Life's a beach

Easy trip from Hannover to Palma de Mallorca.. The hotel at Platja de Palma is all-inclusive with a nice room and seaview balcony... Time to chill and do nothing..

Pear-shaped

It all went wrong.. We made it to Hannover okay. We had the tickets and passports we even checked in our luggage but we were then informed that we must validate our tickets at the Tui desk.. Here things went rather awry.. The manager at the Tui desk was actually the manager for 12Fly and we'd bought tickets with these via Expedia except Expedia had not paid them and they would not honour the tickets even though Expedia guaranteed they had receieved payment from us.. Lisa was going mental.. I was strangely calm.. After an hour of wrangling and various phone calls we had missed our flight and therefore our holiday to Fuerteventura was officially off. I decided to cut our losses and run and ditched the 12Fly/Expedia deal and bought a holiday for £300 cheaper from another company to Majorca. So feeling calm and positive we went to a fleamarket in Hannover bought some Russian communist leader dolls and went back to base ready for the flight to the Balearic capital tomorrow. Expedia have messed up twice now in one year and that's too much.. I'll never use their shoddy services or those of 12Fly ever again.

Sing like a canary

Pink sky in the morning here in Germany. Off to the airport this morning for a week of sun, sand, and stock photography on the Costa Calma. Made up. I need a break from the onslaught of Autumn

Former Footballers

Two former footballers today going down different paths; Football legend George Best's condition has deteriorated and he is fighting for his life in intensive care.
The ex-Manchester United and Northern Ireland star is seriously ill. Whereas Paul Gascoigne once again bounces back from trials and tribulations to take on the role of manager of Kettering Town.

Lens Lust

Got to thinking what I need to purchase next.
I've decided on the Nikkor AF-S DX Zoom 17-55mm f2.8 G IF-ED

Blade Trinity

Watched the third Blade movie based on the Marvel comic book. The film was not as excellent as the previous two but was still more than watchable with it's superb special effects. The DVD finished in time for me to catch Ray Winstone once again as Vincent.. It' s a televisual feast this evening.

Jammed

Set off to shoot the Nazi Camelot at Wewelsburg but due to autobahn gridlock I shot some images in the rain at Marta, Herford.. I'll get to Wewelsburg one day.

The Right to Party

200 years since Nelson copped it at Trafalgar and the Royals have been lighting beacons across the length and breadth of the UK. A one armed midget? A hero? Don't know I wasn't there.! History? precisely His story not mine. never trust an historian.

Saddamski

This is an image I grabbed on the streets of London back in March 2003.
Saddam's trial ran for several hours that were devoted to procedural matters before being adjourned until 28 November. Hussein's brief, Khalil Dulaimi has repeatedly argued that he has not had enough time to prepare the defence. How long does he need? He had requested a three-month delay.
The former Iraqi leader pleaded not guilty to the charges and challenged the legitimacy of the court.

Graf Numero 9

Location = Osnabruck, Germany
Artist = Unknown

The Udder side

Good to see that FC United is still going strong... I think more Man U fans should dump their greedy and nasty American owned outfit and go back to the grassroots. This is an extract of a letter in the Manchester Evening News about the rip off ticket prices at Old Trafford; Manchester United should take stock...
"the only way to stop this is to boycott these greedy clubs. I watched Manchester United for forty years, but I stopped going last season for many reasons. I now attend FC United games at a fraction of the cost. They kick-off at 3PM on a saturday, and they have passionate fans and an incredible atmosphere. No More A Mug, Droylsden.
Come On City...

Beckham for the Bench

I'd make Owen permanent captain and stick with SWP and Joe Cole on the flanks and use Ledley King in the holding role with Lampard in Midfield it makes sense and finally Sven got it right but only because of Beckham's sending off. He's a primadonna that must realize that he cannot run England like Zidane did in 1998 to World Cup glory. The shape of the team was much better. Crouch is definitely not good enough I would have brought Defoe or Bent before him. Beckham's performance against denmark said it ALL .. All show andNO END PRODUCT...
Beckham, Ferdinand and Gerrard both need to accept that their places in the England first eleven are not guaranteed. Two wins in two games and we top the group. A superb performance by a real team.
A week is a long time in football

Skin of our teeth

A poor display, a ridiculous sending off and a slim victory for England at Old Trafford and defeat for the Czech's against the Dutch assures England their place in Germany next year.

These are the qualifiers so far;
Germany, Argentina, Japan, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Angola, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Holland, Poland, England, Croatia, Italy, Tunisia, Portugal, Ecuador, Paraguay.

Last chance saloon

I applaud the dropping of Ferdinand.. if he does it. Is it a case of too little too late?
Victory at all costs is essential.
Anything else and he can take the coach back to Sweden.

You get so alone at times that it just makes sense

wish

you

were

here.

Empire Builders

Storm clouds gather as Schroeder is tenaciously clinging on for grim death even though it is plain to see that Angela Merkel has the real right to be chancellor. Maybe they should arm wrestle. Whatever happened to the Greens?

Result; 1. Christian Democrats/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU): 2262. Social Democrats (SPD): 2223. Free Democrats (FDP): 614. Left Party: 545. Greens: 51

screens

Lisa flew into Ringway as I sped up the autobahn to Osnabruck.. Just have to look forward to being in the Canaries in a few weeks. Sold some pictures to the Russian Federation yesterday for a pittance, perked up today with some travel brochure sales to the UK. Set up the projector on the laptop to make a cracking cinema screen on the living room wall for viewing my latest DVDs. Who needs a plasma tv?

Graf Numero 8

Artist; Okso. Location; Agrinon, Greece.

All Smiles

Watched City beat Everton two-nil at Keith's. I was delighted with Mills' wonder strike out of the blue in the last quarter of the game and then capped off with a well taken goal by Vassell. This has set up a sunny Sunday here in Bunde.

Blissfully unaware in a mad world

Lisa and I were enjoying ice creams and hot drinks of coffee and chocolate nature in Bunde's famous log cabin Finnish restaurant unaware of what had just happened across the world.
Suicide bombers instigated attacks on three Bali restaurants killing at least 26 people. The Senior Indonesian anti-terror official Major General Ansyaad Mbai said the remains of their bodies were found at the scenes in the tourist areas of Jimbaran and Kuta. One minute you're in paradise the next you're in Hell.