December 9th 2010

Northbound

Today’s photo is from the food hall at Donington Services on the M1. But what am I doing here?

The fact remains that my commute doesn’t get any easier, and some days, however much I want to get home, for whatever reason, the eyes get heavier and I need to stop. Service stations on the motorway are soulless places, and, as can be seen in this particular example, sometimes quite empty. Today I just wanted to get home but safety had to come first.

I should add that the day wasn’t all bad – James loved his birthday (I think) and yesterday’s cake went down a treat. There were better photos than this, not least of candles lit and the same cake out of its box, but this blog won’t always be a record of the nicest, most glamorous or most exciting thing that happens each day.

November 24th 2010

Junction 21

There are so few photo opportunities when one’s day consists of long motorway journeys mostly in the dark, and work/lunch routines that don’t change much during the year. A unique photo becomes harder to find as the year passes through its eleventh month .

If it were legal to just pull up and stop on the hard shoulder, there are several great shots I could have hoped to have taken so far. One is an impressive bridge over the Trent as you cross from Leicestershire into Derbyshire; one is the cooling towers of the power station in front of a red sky, and a third great photo would be the fishing lake to the side of the M69 between Leicester and Coventry.

Today as I turned a corner to approach junction 21, the bane of my commuting existence, I saw it for the first time in a completely different background, quite literally – as the sky was mottled pink and blue. Unfortunately though, as usual there was no stopping and setting up a photo, just this moving phone capture which doesn’t quite do it justice.

October 13th 2010

Almost sunset

Sometimes I wish I had more than just driving scenes to put in this blog. But anyway, today was another cloudless afternoon which led to a bright orange sky at sunset. I pulled off the M1 into the most peaceful, romantic setting I could for the perfect view. However, options were limited, so here is the sunset as seen hidden behind a load of Lithuanian lorries at Leicester Forest service station.

October 7th 2010

Moo!

A four hour round trip to work today.  I try not to go overboard about my commuting and work delays on this blog, as they probably don’t make the most fascinating of photos, but sometimes it’s difficult as the long drives inevitably become the focus of my day. Today, it turns out my half hour workbound delay on the M69 was due to a herd of cows on the motorway. Sadly, I can’t even show you a picture of that, but instead just a foggy road full of stationary cars.

October 1st 2010

Into the sunset

We’re now into the fourth quarter of the year – a year during which I have found a new partner, had three places to live, and bought a new car. I’ve run 1.5 marathons, signed up to climb a mountain in the Himalayas, gone the length of Lent without consuming palm oil, dug myself out of a snowdrift, seen my all time idols in concert, and grown a beard. And on the 200 or so less eventful days, there have been lots of photos of birds, trees, road signs, eggcups, temples, typos, marmots, fungi, kakuro puzzles, flapjacks and that’s just for starters.

Today’s photo is fairly obvious – another snatched photo from the car as I drove home along the M1. As I approached one of the short passages where the motorway runs west to east, I found myself turning the corner and driving towards an impressive colourful sky in the last moments of light.

August 29th 2010

Bradgate Deer Park

Today was spent with Claire and the family, visiting new friends Steve, Dawn and two of their kids Pip and Adam. If you are reading this – thank you for a great day and two great meals! In the afternoon we burned off some calories from the roast lamb with a walk round Bradgate Park – in Charnwood Forest near Leicester. Today’s photo is one of the deer that roam in the park, outside the birthplace of Lady Jane Grey.

August 16th 2010

End of motorway

I’ve included lots of photos from my commute in recent months, including quirky signs, views of trees and fields and sights from picturesque Costwold villages. Here’s another more prosaic photo from my commute today. Why more prosaic? Because my commute today was very different, and is about to become my daily commute for good. It’s a long drive, 73 miles along fast grey roads. And this sign itself is misleading, as it was taken waiting for a traffic light in a slip road off the M1 … only for me to take a right turn at the roundabout onto a whole new motorway – the M69

But it’s for a reason. My future lies not in Oxfordshire, where my house completion is within touching distance, nor in Gloucestershire, where I have been for the majority of this year, but further North. And it’s worth every minute and every mile of the commute.

June 5th 2010

Happy days

Today was another hot day and perfect for a day trip to Twycross zoo. With dozens and dozens of photos to choose from, it was one of those days when all the animals seemed to be smiling – chimps, camels, macaws, meerkats were all captured with what looks, in human terms, just like a smile. As was this sea lion with a blissful contented look, even if in reality he was just trying to sniff out his keeper with a bucket of fish …

And I was happy too – thank you Claire, James and Sophie for sharing a lovely day with me. A great day today but also a real glimpse into the possible future. And, sticking rigidly to today’s theme, I really think it could be a happy one.

Feb 14th 2010

Prairie Marmot

This afternoon I was very content – full of huge breakfast and plenty of pizza. And then, in Twycross, I came across this very chubby and content prairie marmot, full of carrot and cauliflower.

He posed proud and motionless for half a dozen photos, then scuttled off as soon as the camera left my eye. I think we had an empathy today.

Jan 16th 2010

What a nose …

Just took an impromptu trip round Twycross Zoo today.  Apologies to all the gorgeous primates, meerkats, giraffes and birds who were discarded in favour of this more quirky photo, but it’s my blog so I’m picking this one. I could really do with a decent caption though, if there are any decent suggestions in the comments I’ll change it!