Hope, Curiosity and Caution

What are you curious about?

To be totally honest at the moment, I’m focused and really excited for the future. Talk to me tomorrow and I’d probably be a different beast with an attitude lower than a snakes belly, but at the moment everything is fine. I’m curious why I feel this way.

Curiosity

As you will all possibly be aware, I like fixing cameras and I love my photography, it being a major feature throughout my life. I struggled in the transition from Analogue to digital and that was when my interest in the hobby dwindled. I wasn’t ready to accept the digital age, I was and still am really, an analogue dinosaur. But I’m curious.

I have recently delved deep, deep into the digital world, tried some really good equipment belonging to a photographer friend, and I really like it, I want to do more. I’m now interested. But is it too late?

I have also been a social media dinosaur, having had bad experiences in the past I’ve pretty much ignored everything but YouTube for the last ten years or so. I’ve regularly slated social media, and now this is another subject that makes me curious.

I’ve changed my attitude. I have in the last, few days gone back into the social media community, yes in many eyes I’ve probably succumbed to the call of this evil temptress, however, hear me out you have some learning to do regarding moi!

Im now on FB, Instagram, and Bluesky and these accounts are pretty much locked down to subjects that I want to see, and people I want to correspond with. It’s opened up communication with distant family members, old professional contacts and over the last few days I’ve even had requests from some of these old contacts to step back into the business professionally, and assist them. I just need to learn to ignore negativity if it begins to creep its way in, and it probably will.

The issue here is that I’m not set up professionally or in the position do so at the moment. But the call to return has hooked me and I am giving it immense and serious consideration. As many will know, and it’s there written there within my profile, that im wishing for an early retirement, and this could be an option that brings in a small income to allow me to realise that goal earlier than I initially intended. But like any business opportunity there is some investment required, and I’m now looking at ways of providing for those required tools of the trade as such.

This has been a positive, because of Social media that has opened up to me, but I’m being cautious.

Im always going to be here working with my old cameras and stuff though, as that’s what i love to do, it just all ties in like a great big knot of contentment, hope and ambition.

And it’s a nice, not always felt, feeling.

And I’m liking it, a vein of positive energy running through an aging body.

Long may it last. We all need dreams. We all need goals. It’s just I’ve left it so late in life, that’s the only nagging doubt that remains.

But who cares, I’m up for it!

Have a wonderful day, stay safe.

Throwing a relation out of an airplane.

Well not me in particular but we have paid for an elderly relative (73yo) to fulfil a dream and today he will be doing a tandem skydive from 14000ft above Nottingham in the East Midlands. This post will cover the day.

I did my skydive in 2009, I was in my mid 40s then and I did mine at the London Skydiving centre based at Chatteris airfield in Cambridgeshire.

My certificate of completion

I did my jump to raise funds for Watford Hospice, we did quite well from what I can remember however the total escapes me as time has erased that figure from my memory banks.

Anyway, today is not about me it’s about my brother in law Terry, affectionately known to the family as El-Tel and that’s how I will refer to him throughout this blog.

This is El-Tel’s day…and what a day he’s going to have.

We head off to Langar skydive centre in Nottingham, it’s 11:30 am and El Tel is due to jump at 13:00.

Langar airfield

We arrive in plenty of time however the weather isn’t playing ball. It’s cloudy, quite windy and no planes have gone up yet due to this.

All we can do is wait. Many people booked in earlier are leaving as they have other engagements and they have rebooked for another day. However we’ve decided to hang about a bit, we’ve had a snack and plenty of coffee and the afternoon weather looks promising.

So off he goes for training where he gets his harness put on and goes through safety procedures and landing protocols.

The clouds have cleared, the sun is in the sky and the wind has dropped.

No time to waste it’s in to the plane and off to the drop zone.

The aircraft is a Cessna 208 Skyvan reg: G-FBPS.

Cessna 208 Skyvan

It takes about 15 minutes to reach the altitude that they are jumping from, this little video below is what we can see from the ground.

Our view 14000ft below

El-Tel has also booked a video and picture package. So a camera man will be jumping with him as well.

And a few minutes later it was all over. A once in a lifetime time experience. Would he do it again? Just like me it’s a firm no. We’ve had the experience and we’ve got the memories and that’s what it is all about.

He’s had his day and thoroughly enjoyed it, we’ve all enjoyed it and it was a lovely family day out even if throwing the oldest member of the family out of an aeroplane was a bit extreme.

Life. To be lived, to be enjoyed and occasionally it’s exciting 😂👍

An everlasting love and appreciation

What’s your definition of romantic?

To me, being part of a relationship as well as being married for 32yrs+, that’s when romance takes on a different role than it did in the early days.

Back then it was chocolates, teddy bears with love hearts on them and roses.

It changes with time.

The wife still likes gifts, but chocolates weigh on the hips, the teddy bears have become handbags (she has a mahoosive collection) she hates roses, but loves other flowers.

Romance now takes a more caring attitude, we look after each other’s needs rather than wants. Time makes those changes.

The one outstanding sign of romance for me is that after all these years, you even get excited at seeing your partner even after only being away 12 hrs at work. You constantly look forward to seeing them and to me that shouts love, commitment and romance.

I’m so looking forward to seeing her when I get home later. I’m excited.

That’s romance.

Peace all.