We had a meet today in Oxford. I turned up a little late at the King's Arms to find Rick Womer and Mike Wilson (along with Kathy and Katy) sitting outside in the warm summer sunshine. Very soon after, world traveller and entrepreneur Bob Walkden arrived and we went inside for lunch.
Well, they had lunch and I had a cup of coffee - spent all day yesterday digging some foundations for a garden shed and I think every bone and muscle in my body was complaining - and to add insult to injury I was badly hung-over.... We squeezed into one of the small ante-rooms of the King's Arms, a pub I used to frequent in the late 1980's and haven't been in since - quite a weird sensation sitting by chance in the same place I used to all those years ago! I sipped my latte and listened intently to conversation while glancing nonchalantly at the gorgeous butt attached to a waitress. We headed slowly over to the botanical gardens near the river by way of Radliffe Square (and the famous Radcliffe Camera - the big round building seen in many tourist pics of Oxford although it is not a camera obscura as is sometimes believed, rather a big round building housing reading rooms for the Bodleian Library). At the gardens I got a call from Chris Mitchell who I had completely forgotten about! He managed to catch up and we were finally quorate. I only had one of my video cameras along for the ride, I figured I would grab a few shots of folk enjoying some photography out and about in Oxford to show the international nature of the list. I wasn't feeling very inspired but managed to catch a few bits and bobs of Rick's and Bob's. And a bit of that and this from Mike and Chris ;-) Rick and Chris had their K20D cameras and various zooms aboard. Mike Wilson was toting an LX and 20-35mm, and an *ist DL2, along with a rather sinister police baton that he insisted was a monopod-cum-walking stick. I reckon it would give a good back scratch as well, and I kept my eye on it for the duration. Bob had his lovely Leica M8 and would not be separated from it, his hand popping up every now and again to snap with consummate dexterity a passing tableau (see I can talk like what you do mate). He really is a cross between Cartier-Bresson and a cat. My car parking was running out and just as I was off to tend to that, my Mrs rang and said she was in Oxford (hey - **you** try keeping track of her - I haven't been able to in over 20 years!!) and where were we? 45 minutes later and cars sorted, we met with the team as they headed back to the centre of town for afternoon tea. BTW here is a message from Alma before I forget: -------- Hi Mike, Cathy, Katey, Bob, Chris and Rick Really good to see you all again this afternoon albeit, short & sweet! :-) Hope to see you all again real soon! Love and best wishes, Alma XX -------- We spent an hour at St Mary's, The Crypt - PDMLers will remember this venue from a meet in 2006 when a similar path was trod - and although I have *no* still pics from today ( I suppose I could do some still grabs from the video - will have a go tomorrow) here is the meet in 2006: <http://www.cottysnaps.com/snaps/photoessays/essays/oxford.html> Don't tell me the mono pics are all washed out - I know they are and they need resampling or something - I'll get there, gimme time! I'm sure there will be some galleries up shortly. It was a lovely day and great to see friends from the list as always. We're going to organise something up in the wilds of the northeast later in the summer - a coast visit somewhere between Newcastle and Berwick so watch this space. One final thing - Mike, here is that URL for the Manfrotto gear: <http://www.morrisphoto.co.uk/> You'll see 'Manfrotto' at right, click on that and enjoy - give the bloke a call, he's very helpful with fiddly bits :-) -- Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=====| http://www.cottysnaps.com _____________________________ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
