends, do a bit of thinking, clear some mental clutter out of the way, and plan for a new year that still seems like it’s got a bit of life and promise in it.

I’ve had a busy enough few days. The traditional-when-I’m-in-London Boxing Day film with Mark (WINOLJ), a long-overdue catch up with [info]budgie_uk on the 27th, and similarly with [info]cairmen today.

Yesterday though, deserves special mention, as I had a completely superb dinner with [info]athena25, [info]burge, [info]stu_n and [info]tyrell – at christmas, the butcher downstairs from me does a traditional Victorian stuffed goose – that’s a goose stuffed with a chicken stuffed with pheasant stuffed with a quail. It was every bit as good as I’d hoped – both the goose, which was rich and meaty and meltingly tender (and accompanied by a number of dishes, sauces and other condiments prepared by my guests, all of which were just as good), and more importantly the occasion, which was a truly splendid day engaging in my favourite pursuits of eating, drinking, and talking with a number of my favourite people. Cheers, all. Same again next year?

I’ve spent this evening clearing up after yesterday, the flat is now tidy again, and tomorrow I intend to do more or less fuck all. DVDs, Xbox games, eating leftovers, and at most a quick trip to the shops to get some supplies in. Exactly what this time of year is for, basically.

Hope you’re all having a similarly splendid time.

Childhood’s Last Gleaming

Childhood's Last Gleaming

An experiment in throwing the focus right out the window for effect. I’m honestly not sure about this one, but I thought it was worth putting on-line as an example of an experiment at any way – it’s not something I do a lot of, deliberately defocusing, and it’s something I might want to play with more in the future, given that a lot of my photography is (trying to be) about this sort of combination of light, impression and mood.

Samsara II

Samsara II

I really wanted a word for karmic escape velocity for this one, but my vocabulary fails me.

A fairground ride on Brighton Pier.

links for 2008-12-18

Scrub Up

Spruced up the look of http://ala.sda.ir last night. Will probably leave http://www.alasdair.biz as-is for the next year – I haven’t found any clean and professional looking designs that I like as much as the one it’s currently using, and it is on my CV, so probably shouldn’t be anything too odd.

That just leaves me wondering what to do with site number three, the old and faded http://www.black-ink.org, which is traditionally where I put pieces of original writing, and is equally traditionally something that I only update in the first third of every year, after which point I become distracted by some other shiny thing.

Anyone got any fun suggestions for what I should do with it in the first part of next year?

Back

The heat has been off in my house for the last 4 days, because I have been away. I can see my own breath in my bedroom. I am going to bed, and not getting up until the thaw sets in.

Links For Thursday 11th December 2008

Links For Wednesday 10th December 2008