31/01/10 - The Car Park

The Car Park

This is the car park for day 2 of the Northern Orienteering Championships. Today we were in north Derbyshire running on Baslow, Curbar and Froggatt Edges and Big Moor. The ground was frozen first thing in the morning and up on the tops ice covered all of the little ponds in the marshes. As the morning wore on the ground became really slippery as the mud on the top surface melted allowing for some extremely exciting downhill running towards the finish.

The downhill car park became like a sloping skating ring making it interesting trying to guide your car through a gritstone- posted gateway at the bottom corner of the field!

30/01/10 - The Last Control

The Last Control

Today was the Northern Middle Distance Orienteering Championships held in Beeley Wood just north of Sheffield. The sky was clear blue, the sun shone and the temperature just managed to get above freezing. But what an event ! Wonderful map of an area at a 1:5000 scale and routes planned that kept the runners totally focused for the whole time they were out on their courses.

The photo shows my son, Matt, sprinting into the last control of his course. The finish is in sight just 150 m away.

29/01/10

We're S H O P P I N G, we're shopping !!

It's a Tesco Day ! How do you say what you would like to eat three days in advance? Especially when your mind is struggling with two or seven other things. I think I gave the wrong answer.

28/01/10

The man who came to prune/chop down the trees and shrubs around the garden has revealed a new world of lichen - a miniature forest of subtle colours and fragile beauty.

27/01/10

'The time has come,' the Walrus said ... To have all the trees/shrubs etc in the garden lopped/cut/shaped and otherwise tidied up. So the 'man' arrived this morning with all of the right tools and safety kit and, as you can see, is halfway up the large, overgrown laurel. I am unsure what all of the birds think about this. The male blackbird has been hopping from branch to branch all morning as if to say - 'Excuse me, excuse me. Did I invite you to do this?'

26/01/10

Sir John Betjeman's wonderful statue on the concourse at

St Pancras International - 3rd visit in two weeks !

25/01/10

Elastoplast for speed bump in Loughborough. All over the town the speed bumps are lifting and the edges are crumbling away ... nasty for cars but almost lethal for cyclists. Its going to cost a lot of money to put them all right. I hope that nobody gets hurt before they get it all sorted.

24/01/10

This is the gate to a teaching centre in Loughborough. Very creative way of stopping people climbing over perhaps!

23/01/10

There is a Lego iPhone app that turns any picture taken into lego-like tiles. The really great bit is that when you have 'done' the conversion, by swiping your fingure across the screen, the colours of the tiles change in a sort of wave.

22/01/10

Elks in Coalville !

21/01/10

Can you see the dog?

There actually isn't one! I was working today in Snibston Country Park with a group of PGCE students when, just behind a still frozen pool, I spotted this. Looking closely I could see that it was a tree that has been partially chopped by the wardens. Many of the students also spotted it and it gave rise to some good conversations about environmental art.

20/01/10

The silent string quartet.

19/01/10

Augmented Reality - Me being 'Optimus' from the Autobots - two photos today - me looking into the webcam of my Mac. Its not me wearing a Christmas present its me actually wearing an augmented reality helmet generated by the software.

You could try it for yourself here

18/01/10

The almost lost art of micro pebble balancing ... go on ... you know you want to!

17/01/10

He stayed with me for 4 days ... then I had to give him back. He caused no fuss and bother, didn't seem to want to eat and drink ... just stood next to a plastic tree and seemed happy.

16/01/10

My good friends Steve Taylor and Eugenie Skinner posing by the 'Stripey Designs' stand at BETT where they have been exciting people for the last 3 days( and will do so again today) with the amazing 'anithings'

15/01/10

The silence of the stands. BETT day 3.

14/01/10

Part of one of the floor mats embedded into the purple carpets on th walkways at BETT 2010.

It is a great message for education, learning, teaching and schools ... hope the ministers walking round the show yesterday noticed and thought about the potential of the message.

13/01/10

First day of BETT 2010 and the snow came down on London but the halls of Olympia seemed to be as full as ever with people keen to trace the innovative and exciting.

12/01/10

I took this photo of the incredible roof of St Pancras International Railway Station with my trusty iPhone. Got to my hotel room and sat wondering how to upload it as I hadn't got my cable and my laptop didn't have bluetooth enabled. So I took this photo of my iPhone showing the photo ... then I realised I could probably have done the whole thing from my iPhone :-(

11/01/10

I just love the way my family and friends turn up in the background to wave at me.

I am totally hopeless at all of the games. Can't get golf sorted, get too tired on the cycling, better at archery, hopeless at baseball. I have a lot to learn.

10/01/10

Inside/Outside

The snow is turning to mush outside but inside the orchid is blossoming again. It was just a few straight twigs not long ago but has just started to regenerate itself. It seems that, in some cases, if you leave something long enough to sort itself out it actually does so!

09/01/10

One small(ish) step for me ...

08/01/10

Tried to get a pic of the robin standing on the heron's head but was not quick enough. (The heron is now a rusting iron favourite perch for our garden birds)

07/01/10

Spot the robin

06/01/10

A tree light in the snow

05/01/10

This is my favourite picture that sits on the wall in my office. It is just above where I sit and work(!!) It is an oil and gritstone (yes ... real gritstone) by Kristan Baggaley. It is of Burbage Edge in the Derbyshire Peak District.

04/01/10

A shadow of his former self ...

03/01/10

The sparrowhawk sat on the tree in the garden for ages. Scared all of the finches away and eventually flew off without any lunch ... I need a better camera or the ability to fiddle with photos !

02/01/10

This is my big jar of jelly babies bought for me this Christmas by my son's girlfiend

01/01/10

Bird Bath defrozen. The temperature today was below freezing and the birds couldn't drink so I defroze their water bath ... not sure they appreciated my stirling effort!